MARCH 241 



this ? Because they were poorly fed ; they came, too, of 

 generations of poor feeders, and before the days when 

 they could obtain either meat or tea except in very small 

 quantities. In France and Germany the wet-nurses 

 always came from the poor districts, where as a rule meat- 

 eating was unknown ; and of late years these women are 

 more and more difficult to procure, though this may, of 

 course, be from many reasons other than Nature failing 

 to supply what is required. I believe that if young 

 mothers were greatly to reduce their ordinary food during 

 the time before the birth of their children, they would not 

 only greatly reduce the common suffering which Nature 

 has had to resort to, so as to lessen the food taken, but 

 the chances of the baby's health after its birth would be 

 infinitely greater. A large heavy baby often loses weight 

 after its birth, especially when the mother cannot give it 

 natural nourishment. This should not be ; they should 

 increase in weight during the first month. I was always 

 under the impression when young that a delicate mother, 

 and especially one threatened with consumption, ought on 

 no account to nurse her child. In the lecture from which 

 I quoted before, Sir Eichard Thorne Thorne says that 

 ' there is no sterilising apparatus that can give results 

 comparable with those provided by Nature in the healthy 

 female breast, and that tuberculosis in the human milk 

 glands is a disease so rare that it hardly needs con- 

 sideration in connection with the feeding of infants. At 

 the child-bearing age it is all but unknown.' I extract this 

 because I think it will help many a young mother to fight 

 the opposition of perhaps both her husband and the doctor, 

 who may be thinking, as is natural, more of what they 

 consider good for her than for the child. 



I heard yesterday in our village an excellent lecture 

 by a young mother on what she called the ' New Educa- 

 tion.' I agreed with every word, and had myself tried 



