ving for it is unhealthful. Spices, wines,
fermented liquors, and all stimulating condiments, produce unhealthful
thirst.

FOOTNOTE:

[G] The writer would here remark, in reference to extracts made from
various authors, that, for the sake of abridging, she has often left out
parts of a paragraph, but never so as to modify the meaning of the
author. Some ideas, not connected with the subject in hand, are omitted,
but none are altered.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON CLOTHING.

It appears, by calculations made from bills of mortality, that one
quarter of the human race perishes in infancy. This is a fact not in
accordance with the analogy of Nature. No such mortality prevails among
the young of animals; it does not appear to be the design of the
Creator; and it must be owing to causes which can be removed. Medical
men agree in the opinion, that a great portion of this mortality, is
owing to mismanagement, in reference to fresh air, food, and clothing.

At birth, the circulation is chiefly in the vessels of the skin; for the
liver and stomach, being feeble in action, demand less blood, and it
resorts to the surface. If, therefore, an infant be exposed to cold, the
blood is driven inward, by the contracting of the blood-vessels in the
skin: and, the internal organs being thus over-stimulated, bowel
complaints, croup, convulsions, or some other evil, ensues. This shows
the sad mistake of parents, who plunge infants in cold water to
strengthen their constitution; and teaches, that infants should be
washed in warm water, and in a warm room. Some have constitutions strong
enough to bear mismanagement in these respects; but many fail in
consequence of it.

Hence we see the importance of dressing infants warmly, and protecting
them from exposure to a cold temperature. It is for this purpose, that
mothers, now, very generally, cover the arms and necks of infants,
especially in Winter. Fathers and mothers, if they were obliged to go
with bare arms and necks, even in moderate weather, would often shiver
with cold; and yet they have a power of constitution which would subject
them to far less hazard and discomfort, than a delicate infant must
experience from a similar exposure. This mode of dressing infants, with
bare necks and arms, has arisen from the common impression, that they
have a power of resisting cold superior to older persons. This is a
mistake; for the experiments of medical men have established the fact,
that the