our Country: but on this, as well as the two foregoing Heads, we must
keep Temperance in View, from the double Motive of Health and Virtue.
Experience teaches us, that Malt Liquor can be rais’d to any Degree of
Strength; that it is capable of inflaming the Blood and intoxicating the
Brain; consequently it is capable of weakening and destroying our Frame
when intemperately used. But besides these Effects, it has others often
very hurtful, but less regarded, because less sensible. One, from a
natural Weakness of the Bowels, it throws into habitual Purgings; another
it oppresses with Wind; and in a third, from its glutinous Quality, it
obstructs some of the Viscera, and has a peculiar Tendency to clog the
Vessels of the Lungs, and thereby hinder Respiration, produce Coughs,
and those fatal Circumstances frequently attending them. Hence it is
easy to see how necessary the Parents Attention is, to guide their
Children herein. Infants, at least for the first Year, have no Business
with Malt Liquor at all; they ought not to taste it: Milk, or Water, or
both together, is their proper Drink; and if after this Age, these were
made the Liquor to drink with their Food, it would be no worse for them.
However, not to be too rigorous in this respect, let Children after the
first Year, wash down their Victuals with light clear Small-beer; and
nothing beyond that for the first seven Years. In the second and third
Septenary, the same Rule which has been laid down concerning Wine, should
be observ’d in all strong Malt Liquors; they should be very sparingly
used. Nothing is more dangerous than the Indulgence of Parents in this
Point; for besides the many ill Effects already mentioned, ’tis coarse
and vulgar; it clouds the Understanding, and renders young People unfit
for Study. Besides these, it gives them an early Bloatedness; and greatly
endangers the laying the Foundation of a Sot for Life: or at least gives
them such a Hankering, as cannot but be a great Impediment to their
Happiness.
Nothing is more talk’d of for the Good of Children, and yet nothing more
unsettled, than the necessary Degree of Warmth; and while some Parents
are sanguine in maintaining the Necessity of much Cloathing, there are
others as obstinately prone to freeze their tender Babes: even skilful
and ingenious Physicians disagree in this Particular.
It is a Maxim in Philosophy, that Heat is a Principle of Life: and
indeed, without the Assistance of the Schools, every one knows the Truth
of it. All know, that Life is warm, Death is cold; and therefore to
support Life, there must always be a Degree of Warmth. This premised,
it appears that Warmth is natural to us; but where to begin, or how to
maintain such a Degree of it in our Children as will keep us from either
Extreme, is not easy to determine. However, to keep as wide of Error as
we can, we must keep close to Nature’s Laws.
Nature then, I think, points out to us, that new-born Children want more
Cloaths in Proportion than others. When we consider how warm a Bed they
have long been wrapp’d in before their Birth; when we consider too how
tender all their Fibres must be; and see them shivering, trembling and
cold as soon as the external Air surrounds them; we cannot but conclude
that they are greatly cherished and comforted by the Addition of Cloaths.
It is true that the same Philosophy which teaches us that Heat is a
Principle of Life, teaches also, that Action is the Cause of Heat: but
new-born Infants being incapable of Action to any Degree, it appears
to me, that for the Reasons already given, they stand in need of an
additional, or rather, an adventitious Warmth, from Cloaths, Fire, Sun,
or all, in their proper Time and Place.
Should any one urge that thin Cloathing of Children is the rational Way
to make them hardy, and inure them to Cold, I am ready to grant it; but
I cannot help being of Opinion, that it ought not to be begun with. In
most other Things relating to Children we succeed best by beginning at
once; but here I think we should proceed by Degrees. Let Parents then
at the Birth give Children all the Comfort Cloaths can afford them; and
when some Months Time has hardened their Fibres, and thereby strengthened
their Solids, let them be thinned gradually. One sensible Distinction may
be made that should be universally regarded: that is, the Difference of
Climate and Seasons. A Child born in the midst of Summer, or where the
Air is incapable of affecting it very sensibly, need not to have so much
cloathing as one born in the Depth of Winter, or in a colder Climate.
It is easy for my Readers to see that I am an Advocate for Warmth; and
that I do not only recommend it as yielding great Comfort to Infants, but
esteem it highly necessary and useful to them: and should any farther
Proof be required to support this Opinion, we may refer to all created
Nature, animate and inanimate.
