y cases. A small amount of sweet oil may be injected into the
rectum which will lubricate the hard lumps and thus favor comfortable
evacuation. The periodicity of the bowel movement (at definite times
each day) is a matter of great importance. Immediately after a meal,
if the child is old enough, he should be placed on the toilet chair. A
bit of cotton, well anointed with vaseline and inserted into the
rectum just before meals, will often aid in producing a bowel movement
shortly after the meal has been taken.

Abdominal massage should be administered in all instances of
constipation, beginning with light movements and gradually increasing,
with well-oiled hands.

DIARRHOEA

Diarrhoea usually accompanies acute intestinal indigestion and is so
often associated with the common disorders of infancy that we refer
the reader to the chapter "Common Disorders of Infancy." Dark stools
should always be saved for the physician to observe, as they
frequently contain blood. Stools full of air bubbles with pungent sour
odor show fermentation; in which cases the starches should be reduced,
if not entirely taken away from the food mixtures. Green stools mean
putrefaction from filth-germs; a thorough cleansing of the bowel
should be immediately followed by a reduction in the strength of the
food and the boiling of the milk.

REGULATION OF THE STOOLS

At a certain time each day the napkin should be removed and the child
should be held out over a small jar. It is surprising to note how
quickly and readily the little fellow cooperates. Diaper experiences
may be limited to much less than a year if the mother has patience
enough and the baby has the normal intelligence to enter into this
regulation regime. We recall one caretaker who complained bitterly
because the child under her care constantly wet his diaper; so the
caretaker was instructed to keep a daily schedule of the baby's
actions for five days; and, to her surprise, she discovered that the
baby urinated about the same time each day. A regularity was also
noted concerning the bowel movements.

The variations in the time of the urinations were only fifteen or
twenty minutes, so nearly did the kidneys act at the same time each
day. The caretaker was instructed to remove the diaper and hold the
baby out at the earliest occurrence on the daily schedule, and, to the
astonishment of the entire family, no further accidents occurred, and
the child soon acquired the habit of let