and the medical faculty agreed to bewail the malignancy of the atmosphere. The atmos

phere was accused in cases,

ran might almost have seen,

where he who

that the calamity was disseminated by the grossest kind of contagion alone. But in acquitting the medium, by which we are surrounded, of producing one class of evils, its real injurious influence, if not absolutely overlooked by professional men, has never been sufficiently explained to the mass of those, on whom it is exerted. It is my intention, at present, to do what my own observations, assisted by those of others, will enable me towards supplying this great deficiency. -I shall separately consider different ages, constitutions and circumstances; and thus I hope to furnish most of my readers with data for determining the mode of conduct, best suited to themselves, and to those dependant on their discretion. I only expect that they, on their part, will bring with them common prudence to the consideration of common matters, and not suffer themselves to imagine, that any tricks of medical legerdemain can suddenly repair the ruin, brought upon the human machine by long negligence or gross error.

INFANCY.

If there were safety in the multitude of books, parents would have little to apprehend for their progeny. The literature of Europe abounds with productions on the diseases and the management of children. We have many such in our own language. A reputable living author has collected from his predecessors, with a degree of judgment. He has added some things from genuine observation. It is to be regretted, that he should have unintentionally given his sanction to the arts of common imposition by the needless employment of language, connected with exploded hypotheses.* It is

*For instance-Every species of this eruption is produced by the same cause as the thrush, but can scarcely be termed a complaint, being a kindly exertion of nature to throw off some ACRIMONY".-Again "otherwise the rash striking in, the ACRIMONY will fall on the first passages." Every body, who has taken the least pains to examine the grounds of medical opinion, knows that there is not the smallest evidence of any kind in favour of the existence of acrimony, or of its migration to and fro in the body. And such shallow nonsense from a regular physician to common readers gains credit for quacks, whose advertisements usually run in the

still more to be regretted, that by entering into the treatment of diseases, he should have thrown a temptation in the way of mothers and nurses to intermeddle with that part of medical practice, which is precisely, on many occasions, the most difficult, on account of the obscurity of symptoms in children. It would have been better to omit such dangerous matter, and in place of a few perplexed, indiscriminating sentences to have devoted the space that would thus have been gainetl, to a copious investigation of the effects of heat and cold. For there is nothing so essential in the whole compass of infantile tegimen.

*

I hope I shall not be thought too trivial if I recommend, that care be taken to provide a fit habitation for the expected little stranger, The numerous opportunities I have had of becoming acquainted with the causes of suffering among the poor, first impressed me with a sense of the importance of this precaution. I have seen severe catarrhs, the

same strain. In this consists the mischievousness of this particular nonsense. Though indeed it is hardly possible for nonsense and falsehood to be innocent, when it is to be reduced to practice upon infants by the ignorant.

most violent inflammations of the eye, and other complaints, produced by a breach in the window, or a by fissure in the wall, opposite the spot where the infant was usually held. In some instances, indeed, the parents, inattentive as the poor usually are, have made the discovery themselves. The same thing has occurred in opulent families. The shrinking of the sash-frame, of a board in the floor, or of some other wood-work has admitted an unperceived, but strong current of cold air, by which infants have been seriously injured.

But it is not only necessary to guard against such mishaps. The fire-place should be so contrived, that even in cold weather a steady temperature of about sixty degrees may be kept up, for the first four or five weeks after birth. The air of the nursery should never be suffered to be below fifty degrees. And I would advise every parent to ascertain this by a thermometer, constantly kept in the room, at the risque of being thought ridiculously minute. No hot-house is suffered to be without an instrument of this kind. New-born babes come from as warm a climate as any exotic plant. They are as tender. And who will say they are not intitled to as scrupulous care? The directions, with which Count

1

Rumford has favoured the world, will assist in fitting up an apartment so as to be properly warm. And I suppose, few fathers, once convinced of the propriety of a steady, mild temperature, will hesitate to dedicate their most suitable apartment to the health of their offspring. Small nurseries cause many complaints, and many bad constitutions, Leaving the door open for a short time, fills the room with frosty air in winter: and a fire, somewhat too brisk, produces a heat, that will aggravate some disorders, and greatly enervate a habit, constantly immersed in it.

The membrane lining the nostrils and air-pipes is, at first, so susceptible, that the slightest impression will often produce a very sensible effect. Brisk motion, for example, against the air of a room sufficiently warm, will produce both coughing and sneezing, but more certainly the latter. And it had better be avoided. The frequent renewal of this irritation tends to keep up the excessive susceptibility of the membrane. A habit is established, which in some few instances, lays the foundation of asthma at a very tender age. I have seen this disease extremely violent in young children, and have traced it with a considerable degree of probability to