functions disordered to such an extent as to deprive her of the power of nursing her offspring. A sound state of the general health being the chief condition required to constitute a good nurse, every mother who wishes to suckle her own child ought to adhere scrupulously to that mode of life which experience has proved to be most suitable to her constitution. If any mother who may read these pages should still remain unconvinced of the propriety of adhering 'to a simple and unstimulating diet while acting as a nurse, I would earnestly direct her attention to the unquestionable fact, that the best and healthiest nurses are to be found among women belonging to the agricultural population, who, although actively employed, and much in the open air, scarcely ever taste solid animal food, or fermented liquors of any kind, but live principally on vegetable and farinaceous diet. Mothers so circumstanced rarely find any difficulty in nursing their children, provided they have a sufficient supply of their simple food, and are not over-worked.* This result is of itself sufficient to prove that the best supply of healthy milk is to be derived, not from a concentrated and highly nutritious diet, but rather from one consisting of a due proportion of mild vegetable, farinaceous, and liquid food, with a moderate allowance of meat, and without either wine or malt liquor. Even as regards the quality of *I do not allude to the miserably-fed and over-worked wives of the agricultural labourers in some districts of England, where the mothers have scarcely milk enough to suckle their children for three months. the milk, there can be no doubt that a mild diet is of great advantage. The milk derived from the use of concentrated food is too rich and stimulating for most infants. Supposing the health of both mother and child to continue good, and the supply of milk abundant, no reason whatever can exist for giving any other food till the child is six or seven months old, when the teeth usually begin to appear. Both medical men and mothers used to advise the addition of gruel, arrow-root, or some other farinaceous food, almost from the first month; and the common results were, impaired digestion and a greater liability to convulsions and other diseases of irritation, especially during the time of teething. But now a better acquaintance with the laws of the animal economy, joined with a more implicit reliance on the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, has at last made us see that the more closely we adhere to the path which He has marked out for us, the more successful shall we be in rearing the young. Unfortunately, however, mothers are sometimes unable to supply a sufficiency of milk for the adequate nourishment of their infants; and it then becomes a question how the deficiency is to be supplied. Where the mother is healthy and the milk good, but too scanty to be the sole sustenance of the child, the balance is decidedly in favour of her continuing to suckle, and giving some mild supplementary food. But if the deficiency proceeds from impaired health in the mother, from her milk disagreeing with the child, or from any other cause likely to injure the nursling, the substitution of another breast is clearly indicated; and the sooner the change is made, the better for both mother and child. Where additional nourishment is required, the principle for its right selection is, that the kind be procured which is most nearly allied in its nature to the mother's milk. Ass's milk, or cow's milk diluted with water according to the age of the child, and slightly sweetened, comes very near to the qualities of the mother's milk, and therefore forms the best addition to it, when such is required.* If it is found to agree, nothing else should be given till the appearance of the front teeth indicates the propriety of a change. But when, as occasionally happens, milk proves too heavy, and gives rise to frequent vomiting, acidity, flatulence, and gripes, advantage may be derived from diluting it with well-made barley-gruel, or arrow-root, instead of water. Sometimes, also, when diluted milk disagrees, the addition of a small quantity of rusk, or well-baked bread cut into slices and toasted almost to dryness, then boiled in a small quantity of water, to which milk is afterwards added, obviates every inconvenience, and restores the evacuations to their healthy state. But, as already remarked, these additions are seldom proper in the first months of infancy; and when the diluted milk is found to disagree, it behoves the physician to satisfy himself, by careful examination, that no error is committed in the mode of feeding, or in the frequency and quantity * See above, p. 96, and APPENDIX C. the milk, there can be no doubt that a mild diet is of great advantage. The milk derived from the use of concentrated food is too rich and stimulating for most infants. Supposing the health of both mother and child to continue good, and the supply of milk abundant, no reason whatever can exist for giving any other food till the child is six or seven months old, when the teeth usually begin to appear. Both medical men and mothers used to advise the addition of gruel, arrow-root, or some other farinaceous food, almost from the first month; and the common results were, impaired digestion and a greater liability to convulsions and other diseases of irritation, especially during the time of teething. But now a better acquaintance with the laws of the animal economy, joined with a more implicit reliance on the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, has at last made us see that the more closely we adhere to the path which He has marked out for us, the more successful shall we be in rearing the young. Unfortunately, however, mothers are sometimes unable to supply a sufficiency of milk for the adequate nourishment of their infants; and it then becomes a question how the deficiency is to be supplied. Where the mother is healthy and the milk good, but too scanty to be the sole sustenance of the child, the balance is decidedly in favour of her continuing to suckle, and giving some mild supplementary food. But if the deficiency proceeds from impaired health in the mother, from her milk disagreeing with the seventh month, not because it is the sixth or seventh month, but because at that age the incisor teeth are generally cut-a clear indication that the digestive organs are now prepared for other food. And, in like manner, children are usually weaned at the end of the ninth or tenth month, not because a certain period of time has elapsed, but because about that age certain changes in the system, indicating the propriety of an alteration of food, generally occur. When, therefore, those changes are delayed, the change of diet ought also to be delayed, even for months beyond the ordinary time, if the state of the child should render this necessary. It is, I repeat, the condition of the organism, and not the mere lapse of a certain number of months, which ought to determine the change of diet and the period of weaning. About the time, then, when the front teeth appear, milk, sweetened, and thickened with a small proportion of arrow-root or barley-gruel, may be given twice a day, and the intervals between suckling be gradually lengthened. Where milk disagrees even when combined with farinaceous substances, barley-gruel, or weak chicken or veal broth, thickened with some kind of farinaceous food, may be substituted; care being taken to regulate the quantity according to the powers of the digestive organs of the child, and to give the food slowly by means of a proper feeding-bottle. If the child is lively and excitable, the gruel will suit best; whereas, if he is soft, lymphatic, and inactive, the chicken or even beef tea will prove more congenial to the system. One kind of food, however, will some |