MORTALITY IN INFANCY FROM COLD. 



CHAPTER III. 



lortality in Infancy from Cold Animal Heat lowest at tha 

 Age Too little and too much Clothing equally bad Rules 

 for Dress Advantages of Flannel, exemplified in H. M. S. 

 Valorous Ventilation of Beds and Clothing Influence of 

 Light Importance of Ablution and Bathing Cold, Tepid, 

 and Warm Bath Sponging with diluted Vinegar Friction 

 of the Skin Vapour-bath and Warm Bath useful in prevent- 

 ing and curing Nervous Diseases and Liability to Cold Sail- 

 ing and Riding useful by acting on the Skin. 



As it is only in its useful applications to the im- 

 provement and happiness of man that knowledge 

 truly becomes power, we proceed, in accordance 

 with this principle, to point out some of the advan- 

 tages derivable from that which we have attempted 

 to communicate. 



It appears from the London Bills of Mortality, 

 that between a fourth and a fifth of all the infants 

 baptized die within the first two years of their ex- 

 istence. This extraordinary result is not a part of 

 the Creator's designs ; it does not occur in the 

 lower animals, and must therefore have causes 

 capable of removal. One of these, to speak only 

 of what is related to the present inquiry, is unques- 

 tionably the inadequate protection afforded, espe- 

 cially among the poorer classes, to the new-born in- 

 fant, against the effects of the great and sudden 

 transition which it makes in passing at once from 

 a high and almost unvarying temperature in the 

 mother's womb, to one greatly inferior and con- 

 stantly liable to change. At birth, the skin is deli- 

 cate, extremely vascular, and highly susceptible of 

 impressions ; so much so, that cases have occurred 



