2 
INTRODUCTION. 
In reply to this it is sufficient to state, that millions annually 
perish from a neglect of the conditions which Divine wisdom 
has appointed as requisite for the preservation of the body from 
fatal disease; and that millions more are constantly suffering 
various degrees of pain and weakness, that might have been 
prevented by a simple attention to those principles which it is 
the province of Physiology to unfold. Prom the moment of 
his birth, the infant is so completely subjected to the in¬ 
fluence of the circumstances in which he is placed, that the 
future development of his frame may be said to be governed 
by them; and thus it depends, in great part, upon the care 
with which he is tended, and the knowledge by which that 
care is guided, whether he shall grow up in health and vigour 
of body and mind ; or shall become weakly, fretful, and self- 
willed, a source of constant discomfort to himself and to 
others ; or shall form one of that vast proportion, whose lot 
it is to be removed from this world before infancy has ex¬ 
panded into childhood. The due supply of warmth, food, and 
air are the principal points then to be attended to; and on 
every one of these the greatest errors of management prevail. 
Thousands and tens of thousands of infants annually perish 
during the few first days of infancy, from exposure to cold, 
which their feeble frames are not yet able to resist; and at 
a later period, when the infant has greater power of sustain¬ 
ing its own temperature, and is consequently not so liable to 
suffer from this cause, the seeds of future disease are sown, 
by inattention to the simple physiological principles, which 
should regulate its clothing in accordance with the cold or 
heat of the atmosphere around. Nor is less injury done by 
inattention to the due regulation of the diet, as to the quan¬ 
tity and quality of the food, and the times at which it should 
be given; the rules for which, simple and easy as they are, 
are continually transgressed through ignorance or carelessness. 
And, lastly, one of the most fertile sources of infantile dis¬ 
ease, is the want of a due supply of pure and wholesome air; 
the effects of which are sure to manifest themselves in some 
way or other, though often obscurely and at a remote period. 
It is physiologically impossible for human beings to grow up 
in a sound and healthy state of body and mind, in the midst 
of a close, ill-ventilated atmosphere. Those that are least 
able to resist its baneful influence, are carried off by the dis- 
