oduce this, as a popular and universal
branch of education, into every female school.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE CARE OF HEALTH.

There is no point, where a woman is more liable to suffer from a want of
knowledge and experience, than in reference to the health of a family
committed to her care. Many a young lady, who never had any charge of
the sick; who never took any care of an infant; who never obtained
information on these subjects from books, or from the experience of
others; in short, with little or no preparation; has found herself the
principal attendant in dangerous sickness, the chief nurse of a feeble
infant, and the responsible guardian of the health of a whole family.

The care, the fear, the perplexity, of a woman, suddenly called to
these unwonted duties, none can realize, till they themselves feel it,
or till they see some young and anxious novice first attempting to meet
such responsibilities. To a woman of age and experience, these duties
often involve a measure of trial and difficulty, at times deemed almost
insupportable; how hard, then, must they press on the heart of the young
and inexperienced!

There is no really efficacious mode of preparing a woman to take a
_rational_ care of the health of a family, except by communicating that
knowledge, in regard to the construction of the body, and the laws of
health, which is the basis of the medical profession. Not that a woman
should undertake the minute and extensive investigation requisite for a
physician; but she should gain a general knowledge of first principles,
as a guide to her judgement in emergencies when she can rely on no other
aid. Therefore, before attempting to give any specific directions on the
subject of this chapter, a short sketch of the construction of the human
frame will be given, with a notice of some of the general principles, on
which specific rules in regard to health are based. This description
will be arranged under the general heads of BONES, MUSCLES, NERVES,
BLOOD-VESSELS, ORGANS OF DIGESTION AND RESPIRATION, and THE SKIN.

BONES.

The bones are the most solid parts of the body. They are designed to
protect and sustain it, and also to secure voluntary motion. They are
about two hundred and fifty in number, (there being sometimes a few more
or less,) and are fastened together by cartilage, or gristle, a
substance like the bones, but softer, and more elastic.

In order to convey a more clear and correct idea of th