In this View of Nature we shall find the Birds not only provide Nests
for their young, but cover them with their Wings, to guard them from the
chilly Air, ’till Time has encreased their Feathers. The Beasts with
amazing Tenderness, cherish their young, ’till Nature has lengthened the
Hair, the Wool, or whatever covers them; or Time has given them the Power
of Action. Farther we shall find, that Insects, and all the vegetable
Creation, shoot out into Life, and receive Vigor, Comfort, and Support,
from that glorious Body the Sun: so indispensably necessary is Warmth;
and so essential to the raising and preserving of All.
Such of my Readers as agree with me on this Head, must still be cautious
not to over-act their Part. This Preceps suits so well the tender Nature
of Mothers, that if heedless, they will easily slide into Error; and I
should be wanting in the Duty of a faithful Guide, or an honest Adviser,
if I did not endeavour to prevent it.
Dr. _James Douglas_, deservedly eminent in his Profession, once (within
my own Knowledge) gave it as his Opinion of a Child he attended, that it
perished with Cold. The Doctor had laid a Woman of Rank of her first, nay
her only Child, a Son too, and Heir to a large Estate. The Season was
cold; the Child was dry-nurs’d; and a small four-post Bed was, by the
Advice of some ignorant People, made on purpose for it to lye in alone.
In this neglected starving Way the Child was kept ’till ready to expire,
and when too late to help it, they sought Advice. All Means were try’d in
vain, the poor Babe sunk into the Grave: and, as I have already observ’d,
the Doctor, upon examining every Circumstance, pronounc’d it starv’d
to Death. Here we have an Instance of one Extreme of Error; and I have
introduc’d it as a Hint to Parents that all Extremes are to be avoided;
and that while they shrink at the one, they must be careful not to plunge
into the other.
It has already been agreed, that Children at the Birth should have all
the Comfort Cloaths can give them. I will now observe, that it is every
Way advantageous, that for the first Year at least, they lye in a Cradle,
or in a small Crib by the Bed-side of the Parents, or whoever has the
Care of them. To put an Infant in a Bed by itself for several Hours
before the Bed-time of the Mother or Nurse, is in general too cold a
Situation; and afterwards, if it is not then too hot, which with some
is a doubt, it is attended with several Inconveniences. First, it is
pretty sure to disturb the Child; a Matter of real Consequence: secondly,
when once disturb’d, it will very likely have no Sleep again but lying
at the Breast, a Circumstance attended with great Trouble and Anxiety
to those who suckle it: thirdly, there is always Danger more or less of
the Child being overlaid; which is a Consideration that ought justly to
alarm every Parent, as many Children have by this means been kill’d in
one Night’s time. I am very sensible how watchful a tender Mother usually
is, but there are Times that the best are unguarded; and it is surely
right for them to put it out of their own Power to hazard so dreadful an
Accident. Nay this Danger has been thought so great, however common the
Practice is, that the most sensible People have spoke and wrote against
it. To obviate therefore this Evil, Parents need only let Infants lye in
a Cradle or Crib; which will keep them in a regular equal Warmth, secure
them from all unnecessary Disturbance, and effectually prevent any fatal
Accident.
By what has already been advanc’d, it appears, that tho’ due Care is
recommended, yet it is not design’d to cherish that false Delicacy
which Parents, especially Mothers, are but too apt to keep up in their
Children, whether Boys or Girls; on the contrary I have advis’d, that
their Cloathing be thinn’d by Degrees. Let them too be wash’d every Day
with cold Water, the Head and Limbs at least, if not all over; and be
carried out as much as can be into the open Air.
To breathe in a free, open, pure Air, is undoubtedly of great Use; by
giving that Spring to the Solids so conducive to the establishing and
preserving Health. Children therefore, especially if born in _London_,
stand in need of this Assistance; they should often have the Freedom
of tasting a sweeter Air, than that which usually surrounds their
Habitation. Here I am aware, that this Advice, instead of being properly
relish’d, will be swallow’d greedily; instead of its serving to rouse the
Care of Parents, it will endanger the banishing the Child, which under
the Pretext that Air is good, will be sent to a Place, where perhaps
every thing else is bad. Parents, especially the Fathers, who do not
love the Noise or any other of the Inconveniences attending the Care of
Children, have a short Way of doing Business by sending them at once into
the Country; and to support the Reasonableness of their Conduct, readily
tell their Friends, that those who write about these Matters recommend
Air, and say that Children thrive best in it. But surely they have
never study’d the Duty of Parents, or they must know, that it is always
incumbent on them, unless Necessity prevent it, to rear their Children
themselves. But to prove farther that it is not always a Child’s Good
which they seek, so much as their own Ease, it is often sent to be nurs’d
even in _London_; sometimes too in a part much worse than they themselves
live in; perhaps where noxious Effluvia are continually surrounding it;
or in some narrow Lane or close Alley.
