oe BOTANIC PHYSICIAN. 
grain, and well fermented ; but when enriched with fruits, sugar, or 
such things, it becomes very unwholesome. It is soon enough to 
allow children animal food when they have got teeth to eat it. 
__ Few things prove more hurtful to infants than the common me- — 
‘thod of sweetening their food. It entices them to take more than 
7 ought to do, which makes them grow fat and bloated. It is 
pretty certain, if the food of children were quite plain, that they 
_ would never take more than enough. Their excesses are entirely 
Owing to nurses. Ifa child be gorged with food at all hours, 
_ and enticed to take it, by making it sweet and agreeable to the 
_ palate, is it any wonder that such a child should in time be indu 
__ to crave more food than it ought to have ? ; 
After a child is weaned, it ought to be fed four or five times a 
_ day, but should never be accustomed to eat in the night ; neither 
Should it have too much at a time. 
 aiew things are more hurtful to children than unripe fruits. They 
we | the powers of digestion, and sour and relax the stomach, by 
_ which means it becomes a proper nest for vermin. When children 
live entirely upon slops, it relaxes their solids, renders them weak, 
and disposes them to the rickets, scrofula, and other glandular disor- 
ders. Relaxation is the most general cause of the diseases of chil- 
dren. Every thing, therefore, particularly warm teas, which tend to 
__unbrace the solids, ought to be carefully avoided. 
Exercise of Children. 
Of all the causes which conspire to render the life of man short 
and miserable, none has greater influence than the want of proper 
_ Exercise: healthy parents, wholesome food, and proper clothing, 
will avail little, when exercise is neglected. Sufficient exercise will. 
_ Make up for several defects in nursing ; but nothing can supply the 
_ Want of it. Itis‘absolutely necessary for the health, the growth, and 
the strength of children. - e 
The desire of exercise is coeval with life itself. Were this prin- 
_ ciple attended to, many diseases might be prevented. But while in- 
dolence and sedentary employments prevent two-thirds of mankind 
_ from either taking sufficient exercise themselves, or giving it to theit 
children, what have we to expect but diseases and deformity among 
their offspring! The rickets, so destructive to children in cities 
_ never appeared till manufactories began to flourish, and people, at- 
_ tracted by the love of gain, left the country to follow sedentary em- 
—— in large towns. It is amongst such that this disease chiefly 
prevails. — Fig: 
The conduct of other young animals shows the propriety of giving 
exercise to children. Every other animal makes use of its organs of 
motion as soon as it can; and many of them, even when under no 
necessity of moving in quest of food, cannot be restrained without 
force. This is evidently the case with the calf, the lamb, and most — 
other young animals. If these creatures were not permitted to frisk — 
about and take exercise, they would soon die or become diseased. — 
The same inclination appears very early in the human species ; but 
as they are not able to take exercise themselves, it is the business of 
