THE CARE OF THE BRAIN. 39 i 



nal derangements during childhood. This is also the case with adults, 

 but to a smaller degree. Convulsions in children are often the direct 

 result of improper feeding. I recall a case of an adult whom I once 

 was called upon to treat, where an epileptic fit would invariably occur 

 whenever he ate of banana. Stopping that fruit (of which he was 

 very fond) cured the attacks. 



8. Insure exercise for your children in the open air during all sea- 

 sons of the year. Cold or inclement weather should not hurt a child 

 if properly dressed for it. Avoid chilling the surface of the body or 

 the contact of damp clothing to the skin, as far as possible, especially 

 if the child has a hereditary predisposition to tuberculosis or scrofula. 

 Even during infancy, I believe in the inhalation of fresh air for at 

 least two hours daily, untainted by the gases of furnaces, gas-light, 

 imperfect sewerage, etc., in which most city houses abound. 



An open fire in the nursery tends to purify the air during the win- 

 ter months, w^hen the windows are kept closed ; and prevents over- 

 heating of the room. The temperature of a nursery should never be 

 allowed to exceed 70, and should be as nearly uniform as it is pos- 

 sible to keep it. 



Children with scrofulous tendencies or a hereditary predisj)Osition 

 to tuberculosis should be reared in the country, if possible, until they 

 have passed the seventh year. This tends, in many cases, to prevent 

 the development of hydrocephalus and epilepsy, to which such chil- 

 dren are strongly predisposed. 



9. Avoid in the case of children all books of a particularly exciting 

 character. 



This suggestion applies with great force to those w r ho display a 

 tendency to nervous affections, or who inherit a decided predisposi- 

 tion thereto. The paper-covered novels for boys, so extensively sold 

 to-day, in which murder, rapine, and hair-breadth escapes are frequent, 

 are very pernicious to the young. 



Try and cultivate in your children a love for that which will both 

 instruct and amuse them. Near-sighted children always prefer books 

 and in-door amusements to out-of-door sports ; hence they are usually 

 spoken of by their parents and friends as precocious beyond their 

 years. This is a mistake. Glasses will remedy the evil, and enable 

 such children to enjoy romping games, etc., which imperfect vision 

 had previously rendered impossible or unattractive. 



10. Teach your children, even when young, to develop their memo- 

 ries. Do this by all possible methods, except the committal of prose 

 or poetry in excess. Nothing pains me so much as to hear a very 

 young child recite long pieces from memory, which could have been 

 acquired only by protracted study. Such feats of memory may be 

 followed by injurious results to the brain. It is said that a famous 

 conjurer was accustomed to test his boy's perceptive memories by ask- 

 ing him to recall all he saw at a passing glance when walking by shop- 



