omit it. Many physicians, I must own, recommend carpets during winter,
though not in summer; and in no case, unless they are well shaken and
aired, at least once a week.

No furniture should be admissible, except the beds for the mother and
child, a table, and a few chairs. With the best writers and highest
authorities on the subject, I am decidedly of opinion that all feather
beds ought effectually and forever to be excluded from nurseries. The
reasons for this prohibition will appear hereafter.

Every nursery should, if possible, be free from holes or crevices;
otherwise the occupants will be exposed to currents of air, and their
sometimes terrible and always injurious consequences. The room may, in
this way, be kept at a lower medium temperature--a point of very great
importance.

Cats and dogs, I believe, are usually excluded from the nursery; if not,
they ought to be. For though the apprehension of cats "sucking the
child's breath," is wholly groundless, yet they may be provoked by the
rude attacks of a child to inflict upon it a lasting injury. Besides,
they assist, by respiration, in contaminating the air, like all other
animals.

If there are, in the nursery, objects which, from the vivacity or
brilliancy of their colors, attract the attention of the child, they
should never be presented to them sideways, or immediately over their
heads. The reason for this caution is, that children seek, and pursue
almost instinctively, bright objects; and are thus liable to contract a
habit of moving their eyes in an oblique direction, which _may_
terminate in squinting.

Many parents seem to take great pleasure in indulging the young infant
in looking at these bright objects; especially a lamp or a candle. If
the child is naturally strong and vigorous, no immediate perceptible
injury may arise; but I am confident in the opinion that the result is
often quite otherwise. For many weeks, if not many months of their early
existence, they should not be permitted to sit or lie and gaze at any
bright object, be it ever so weak or distant, unless placed exactly
before their eyes; and even in the latter case, it were better to avoid
it.

Heat is also injurious to the eyes of all, and of course not less so to
children than to adults. But when a strong light and heat are conjoined,
as is the case of sitting around a large blazing fire--the former custom
of New England--it is no wonder if the infantile eyes become early
injured