l. Regular habits must be insisted
upon, and if the mother pays attention to regularity at stool in early
childhood very little trouble will be met later on in adolescence and
adult life.

Chronic constipation often produces abnormal conditions about the
rectum such as fissures, hemorrhoids, or prolapse, which may be of
serious import.

DIARRHEA

Diarrhea is a symptom of an acute illness, or it may be associated
with a chronic condition such as chronic intestinal indigestion,
tuberculosis of the bowel, or may occur alternately with constipation
in colitis. It is the most dangerous of all symptoms that babies
develop, and in spite of all the instruction given to mothers at the
present time, in spite of all the welfare stations in large cities,
and in spite of all the efforts put forth by the commissioner of
health, with his corps of visiting nurses--even yet, more babies die
of diarrhea each summer than from any other single cause.

There are usually just two reasons for diarrhea--uncleanliness and bad
milk. During the hot summer days flies multiply greatly and all manner
of bacteria and germs grow in warm, moist, shadowy places, so that
usually before the milk leaves the dairy farm it is seriously
contaminated with disease-producing germs. If the milk is not kept at
a temperature of 35 or 40 F. (which is just above the freezing point),
these bacteria, particularly the manure germ, grow at such a rate that
by the time the milk gets to the infant it is teeming with bacteria,
and diarrhea is the sure result.

Another form of diarrhea is cholera infantum, where the stools soon
become watery and colorless. The vomiting is almost incessant and
there is high fever. Fortunately it is a rare disease, but when once
seen it is never forgotten. One beautiful baby weighing nearly thirty
pounds was reduced to sixteen within forty-eight hours, and when death
came he could hardly be recognized because of the wasting from this
most dreaded of infant diseases.

Another form of diarrhea is seen in an acute inflammatory condition of
the intestine itself. The stools contain more or less mucus and blood.
The bowel movements, which are very frequent, are accompanied by a
great deal of pain and straining. This form is often seen in the more
severe types of summer dysentery. We wish to impress upon the reader's
mind that these diarrheas may all be avoided if the baby's food is
clean and free from germs, if the apple or pear is not onl