We can not stretch out an arm or a foot, or walk, or run, or leap, without freshening the life-currents of the system; sending new flashes of electric warmth along the nerves and muscles; and scattering a cloud of those blue and black devils that buzz around the ears of poor sedentary students, stayers at home, and women imprisoned in nurseries and amid their household cares.-North American Review. CATALOGUED MAY 6 1925 D. B. S. BOSTON MEDICA TMAY 5 1925 LIBRARY Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873 by SAMUEL R. WELLS, PUBLISHER, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. Cultivate the physical exclusively, and you have an athlete or a savage; the moral only, and you have an enthusiast or a maniac; the intellectual only, and you have a diseased oddity—it may be a monster. It is only by training all together-physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual-that the complete man can be formed.-ILLUSTRATED PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL. NOTE. THE SCIENCE OF HEALTH was commenced in July, 1872. There are two Volumes published each year. The first volume consisted of Six Monthly Numbers, beginning in July and ending in December, 1872. Volume II. commenced in January and ended in June, 1873. Volume III. began with July Number, 1873, ending this December. Back Numbers, from the commencement, to complete sets, may still be had, and those interested in a dissemination of Hygienic Principles, or "How to Live" according to the laws of Health, will find the same in this Magazine. Terms, $1 a Volume, or $2 a year. Price for Vols. 1, 2, and 3, nicely bound is $4.50. BOSTON MEDICAL MAY 1925 No. 13.] New York, July, 1873. [Vol. III. NATURE'S REMEDIAL AGENCIES ARE LIGHT, AIR, TEMPERATURE, ELECTRICITY, DIET, BATHING, SLEEP, EXERCISE AND REST. THE PHYSICAL NEEDS OF A BABY. BY ELIZABETH DUDLEY. WHEN we say that a young infant, being but a little animal with reason and affections yet undeveloped, has for a few weeks or months, physical wants, or needs, only, and will thrive and grow when these are duly supplied-we are probably right. But do we clearly understand what are these physical needs? If we fail to supply any of them, can we expect our children to grow and develop in healthy perfection? So much has already been written upon this theme, that it would seem to be exhausted, and parents to have nothing more to learn. But, since most advice on the subject has been given by medical men; who, however wise and experienced they are, have not the same opportunities of close and minute observation as an intelligent and devoted mother-and since so many beloved and promising babies die-it is, perhaps, well to review the ground again, and yet again, until new ideas on the subject shall evolve a definite, practical scheme of management, which every mother can follow, in order to develop her child to the perfection of humanity. Some general rules are well-known. Beautiful and delicate clothing is made ready; many young mothers even line the soft flannel bands and skirts with fine white silk, and use, with these, fine robes of gossamer, linen, and muslin. No baby is hurt by delicate garments, provided they are not starched stifly and fastened tightly round the body; but the wardrobe is not the only want, nor even the only preparation that can be made before birth. If the prospective mother is worried and vexed by the embroidery and lace, the silk, flannel, and the baby basket, the christening robe, and the gilded bassinet, she will injure the physical health of her offspring. It will be born with an irritable temper and a melancholy disposition, and therefore predisposed to dyspepsia. No one can enjoy good health while a victim to dyspepsia; no baby can thrive and grow, unless its stomach is in a healthy condition. The Father's Work of Preparation. Some share of preparation for the expected child appears to devolve upon the father, also. His duty is not done when he has supplied the mother with all the money she wants for the baby's wardrobe, etc.; he has not only to engage skilful attendants for the day of travail-not only to shield his wife during her period of gestation from every danger to health and comfort-but he must gratify her spiritual needs also. He must remember that love and caresses called this new individual into existence, and he must not grow careless and chary of continuing his caresses and manifestations of affection; lest his wife, in her peculiar condition, may grow morbid and melancholy, constantly dwelling upon the fancy that he no longer loves her, and that life is worthless-she hopes to die before the babe is born! This is a state of mind more common to pregnant women than will generally be believed; and, through causing it, many fathers not only bring upon their children the sufferings of a weak digestion, but also the curse of a tendency towards insanity or suicide. Surely the physical needs of a baby have not been duly provided for, when he is born with dyspepsia, and liability to inflammation of the brain! Have we now provided all the physical needs of the baby? He has his natural food, the mother's milk, at regular intervals, and in proper quantity. Undisturbed and refreshing sleep is secured him; suitable bathing and clothing, and a supply of fresh air and sunshine-can there remain anything unsupplied to this little animal? He will not Thrive without Love. This human infant must be made happy by demonstrations of natural affection. His bodily welfare demands a sunny and serene atmosphere, of which he is yet, no doubt, mentally unconscious, but which acts upon his senses, and communicates itself from them, through the brain to the body. Happiness makes babies thrive and growunhappiness thwarts and blights, and sometimes kills them. I have spoken of the human infant as a mere animal, because nearly all doctors and physiologists hold that opinion. We are frequently assured that “the But let him begin the world "all right,” a plump, rosy, well-proportioned little animal, who eats like a pig, and sleep like a kitten. Are his physical needs those of eating and sleeping only? Fresh air, sunshine, and exercise are, perhaps, as important. Many mothers, especially with their first-born, consider a little infant to be so exceedingly tender and delicate, so much in danger of taking cold--so ready to die at any minute-new-born infant is a little animal, with that they most carefully exclude the breath of heaven-the vital air-from his room; and when he is carried out of doors, bundle him up, head and all, as if he were going on a voyage to the North Pole. only animal wants. We need not be too sentimental about it." But since I have helped into the world more than three hundred babies, and afterward visited the mothers for a longer or shorter period, but never for less than six weeks-and since my love of studying human characteristics leads me to close and minute observation of conduct-my experience of the "ways and manners" of new Don't Torture him to Death! He must not be chilled, indeed; but think of his tender lungs, and do not let them become diseased by breath-born children convinces me that their ing the same air over and over again. An infant may easily be tortured to death, but this cannot be done in a day. The most delicate of them exhibit a surprising tenacity of life; as every physician can testify who has witnessed a helpless little babe struggling against a long-continued course of poisoning by Soothing Syrup. The baby must have plenty of fresh air, and should be carried about out of doors three or four hours during the middle of the day, every pleasant day. Mothers fear the sun upon these little heads; but, properly applied, a sun bath will benefit most infants. perceptive mental powers begin to act very soon after birth. The perceptions cannot be exercised without developing; and, as they develop, the moral emotions are aroused and acted upon. Some uneducated mothers, who have taken their infants in their arms and suckled them within an hour or two after birth, insist that a child of a day old knows and loves its own mother. Ladies, however, who from the first have put the delicate little one to sleep in a bed by itself—especially when they have caused it to be fed artificially-declare that a child must be several weeks old before |