ly,
carrying off one child after another, as they have successively arrived
at the same age.

But notwithstanding its frequency and fearful character, a mother may
do much to overcome a constitutional predisposition to this disease,
and thus prevent its appearance; as also she may assist greatly in
promoting its cure, when it does occur. Hence it is most important that
a mother should be acquainted with the measures of prevention; and
also, when it does manifest itself, that clear and accurate information
should be possessed, upon what may be said to constitute the maternal
management of the disorder.

ITS PREVENTION.--Whenever there is found to exist in a family a
predisposition to this malady, one or more children having suffered
from it, a mother must make up her mind, and in the strictest sense of
the word, to be the guardian of the health of any child she may
subsequently give birth to. And not only during the period of infancy,
but during that of childhood also, must she continue the same careful
and vigilant superintendence.

The infant must be brought up on the breast, and if the mother is not
of a decidedly healthy and robust constitution, she must obtain a
wet-nurse possessing such qualifications. The breast-milk, and nothing
beside, must form the nutriment of the child for at least nine months;
and if the infant is delicate or strumous, it will be prudent to
continue it even six months longer. When the period arrives for the
substitution of artificial food, it must be carefully selected; it must
be appropriate to the advancing age of the child; nutritious and
unirritating. Good air and daily exercise, and the bath or sponging,
are of much importance; in short, all those general measures which have
a tendency to promote and maintain the tone and general health of the
system, and thus induce a vigorous and healthy constitution, and to
which reference has been so fully made in the first chapter of this
work, must be strictly regarded and followed out by the parent.

The condition of the digestive organs must be the mother's especial
care. Costiveness must be guarded against; and if at any time the
secretions from the bowels indicate the presence of derangement, the
medical attendant must be applied to, that appropriate remedies may
without delay be exhibited. Their disordered condition is frequently
productive of head-disease. Again and again have I clearly traced the
origin of the complaint, of which I a