cause of their listening to
the danger-obviating quackery. This, too, is the case with other
parents; but parents should be under the influence of _reason_ and
_experience_, as well as under that of affection; and _now_, at any
rate, they ought to set this really dangerous quackery at nought.

265. And, what does _my own experience_ say on the other side? There are
my seven children, the sons as tall, or nearly so, as their father, and
the daughters as tall as their mother; all, in due succession,
inoculated with the good old-fashioned face-tearing small-pox; neither
of them with a single mark of that disease on their skins; neither of
them having been, that we could perceive, _ill for a single hour_, in
consequence of the inoculation. When we were in the United States, we
observed that the Americans were _never marked_ with the small-pox; or,
if such a thing were seen, it was very rarely. The cause we found to be,
the universal practice of having the children inoculated _at the
breast_, and, generally, at _a month_ or _six weeks old_. When we came
to have children, we did the same. I believe that some of ours have been
a few months old when the operation has been performed, but always while
_at the breast_, and as early as possible after the expiration of six
weeks from the birth; sometimes put off a little while by some slight
disorder in the child, or on account of some circumstance or other; but,
with these exceptions, done at, or before, the end of six weeks from the
birth, and _always at the breast_. All is then _pure_: there is nothing
in either body or mind to favour the natural fury of the disease. We
always took particular care about the _source_ from which the infectious
matter came. We employed medical men, in whom we could place perfect
confidence: we had their _solemn word_ for the matter coming from some
_healthy child_; and, at last, we had sometimes to _wait_ for this, the
cow-affair having rendered patients of this sort rather rare.

266. While the child has the small-pox, the mother should abstain from
food and drink, which she may require at other times, but which might be
too gross just now. To suckle a hearty child requires good living; for,
besides that this is necessary to the mother, it is also necessary to
the child. A little forbearance, just at this time, is prudent; making
the diet as simple as possible, and avoiding all violent agitation
either of the body or the spirits; avoiding too, if y