re of
paramount importance to the nervous child, and he should be left alone
to amuse himself several hours each day. It is a deplorable fact that
the nervous child--the very one that should be left alone--is the very
child that usually receives the most attention, the very one who is
most petted, indulged, and pacified; all of which only tends to
increase his lack of self-control and to multiply the future sorrows
of his well-meaning but indulgent parents.

HEADACHE

Headache attacks old and young alike, and the young infant that is
unable to tell us he has a headache manifests it by rolling the head
from side to side, putting his hand to his head, or by wrinkling up
his brow. Headaches may be occasioned by disorders of the brain and
spinal column, such as meningitis. It nearly always accompanies fever,
and is often a result of constipation, intestinal indigestion,
overeating, as well as eating the wrong kind of food.

The treatment of headache in children (aside from removing any known
cause) consists of a hot foot bath, a brief mustard paste to the back
of the neck, a light diet--sometimes nothing but water--and the
administration of a laxative.

CONVULSIONS--SPASMS

In the very young, convulsions are easily produced. That which will
produce but a headache in an adult will often produce a convulsion in
the child. Aside from diseases of the nervous system such as epilepsy,
etc., convulsions frequently accompany gas on the bowels, intestinal
indigestion, disordered dentition, an acute illness, intestinal
parasites (worms), irritation about the genitals such as the need of
circumcision, an adherent clitoris, adenoids and enlarged tonsils,
inflammation of the ears, and poor nutrition of any sort such as
rickets.

The convulsion picture is a stiffening of the body--sometimes arching
backwards--rolling or staring of the eye-balls, blueness of the skin,
a drooling mouth (often foamy mucus at the mouth), clinched hands,
biting the teeth--if there are teeth--and even biting the tongue.
There is at first a succession of quick, jerking, convulsive movements
of the body which in a few moments grow less and less violent and
finally cease. The child begins to cry and then soon goes off into a
deep sleep, while the body seems more heavy and logy than usual. In
extreme cases, the child relaxes but for a moment of time, when he
goes off into another convulsion, sometimes going from one fit into
another until death reliev