o stop
any habit that may be responsible for the loss of appetite. If the child
has been eating between meals, stop it absolutely. If too much milk has
been taken, stop milk entirely. If the child has not been getting enough
fresh air, or if it has been sleeping in a badly ventilated room, or if
baths have been too infrequent, rectify the fault. If eating at the
family table and fed indiscriminately, change the programme; feed him
before the family sits down to meals. Now regulate the time of feeding
to suit the age of the child and adhere to strict regularity. It is a
pernicious and absolutely wrong custom to force children to eat, or to
coax them to eat when they do not want to eat. Loss of appetite will
never be cured by forced feeding, or by reducing the interval between
feedings, or by giving the child stronger or more concentrated food
under the mistaken idea that in this way the loss of appetite can be
"made up." The interval of feeding should rather be lengthened than
otherwise in order to give the digestive organs an opportunity to regain
the normal desire for food. Pay strict attention to the bowels. Be
certain the child has a daily satisfactory movement and that he drinks
frequently between meals.

If the child does not promptly respond to the proper hygienic and
dietary treatment as outlined above there are two things that can be
done:

1st: Send the child away. A change of scene and climate will sometimes
work like a charm in these cases, and will, after a reasonable length of
time, establish a permanently good appetite.

2nd: If this is not possible, as sometimes it may not be with poor
patients, then we can give the child suitable tonics.

OVEREATING.--The large majority of individuals eat too much. Most of us
would enjoy better health, better spirits, and greater efficiency if we
consumed from one-third to one-half less food than we habitually do.

Every living organism requires a certain amount of nourishment according
to the work performed and to replenish wear and tear; when food is
supplied in excess, the system cannot utilize it, but it is compelled to
rid itself of the excess in some way. The work involved in this
eliminating process is exceedingly detrimental to the various organs and
to the individual. To overeat is to overwork, and to overwork a machine
or an animal is not only poor economy but bad judgment. If the digestive
apparatus is required to work overtime, it is a self-evident assum