n diseases.

IN CHILDHOOD.--The clothing of the child should possess the same
properties as that of infancy. It should afford due warmth, be of such
materials as do not irritate the skin, and so made as to occasion no
unnatural constriction.

In reference to due warmth, it may be well again to repeat, that too
little clothing (that state of semi-nudity which the vanity of some
parents encourage) is frequently productive of the most sudden attacks
of active disease; and that children who are thus exposed with naked
breasts and thin clothing in a climate so variable as ours are the
frequent subjects of croup, and other dangerous affections of the air-
passages and lungs. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten, that
too warm clothing is a source of disease,--sometimes even of the same
diseases which originate in exposure to cold,--and often renders the
frame more susceptible of the impressions of cold, especially of cold
air taken into the lungs. Regulate the clothing, then, according to the
season; resume the winter dress early; lay it aside late; for it is in
spring and autumn that the vicissitudes in our climate are greatest,
and congestive and inflammatory complaints most common.

With regard to material (as was before observed), the skin will at
this age bear flannel next to it; and it is now not only proper, but
necessary. It may be put off with advantage during the night, and
cotton maybe substituted during the summer, the flannel being resumed
early in the autumn. If from very great delicacy of constitution it
proves too irritating to the skin, fine fleecy hosiery will in general
be easily endured, and will greatly conduce to the preservation of
health.

It is highly important that the clothes of the boy should be so made
that no restraints shall be put on the movements of the body or limbs,
nor injurious pressure made on his waist or chest. All his muscles
ought to have full liberty to act, as their free exercise promotes both
their growth and activity, and thus insures the regularity and
efficiency of the several functions to which these muscles are
subservient.

The same remarks apply with equal force to the dress of the girl; and
happily, during childhood, at least, no distinction is made in this
matter between the sexes. Not so, however, when the girl is about to
emerge from this period of life; a system of dress is then adopted
which has the most pernicious effects upon her health, and the
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