s is happily going by; and perhaps
it may be thought unnecessary for me to dwell a single moment on the
subject. But as the practice still prevails in some parts of the
country, it may be well to bestow upon it a few passing remarks.

Many mothers have not considered that the circulation of the blood in
young infants is peculiarly active; that a large amount of blood is at
that period carried to the head; that in consequence of this, the head
is proportionably hotter than in adults; and that from this source
arises the tendency of very young children to brain-fever, dropsy in the
head, and other diseases of this part of the system. But these are most
undoubted facts.

Hence one reason why the heads of infants should be kept as cool as
possible; and though a thin cap confines less heat than a thick head of
hair does when they are older, yet they are less able to bear it. The
truth is, that nature furnishes a covering for the head, just about as
fast as a covering is required, and the child's safety will permit.

At the present day, few persons will probably be found, who will defend
the utility of caps, any longer than till the hair is grown. The
general apology for their use after this period, and indeed in most
instances before, is, that they look pretty. "What would people say to
see my darling without a cap?"

But when the head is kept, from the first, totally uncovered, the hair
grows more rapidly, dandruff and other scurfy diseases rarely attack the
scalp; catarrh, snuffles, and other similar complaints, and above all,
dropsy in the head, seldom show themselves; and the period of cutting
teeth, that most dangerous period in the life of an infant, is passed
over with much more safety.

"Nothing but custom," says a foreign writer, "can reconcile us to the
cap, with all its lace and trumpery ornaments, on the beautiful head of
a child; and I would ask any one to say candidly, whether he thinks the
children in the pictures of Titian and Raffaelle would be improved by
having their heads covered with caps, instead of the silken curls--the
adornment of nature--which cluster round their smiling faces. If there
were no other reason for disusing caps for infants, but the improvement
which it produces in the _appearance_ of the child, I would maintain
that this is a sufficient inducement." And I concur with him fully.

As to the notion--now I hope nearly exploded--that it is necessary to
cover up the "open of the head,"