as it is called, nothing can be more
idle. This part of the head requires no more covering than any other
part; and if it did, all the dress in the world could not affect it in
the least, except to retard the growth of the bones, which, in due time,
ought to close up the space; and this effect, anything which keeps the
head too hot might help to produce. Of the folly of wetting the head
with spirits, or any other medicated lotions, and of making daily
efforts to bring it into shape, it is unnecessary to speak in the
present chapter.

SEC. 6. _Hats and Bonnets._

The hats worn in this country are almost universally too warm. But if it
is a great mistake in adults to wear thick, heavy hats, it is much more
so in the case of children.

The infant in the nursery, as we have already seen, needs no covering of
the kind. It is absolutely necessary that the head should be kept as
cool as possible; and absolutely dangerous to cover it too warmly. At a
later period, however, the danger greatly diminishes, because the
circulation of the blood becomes more equal, and does not tend so much
towards the brain.

Still, however, the head is hotter than the limbs, especially the hands
and feet; and I cannot help thinking that the hair is the only covering
which is perfectly safe, either in childhood or age; except in the
sunshine or in the storm. There may be--there probably is--some danger
in going without hat or bonnet in the hot sun; though I have known many
children, and some grown persons, who were constantly exposed in this
way, and yet appeared not to suffer from it.

But this may be the proper place to state that we are ever in great
danger of deceiving ourselves on this subject. If the individuals who
follow practices usually regarded as pernicious, while their habits in
other respects are just like those of other persons around them who have
similar strength, &c. of constitution,--if these individuals, I say,
were wholly to escape disease, through life, or if they were to be so
much more free from it, and live to an age so much greater than others
as to constitute a striking and obvious difference in their favor, we
might then safely argue that the practices which they follow are at
least without dangers, if not of obvious advantage. But when we see them
beset with ills, like other people, it is not safe to pronounce their
habits favorable to health, since it is impossible to know whether some
of the ills which they su