Where real Necessity pleads, no Arguments can be brought against it:
otherwise I would universally recommend, that Children be brought up
under the Eye of the Parents. Let the Methods propos’d have a fair Tryal;
if those are ineffectual, and the Child does not thrive, by all means
remove it into the Country; but still, if practicable, accompany’d with
the Mother, and under her Care; if that cannot be comply’d with, send it
to a Nurse. Still I have one Objection that has great Weight with me,
whatever it may have with my Readers. The common Country People (such as
we may suppose take Children to nurse) tho’ usually very innocent, have
nevertheless that Innocence intermixt with a large Portion of Obstinacy;
in short, they will always do their own Way. Now it is well known that
almost the only Flesh Meat these People eat the Year thro’, is Bacon
and Pork; with this Meat, which of all others is the worst in the World
for Children, the Nurses cram them unmercifully. To tell them that they
give Children Meat too young, avails nothing; to urge that it is a gross
kind of Food, capable of creating bad Humours in the Blood, and thereby
accumulating Disorders, which like a smother’d Fire, will some time or
other burst out with Violence, is like encountering the Winds; Don’t you
see, they cry, how fat and jolly the little Rogue is? They are not aware,
that to be fat is one thing, and to be healthy another: for bad Fat may
be compared to ill-gotten Wealth, they both prey upon the Vitals. Thus
then while I maintain the Advantages arising from Childrens Breathing in
a pure Air, I cannot help condemning the Practice of exposing them to
many other Dangers.
Besides the Food, Warmth and Air, necessary for preserving the Health of
Children, there is another Mean of great Importance, but much neglected,
to the Detriment of many; viz. Exercise. When some Months Time, as I
observed before, has strengthened their Solids, they are then fitted
for Action; without which there is but little chance for Health: the
Laws of Nature demand it; and it is almost incredible, the Mischief that
attends the want of it. Exercise affords the most natural and the most
comfortable Warmth to our whole Frame that can be. Exercise makes the
Blood and other Juices circulate with Freedom; prevents the Mischief
too often arising from Stagnation, and throws off the redundant Matter
through the Pores of the Skin by insensible Perspiration. And Exercise
too, greatly contributes to that Flow of Spirits, that lively pleasing
Air and chearful Countenance so essential to our Happiness.
The first half Year of a Child’s Life is far the least troublesome to a
Mother or Nurse; for after that time Children begin to take Notice, shew
they love Action, and where they are well nursed, never are so happy
as when they are exercised; and indeed it is scarcely possible to give
them too much of it. There should be no Sluggards about a Child, no body
that wants either Will or Power to toss it about continually; and from
six Months, to a Year and half, or two Years old, it is really a great
Fatigue to give it due Attendance. But Parents must remember it is an
indispensable Duty; and their faithful Discharge of it will, generally
speaking, be amply rewarded by a more solid Health in their Children
than can be expected without it; and by having their future Trouble
greatly lessened: for how often does it happen that Children for want
of due Exercise grow ricketty, become Cripples, or are puny all their
Childhood, perhaps their whole Lives; to their own great Sorrow, and to
the inexpressible Trouble, Pain, and Expence of the Parents.
Rickets is a Distemper extremely common in _London_; but if the Rules
already laid down be observed, I dare affirm, it will very rarely be
seen. It is not indeed the Design of this Treatise to cure Diseases, but
to prevent them; yet as thousands of Children fall into the Rickets in a
manner insensibly, often without it’s being once apprehended; I would
here not only keep the Attention of Parents awake, but propose a Remedy.
Let us then observe, that many Children have all the appearance
imaginable of Health, Strength, and Vigor, till about nine Months old;
after that Age they begin to dwindle, grow listless, heavy and inactive,
which to account for, Parents find a thousand Causes, perhaps all wide
of the real. One ascribes it to cutting the Teeth, another to a Fever,
a third to loss of Appetite, and so on; when after a Time it proves the
Rickets: the Cause whereof is, generally speaking, bad Nursing. But
whether this, or any other Weakness produces the Distemper, I earnestly
recommend, that it be not suffered to pass unregarded, since much depends
upon our early Care.
The great and noble Remedy for this Disorder is a Cold Bath; and tho’
the Tenderness of Mothers may make them shrink at the Proposal, yet
neither their own Weakness, nor the Child’s Reluctance, must in this Case
prevail, especially when I assure them that a very short Time will make
the use of it not only easy but pleasant.
