ouble force to children. In
proportion to their smallness and the rapidity of their growth is the
injury from cold great. In France, new-born infants often die in winter
from being carried to the office of the _maire_ for registration. "M.
Quetelet has pointed out, that in Belgium two infants die in January for
one that dies in July." And in Russia the infant mortality is something
enormous. Even when near maturity, the undeveloped frame is
comparatively unable to bear exposure: as witness the quickness with
which young soldiers succumb in a trying campaign. The _rationale_ is
obvious. We have already adverted to the fact that, in consequence of
the varying relation between surface and bulk, a child loses a
relatively larger amount of heat than an adult; and here we must point
out that the disadvantage under which the child thus labours is very
great. Lehmann says:--"If the carbonic acid excreted by children or
young animals is calculated for an equal bodily weight, it results that
children produce nearly twice as much acid as adults." Now the quantity
of carbonic acid given off varies with tolerable accuracy as the
quantity of heat produced. And thus we see that in children the system,
even when not placed at a disadvantage, is called upon to provide nearly
double the proportion of material for generating heat.

See, then, the extreme folly of clothing the young scantily. What
father, full-grown though he is, losing heat less rapidly as he does,
and having no physiological necessity but to supply the waste of each
day--what father, we ask, would think it salutary to go about with bare
legs, bare arms, and bare neck? Yet this tax on the system, from which
he would shrink, he inflicts on his little ones, who are so much less
able to bear it! or, if he does not inflict it, sees it inflicted
without protest. Let him remember that every ounce of nutriment
needlessly expended for the maintenance of temperature, is so much
deducted from the nutriment going to build up the frame; and that even
when colds, congestions, or other consequent disorders are escaped,
diminished growth or less perfect structure is inevitable.

"The rule is, therefore, not to dress in an invariable way in all cases,
but to put on clothing in kind and quantity _sufficient in the
individual case to protect the body effectually from an abiding
sensation of cold, however slight_." This rule, the importance of which
Dr. Combe indicates by the italics, is o