ve even the
trouble of another disgusting practice--that of blowing it with the
breath.

The most proper season for giving the child this preparation, is
immediately after it has been nursing. It is better for both mother and
child, that the latter should nurse just as often as though the supply
of food was adequate to his wants. And when his first supply is
exhausted, then let him make up his meal from the sucking bottle. The
great advantage of this plan is, that he will not be so likely in this
way to be over-fed. If he is really needy, he will accept the bottle,
even if he do not like it quite so well; if he refuse it, let him go
without till he is hungry enough to receive it.

In regard to the water used in the preparation, only one thing needs to
be said; which is, that it should be pure. If it is not, it should by
all means be boiled. The sugar used should be of the very best kind; and
the quantity not large; since if the preparation be too sweet, it
readily becomes acid in the stomach.

There has been, and still is, a controversy going on among medical men,
whether sugar is or is not hurtful to the young. "Who shall decide, when
doctors disagree?" has often been asked. Without undertaking the task
myself, I may perhaps be permitted to say, that I cannot see any reason
why a substance so pure, and so highly nutritious as sugar--if given in
very small quantity only--should prove injurious: though I do not regard
the reasoning of Dr. Dewees as very conclusive on the subject, when, in
reply to Dr. Cadogan, he has the following language--"If sugar be
improper, why does it so largely enter into the composition of the early
food of all animals? It is in vain that physicians declaim against this
article, since it forms between seven and eight per cent of the mother's
milk."--Now with me, the fact that milk and almost all other kinds of
food are furnished with a measure of this substance, is the strongest
reason I am acquainted with for making no additions. I believe, however,
that they may sometimes be made, but not for these reasons.

EXCEPTION 2.--The second striking exception to the general rule that has
been laid down, is when the mother is unable to nurse her own child from
positive ill health, or when circumstances exist which render it
obviously improper that she should do it. The following are some of the
circumstances which render such a departure from nature indispensable.

1. When the mother is affected s