own and has a tranquil mind.

An interesting illustration of the powerful sedative action of the
mother's milk--changed in consequence of great mental distress--upon the
impressible nervous system of the infant, is furnished by a German
physician. 'A carpenter fell into a quarrel with a soldier billeted in
his house, and was set upon by the latter with his drawn sword. The wife
of the carpenter at first trembled from fear and terror, and then
suddenly threw herself furiously between the combatants, wrested the
sword from the soldier's hand, broke it in pieces, and threw it away.
During the tumult, some neighbors came in and separated the men. While
in this state of strong excitement, the mother took up her child from
the cradle, where it lay playing and in the most perfect health, never
having had a moment's illness. She gave it the breast, and in so doing
sealed its fate. In a few minutes the infant left off sucking, became
restless, panted, and sank dead upon its mother's bosom. The physician,
who was instantly called in, found the child lying in the cradle as if
asleep, and with its features undisturbed; but all his resources were
fruitless. It was irrevocably gone.'

Professor William A. Hammond of New York mentions, in a recent number of
the _Journal of Psychological Medicine_, several instances, from his own
practice, of affections in the child caused by the mother's milk. 'A
soldier's wife, whilst nursing her child, was very much terrified by a
sudden thunderstorm, during which the house where she was then quartered
was struck by lightning. The infant, which had always been in excellent
health, was immediately attacked with vomiting and convulsions, from
which it recovered with difficulty.' 'A lady, three weeks after
delivery, was attacked with puerperal insanity. She nursed her child but
once after the accession of the disease, and in two hours subsequently
it was affected with general convulsions, from which it died during the
night. Previous to this event it had been in robust health.'

Again, Dr. Seguin of New York relates, in his work on Idiocy, a number
of cases of _loss of mind_ produced by the altered state of the mother's
milk. 'Mrs. B. came out from a ball-room, gave the breast to her baby,
three months old: he was taken with spasms two hours after, and since is
a confirmed idiot and epileptic.'

'In a moment of great anxiety Mrs. C. jumped into a carriage with her
suckling, a girl of fifteen months