ty of milk and cream should be gradually increased to a half
or two-thirds milk, and from one to two ounces of cream. I seldom
increase the quantity of gelatine or arrowroot.'

The egg is a valuable article of food for infants and young children,
especially in conditions of debility. It should be given nearly raw, and
is best prepared by placing it in boiling water for two minutes. It is
then easily digested.

Beef-tea, prepared in the manner described on page 234, is highly
nutritious and useful as a food for infants: if it produce a laxative
effect, it should be discontinued. When the child shows signs of
weakness or of a scrofulous condition its nutrition will be improved by
mingling with its food a small piece of butter or mutton suet.

During the first four or five months the food should be thin, and taken
through a teat, thus preventing the stuffing of the infant.

On attaining the age of twelve or fifteen months, infants are usually
able to digest ordinary wholesome solid food, neatly and well cooked,
when mashed or cut into fine pieces.

An article of food employed for the diarrhoea of infants is prepared as
follows:--'A pound of dry wheat flour of the best quality is packed
snugly in a bag and boiled three or four hours. When it is taken from
the bag it is hard, resembling a piece of chalk, with the exception of
the exterior, which is wet, and should be removed. The flour grated from
the mass should be used the same as arrowroot or rice.'

Infants nourished by prepared food thrive well enough during cool
weather, but during the warm months of the year they are exceedingly
liable to bowel complaint, of which large numbers of the spoon-fed
infants of cities die each summer season. Hence the importance of taking
them into the country; and keeping them there until the return of cool
weather lessens the danger of city life.

WEANING.

This should take place when the child is about twelve months of
age--sometimes a few months earlier, often a few later. If the mother's
health be good, and her milk abundant, it may be deferred until the
canine teeth appear--between the fifteenth and twentieth month. The
child will then have sixteen teeth with which it can properly masticate
soft solid food.

_Time of the year for._--The infant should not be taken from the breast
during or immediately preceding warm weather. If the mother, either on
account of sickness or failure in her breast-milk, is obliged during the
s