riments
upon the breast-milk at different periods after delivery, and under
various conditions of the mother, to collect many interesting and
important facts--such, perhaps, as would tend very materially to augment
our knowledge of pathology, and improve our practice in the treatment
of certain diseases[C].

We cannot but believe that the Supreme Being has done nothing without an
infinitely wise and good object, and it is obviously our interest, no
less than our duty, to be guided by those indications of the Divine
purpose which are distinctly to be traced throughout the creation.

It must appear evident to all who examine the matter in question, that
the infant was intended to be nourished for the first few months of its
existence through the medium of a fluid; because no teeth are provided
to prepare for its use substances of a more solid description; and there
can be no doubt that this fluid is the mother's milk;--but when the
child has attained a certain age the teeth begin to appear, doubtless at
the precise time when they are meant to be used; and, therefore, more
solid food should now be given. Besides, in consequence of its new
acquisition, the child sucks less perfectly than before, an additional
proof that weaning ought at this period to be commenced. Indeed, the
teeth are calculated indirectly to produce this effect themselves, the
mother being now liable to suffer inconvenience by letting the child
take the breast--for the latter _bites_ instead of _sucking_ the nipple,
and the pain hence arising may, perhaps, induce the former, for her own
sake, to discontinue a practice injurious to both.

It must also be remembered, that when the teeth are usually produced,
the milk loses its nutritious properties, and this too at a time when
the infant from his increasing size must evidently require a more solid
and substantial, rather than a thinner and less nourishing diet. What
rational argument, therefore, can be offered why he should still be
suckled? If we observe the brute creation, do any analogies appear by
which we can defend the propriety in the human species of protracted
suckling? by no means:--on the contrary, we find that the female animals
soon drive away their young from their dugs; and what is, perhaps, still
more to the purpose, I have heard stated, on good authority, as a
well-known fact among the breeders of cattle, that if calves be allowed
to suck beyond a few months they do not thrive, but, on t