If a Child along with this Disorder has a Fever, a full quick Pulse
and short Breath (as is very common) Parents should certainly ask
proper Advice before they begin to use the Bath. But as some may be
careless in this Matter, or at least unwilling to submit; and as many
ill Consequences may follow from setting out wrong, I will in that Case
recommend, that two or three Ounces of Blood be taken away at the Arm
or Neck; next Day purge it with Rhubarb, and repeat it to three or four
times, at a Day or two’s distance between each Dose: and even where there
is no Fever, and the Lungs play freely, it should still be purged as
above directed.
The more Water and the colder the Bath the better. At first use it
only two or three times a Week, afterwards every Day; and continue it
(unless other Accidents intervene) ’till every appearance of Weakness
be vanished, even though it should last long, or come on in the coldest
Season.
To obviate as much as possible all groundless Fears, I will on this Head
add, that as Cold Baths act very powerfully on the whole Frame, they are
frequently observed to give Cold at first using; and sometimes affect the
Limbs and other Parts very sensibly; all which goes off on repeating it.
And indeed, where a Cold Bath is judged proper, the only Circumstance
which justifies the Disuse of it, is, it’s leaving a Shivering and
Coldness all over, instead of that pleasing comfortable Glow, which
generally follows the use of it.
The proper Cloathing of Children is a Consideration of great Importance;
and indeed the Opinions of different Men in the Learned World, and
of different Women in the Conversable World, are so very many, as to
render it next to impossible to fix a Standard for Dress with regard to
Health only, that would in any manner square with the various Notions
subsisting. Arguing on Principles of Philosophy, from Reasons founded
on the Knowledge of Anatomy, and the Animal Oeconomy, will not go down
with the Croud. Nor will Examples produced from Practice, prevail on the
Learned to think the general Practice right. It is not enough to say,
that different Nations act with more or less Propriety on this Head; for
even our own Country is herein much divided in itself.
What I have before observed on cloathing Children, relates only to the
keeping up a due Degree of Warmth, ’till Time strengthens their Solids;
but the grand Controversy is, what kind of Cloaths they should wear, and
how they must be put on; how Boys should be cloathed, and how Girls; what
Cloathing conduces to Health, and what impairs it: with many other Things
much disputed, but still unsettled.
Nothing is more certain than that Nature in general is our best, our
surest Guide, for the Conduct of Life; yet if we make the Law universal,
we shall undoubtedly sometimes err. Two things all Mankind inherit in
consequence of our first Parents Disobedience, viz. the Turbulence of
our Passions, and our bodily Defects and Infirmities: all are sensible
of this; all see and feel them, more or less. How small is the number
of those, whose Passions are by Nature so happily calm, as to keep them
free from Irregularities! How few are those, to whom Nature has given a
perfect Form: whose Stature, Limbs, and Features, bear exact Proportion
and Symmetry, free from Blemishes and Defects; such as constitutes a
finish’d Beauty: or whose Constitution is so happily temper’d as to have
no Bias, no weak Side, no redundant Humours to disturb Life and Health.
This I say is evidently the Lot of very few. Still Providence, ever kind,
has furnished us with Means to turn all things to our Advantage. To
regulate our Passions we are endowed with Reason; to rectify, as far as
Nature will permit, our bodily Defects, we are supplied with Judgment:
but as in the first Case we are apt to let Passion get the Mastery of
Reason; so in the other, we often let our Judgment err, or suffer Fancy
to take place of it. Hence arise many of those Mistakes Mankind daily run
into; and hence too the Judgment of one will sometimes be perverted into
Fancy, and the Fancy of another be falsly esteemed Judgment. From this
view it is easy to see, how vast a Field is open to Mankind to exercise
their Judgment in; but where that is weak, Errors will certainly make
their Way; which from the Propensity we have to do wrong, are sometimes
so prevailing and swift, as to become almost universal; even so far as
utterly to overturn superior Judgment. Now though we grant that every one
is possessed not only of a Power, but of a Right of judging; yet we do
not agree, that the Judgment of the Weak, or of those who have neglected
to exercise and improve their natural Faculties, should be abided by,
and made our Rule of Conduct: for as our Law-givers should be wise, and
as from them we seek to be secured in our Property and our Peace; so
from those who have searched into Nature, who have studied the Animal
Oeconomy, and are acquainted with the Structure of our Frame, from those
only can we rationally learn how to preserve Health. To apply then these
Arguments to the Matter in hand, I would recommend to Parents with regard
to Cloathing their Children, to be attentive themselves; to exercise and
improve their own Judgment, as far as they have opportunity; not suddenly
to run with the Croud, lest it prove a vulgar Error; but endeavour to
learn what is the Opinion of Judges: and by comparing that with the
general Practice, they may draw such Conclusions as will profit them most.
