for the purpose. This is no idle boast; every day's experience proves its correctness, and there are scores of families now living who can and will, if necessary, testify to the truth of our assertion.
On the birth of the infant, after the process of ablution, the first thing necessary is to apply a bandage round the abdomen, for the purpose of preventing the protrusion bf the umbilical cord, or navel-string. Here, in the very commencement, a serious error is frequently committed, a strong inelastic substance being tightly placed round the delicate body of the child, and a degree of pressure made on that part, regardless of the infant's previous state of existence. The bandage is also often made so broad as to press considerably on the ribs, and therefore, even at this early period, to contract the chest; the nurse rarely considering that the sole object of this investment is the prevention of umbilical protrusion, and that therefore pressure on that particular region is all that is necessary. The newly born child does not at first respire so much by means of the muscles of the chest, as by the action of the diaphragm, and any undue tightness of a bandage round the abdomen must therefore be extremely injurious.
All the clothes provided for the advent of the little stranger are made entirely on a false principle, and calculated to produce a baleful influence on its future development. In the first place, the nurse is particularly anxious that its little fat and mottled neck and shoulders should be exposed to the admiration of visitors, and she therefore pushes all the dressings of the child down on the arm, instead of allowing them to remain on the shoulder, which is their proper place; and when Baby is in full dress for the reception of company, this object is effected by means of charming red or blue ribbons passed under the sleeves and tied in a very pretty knot outside; conveying to a reflecting mind the idea of a lamb decorated with garlands before being sacrificed. Now, by this mode of procedure the baby's chest is exposed to cold, which its delicate organization is unable to bear, and cough or inflammation of the lungs may result; while at the same time the sleeves are made so tight round its little arms, and the operation of pinioning is so effectually performed, that the capillary circulation in the arms is obstructed, the poor infant's hands become blue and cold, and the nurse then wonders that her charge is so peevish. The legs also come in for their share of punishment,—a thick napkin being put on, totally prevent-
