lf not at night
only, but also in the daytime. Lastly, it does sometimes occur from
muscular feebleness in weakly children, the bladder being unable to bear
more than a limited degree of distension.

The accident usually happens either soon after going to bed, when the
warmth stimulates the action of the bladder, or towards morning, when
the bladder has become full. The posture on the back favours its
occurrence very much, and it is therefore of importance that the child
should lie on its side when in bed. The good effect of a blister on the
lower part of the back as a means of cure was largely due to its forcing
the child to lie on its side. This object can be attained, however, in a
much kindlier way, by tying half a dozen cotton reels together, and
fastening them at the child's back. The habit may also often be broken
through by arousing the child in the night, and compelling it to empty
its bladder, the hour being first ascertained at which the accident
usually happens. For this, however, to be of any real use, the child
must be awakened thoroughly; since otherwise it will mechanically, and
quite unconsciously, empty its bladder while still asleep. The habit in
this case is not in the least overcome; only for the time the bed
escapes the wetting. The utensil must therefore be placed on different
nights at different parts of the room, so that the child, in order to
find it, must have been roused to thorough consciousness.

Lastly, I will add that the cases in which the accident is the result of
mere indolence are very rare, and though in such cases strictness may be
necessary, yet actual punishment is out of place. As a rule, reward
answers much better. A penny, or a threepenny-piece every night that the
accident does not happen, and a forfeit of a halfpenny or two pence for
every night of misfortune, is a very efficacious help to a cure.

When all these domestic means, persevered in for months, fail to
produce any result, medical aid must be called in.

CHAPTER IX.

CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.

There remains for consideration a large class of what may be termed
_constitutional diseases_, in which the local ailment is the outcome of
a previous disorder of the whole system. These diseases are either acute
or chronic. The acute constitutional diseases belong to the class of
fevers. These are marked by certain local characteristics, as the
swelling of the joints in acute rheumatism, the sore-throat in
scarla