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OF CHILDREN.

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will even put clothes dipt in the water upon the child,and either put it to bed, or suffer it to go about in thatcondition. Some believe that the whole virtue of thewater depends upon its being dedicated to a particularsaint; while others place their confidence in a certainnumber of dips, as three, seven, nine, or the like; andthe world could not persuade them, if these do not suc-ceed, to try it a little longer. Thus, by the whims ofnurses, children lose the benefit of the cold bath, andthe hopes of the physician from that medicine are oftenfrustrated.

We ought not, however, entirely to set aside thecold bath, because some nurses make a wrong use of it.Every child, when in health, should at least have itsextremities daily washed in cold water. This is a par-tial use of the cold bath, and is better than none. Inwinter this may suffice; but, in the warm season, if achild be relaxed, or seem to have a.tendency to therickets or scrophula, its whole body ought to be fre-quently immersed in cold water. Care, however, mustbe taken not to do this when the body is hot, or thestomach full. The child should be dipped only onceat a time, should be taken out immediately, and haveits skin well rubbed with a dry cloth.

The bad Effects of unwholesome Air upon Children.

Few things prove more destructive to children thanconfined or unwholesome air. This is one reason whyso few of those infants, who are put into hospitals, orparish-workhouses, live. These places are generallycrowded with old, sickly, and infirm people; by whichmeans the air is rendered so extremely pernicious, thatit becomes a poison to infants.

Want of wholesome air is likewise destructive tomany poor children born, in great towns. There thepoorer sort of inhabitants live in low, dirty, confinedhouses, to which the fresh air has hardly any access.Though grown people, who are hardy and robust, maybe in such situations, yet they generally prove fatal to