Human Physiology. 329 



a room without free ventilation is only a larger covering. At 

 the first breathing, air is deprived of part of its oxygen and 

 loaded with carbonic acid and waste matter. Every breathing 

 diminishes its oxygen and increases its impurity. A child needs 

 light as much as a plant needs it. The more open air and in- 

 direct sunshine the better; when not in the open air, then airy 

 rooms, large unshaded windows, and a sunny exposure. 



The best food for an infant is the milk of a healthy mother. 

 The mother's love strengthens her babe; and their lives mingle 

 in the act of nursing. A mother gives much more nourishment 

 than her milk. She gives of her nervous power, her vital force, 

 her heart, and mind, and soul. A good healthy wet-nurse is 

 the best substitute for the mother, but very difficult to obtain. 

 If she put away her own babe to nurse another, there is a great 

 wrong. She may not be able to do justice to both. The milk 

 of a healthy cow is better than that of an unhealthy mother, or 

 a doubtful nurse. The milk of either mother or nurse may be 

 injured by the relation of marriage, by bad diet, by drinking, 

 by any exhausting or diseasing habit. Cow's milk, pure and 

 healthy, diluted with one-fourth part water, and sweetened to 

 the taste of mother's milk, is very good food for the first six 

 months, after which bland ripe fruit and farinaceous substances 

 may be given in addition. The food of childhood should con- 

 sist chiefly of brown bread, wheat, oatmeal, rice, milk, fruit, 

 and vegetables substantially, a bread, milk, and fruit diet 

 with an avoidance of fine flour, pastry, especially that made by 

 bakers and confectioners, and concentrated sweets. An agree- 

 able proportion of sugar in food is better than confectionary. 



Children do not need any kind of flesh or fish, and are much 

 better without it. Flesh, especially, is a stimulating form of 

 food, often impure and unhealthy in itself, causing fever of the 

 blood, and exciting sensual feelings, which are among the chief 

 perils of childhood. For the same reasons, children should 

 never have pepper, spices, hot sauces, heavy wines, beer, or 