Dress, in the common Acceptation of the Word, is not my Province; those
People whose Business it is to promote it, know that the World is fickle
and inconstant; they know that Men will change, even though it be for
the worse, purely from a Love of Novelty: therefore is it that at one
Time a Man has his Hips almost up to his Arm-pits, another Time he must
stoop to get his Hand into his Coat Pocket; therefore is it that one Year
a Woman is (at the Will of the Stay-maker) to be short-waisted, another
Year long-waisted; with many more Absurdities, that ought at least to be
laughed at. But where Dress is capable of affecting our Health, it both
deserves and demands Attention and Regard: And to that End, I will for
the Instruction of my Readers, give the Sentiments of the Learned on this
Head.
It is the Opinion of many, that every kind of Bandage is an Error in
Practice; even Garters, Wrist-bands, and Collars; that they impede the
Circulation of the Blood, or at least render it unequal and irregular,
and prevent the proper Growth of the Solids; nay more, that they are a
frequent though latent Cause of Apoplexies, and other dreadful Diseases.
It is farther their Opinion, that whatever compresses the Frame,
(particularly the tender one of a Child) is dangerous; as Rollers,
stiff Stays, and the like: that as the Trunk of the Body contains,
what Physicians call the _Viscera_, in which are the chief Functions
of Life, whatever external Methods are used to bind or cramp them up,
is prejudicial to Health. That the Lungs particularly are to have free
room to play; and that if the Chest be externally press’d, whether by
Rollers, Stays, Waistcoats, or any thing else, it lays the Foundation
of many future Evils. To these general Opinions, let me add that of an
eminent Writer. Mr. _Locke_, in his Treatise of Education, says, “Narrow
Breasts, short and stinking Breath, ill Lungs and Crookedness, are the
natural and almost constant Effects of _hard Bodice_ and _Cloaths_ that
pinch. That way of making slender Waists and fine Shapes, serves but the
more effectually to spoil them. Nor can there indeed but be Disproportion
in the Parts, when the Nourishment prepar’d in the several Offices of the
Body, cannot be distributed as Nature designs. And therefore what wonder
is it, if being laid where it can on some Part not so braced, it often
makes a Shoulder or Hip higher or bigger than it’s just Proportion.” He
then produces the Example of the _Chinese_ Women, who of all People on
Earth, have the smallest Feet, not naturally, but made so by cramping
them; from a notion that it is beautiful; by which Practice, says he,
it is believed they impede their Growth and shorten their Lives. Now
to confirm and strengthen what is here advanced, we must observe, that
besides the universal Reputation Mr. _Locke_ so justly obtain’d as a
Man of Science, he was design’d for a Physician: and though he never
practised Physic, he had studied it. To these Opinions may be added the
general Consent of Mankind, that in those Countries where Stays are not
worn at all, the People are seldom or never known to be crooked.
Now let us examine the general Practice, and the Motives which influence
it; that no Injustice may be done in a Treatise that aims at the general
Good of Mankind. Mothers and Nurses observe, that a new-born Child has
no Support of itself; the Head leans on one side or the other; and the
Body sinks as it were into a Heap: to remedy which, and to prop up the
helpless Babe, they put what is call’d a Stay to its Neck, they roll a
Flannel many times round its Body, and at the Expiration of a Month it
is usually coated: that is, it continues when undress’d with the Roller;
and in the Day Time when dress’d, it wears a Stay about the Waist. The
Stay to the Neck is left off in some Months, and the Roller in about a
Year; some sooner, some later: but the same Method is used both to Boys
and Girls. The first, second and third Stays are usually very soft and
plyable; but after that, when a Child approaches to two Years old, they
are then made stronger, that is, stiffer to the Feel; and these Sort are
worn by Boys ’till they are breech’d, and by Girls their whole Lives.
Nurses urge, that Children are helpless, cannot sit upright, nor be
toss’d about without them. And I remember an eminent Surgeon, late of
one of our Hospitals, once told me, that a Child was brought to him with
several of its Ribs crush’d inward by the Hand of the Person who had been
tossing it about without its Stays.