The following is a reason that concerns the public, whatever influence it may have on the gay and the careless. The hired nurse, anxious to save as much as possible from her own wages, not only weans her own child, but puts him at board on the cheapest terms she can find ; in consequence of which, innutrition, or poverty of food, too generally terminates his life, or leaves him habitually diseased, a permanent burden on his parents, and on the public.
Hireling nurses, however, under all the cases we have mentioned, must be resort ed to, when the person is in a situation to endure the expense. The young and the healthy should be selected, with a full breast of milk, and that milk as nearly as may be of the age of the foster child. Where the circumstances of the parents, or the infant's own antipathy, which some times occurs, or any other equally insur mountable objection intervenes, the next consideration is to provide a substitute for the child's natural diet.
From the experiments of physicians on milks we have the following results.
Of cream, the milk of sheep affords most ; then the human, the goat's, the cow's, the ass's, and the mare's, progres sively.
Of butter, the sheep's affords most ; then the goat's, the cow's, and human, progressively.
Of cheese, the sheep's gives most; then the goat's, the cow's, the ass, and human milk, the mare's gives the least Of sugar, most is extracted from the mare's milk ; then front the human, the ass's, the goat's the sheep's and last of all, the cow's.
It should hence seem that human milk has more saccharine matter than any other milk, excepting mare's ; more cream than any other excepting sheep's, and at the same time that it yields less butter or cheese than any, excepting mare's It ap pears, moreover, from the experiments of other animal chemists, that the butter of human milk, instead of being solid like that of the goat and cow, is a fluid of the subsistence of cream, and cream which is nearly the consistency of that obtained from ass's and mare's milk.
It follows, that upon the whole, mare's and ass's milks have a nearer resemblance to human; than the milk of any other anii. mal that has undergone a proper course of experiments : and that in case of ex treme debility of the organs of digestion, mare's or ass's milk is the best substitute for that of human milk.
Let these therefore in cases of debility be resorted to : but in cases of health, and especially of good substantive organs, we may be less particular. Diluted cow's milk, intermixed with a small quantity of farinaceous food, will generally prove the most convenient nutriment. Cow's milk, however, is far less sweet, or has far less saccharine matter than human, and hence the mixture now recommended should be enriched with some addition of sugar. The chief point of attention is, that the farinaceous matter, whether in the form of pap,or gruel, be sufficiently dilute, and free from lumps. It is a difficult thing to make nurses believe that fluid food alone can produce solid nutriment, not withstanding the example daily before them of the beneficial result of maternal milk ; and hence it is almost impossible to prevent them from making the infant food too thick and pulpy. Where rusks, or tops and bottoms, are used, they should be first boiled in water till perfectly soft-. erred, and then pressed with a spoon through a fine strainer; nor should pap or gruel be ever made use of withou•a similar process. Cordials, aperients, and opiates, should be equally avoided in a state of health. They are all medicines, and should never be employed but when called for by disease ; nature, in her or dinary functions, demands nothing of the kind : the food prepared by herself is equally bland and simple.
In the clothing of children, warmth and simplicity are the two points to be studied.
The great and natural use of clothes is for the purpose of warmth, and the looser and softer the substance is by which this warmth is communicated. the better. But, amongst other refinements, that of giving neatness to the attire of children has been one productive of very great evils. To brace and dress an infant forms a particu lar business, and thus the real intention of clothing has been lost sight of:Besides their tightness, children are also often hurt by their quantity. After birth, a child is in a sort of feverish state during the first five or six days ; it should, therefore, be kept cool, instead of being laid close to the mother, who is commonly in the same state, and fed, as both too frequently are, with heating cordials, which add to their uneasiness.