THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



room," not on account of the amount of furniture it contains, but owing 

 to its being the lightest, and into this room the sun should be allowed to 

 freely enter, all ideas of excluding it on account of] the carpet being but 

 false economy. 



Notwithstanding, however, that a proper amount of light is necessary 

 for a child when awake, equal care should be exercised in darkening the 

 room when it (the child) is asleep, as too much light then will not merely 

 prevent or interrupt sleep, but may act as a very injurious stimulus to the 

 eyes and brain. It goes without saying that the nursery must, of course,, 

 have plenty of sunlight, and with this view should face the south, east or 

 west, but there is another place about which great care should be taken 

 the school-room. There is no doubt that the influence of a sunless- 

 school-room is most baneful to a young mind, and the want of interest in 

 their study, often displayed by children, might in many instances be 

 traced to this cause. 



BATHING. 



Macbeth's maxim, " If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it 

 were done quickly," is especially applicable to the bathing of children. 

 There should be no nonsense about it. The object of bathing is not only 

 for the purpose of cleanliness but as a means of invigorating the capillary 

 circulation, and so fortifying the system as to enable it to resist atmos- 

 pheric vicissitudes. 



To do this, however, it is imperative that the child should not remain 

 in the bath (presuming it is not warm) more than a minute or two, as 

 when the body is immersed in water below ninety degrees there is a sen- 

 sation of cold, a shrinking of the skin, and a rush of blood from the small 

 capillary vessels of the surface to the internal vessels, which state of 

 things should be speedily followed by a reaction by the heart and large 

 vessels forcing the blood back again to the surface, and indeed to all the 

 outlets ; so that the skin glows and perhaps perspires, the secretory organs 

 act more strongly, the liver and other organs show an increased activity,, 

 and there is a general feeling of liveliness and vigour. 



But this will not be the case if there is any dawdling or delay, not only 

 while in the water, but during the process of rubbing and drying, which 

 must be performed with the greatest briskness, in order that the proper 

 reaction, upon which the virtue of the bath depends, should take place : 

 otherwise the child will get a chill, which will, in addition to nullifying 

 the good, do it absolute harm. 



UP TO THE AGE OF THREE MONTHS infants should, in all weathers, be 

 bathed in warm water, but, after that age, at the warm seasons, and dur- 



