§ 397. Secondly, which indeed is but a Repetition of the Advice I have already given, and upon which I cannot insist too much, they must be frequently washed or bathed in cold Water.
§ 398. Thirdly, they should be moved about and exercised as much as they can bear, after they are some Weeks old: the earlier Days of their tender Life seeming consecrated, by Nature herself, to a nearly total Repose, and to sleeping, which seems not to determine, until they have Need of Nourishment: so that, during this very tender Term of Life, too much Agitation or Exercise might be attended with mortal Consequences. But as soon as their Organs have attained a little more Solidity and Firmness, the more they are danced about (provided it is not done about their usual Time of Repose, which ought still to be very considerable) they are so much the better for it; and by increasing it gradually, they may be accustomed to a very quick Movement, and at length very safely to such, as may be called hard and hearty Exercise. That Sort of Motion they receive in Go-Carts, or other Vehicles, particularly contrived for their Use, is more beneficial to them, than what they have from their Nurses Arms, because they are in a better Attitude in the former; and it heats them less in Summer, which is a Circumstance of no small Importance to them; considerable Heat and Sweat disposing them to be ricketty.
§ 399. Fourthly, they should be accustomed to breathe in the free open Air as much as possible.
If Children have unhappily been less attended to than they ought, whence they are evidently feeble, thin, languid, obstructed, and liable to Scirrhosities (which constitute what is termed a ricketty or consumptive State) these four Directions duly observed retrieve them from that unhappy State; provided the Execution of them has not been too long delayed.
§ 400. Fifthly, If they have any natural Discharge of a Humour by the Skin, which is very common with them, or any Eruption, such as Tetters, white Scurf, a Rashe, or the like, Care must be taken not to check or repel them, by any greasy or restringent Applications. Not a Year passes without Numbers of Children having been destroyed by Imprudence in this Respect; while others have been reduced to a deplorable and weakly Habit.
I have been a Witness to the most unhappy Consequences of external Medicines applied for the Rashe and white Scurf; which, however frightful they may appear, are never dangerous; provided nothing at all is applied to them, without the Advice and Consideration of a truly skilful Person.
When such external Disorders prove very obstinate, it is reasonable to suspect some Fault or Disagreement in the Milk the Child sucks; in which Case it should immediately be discontinued, corrected, or changed. But I cannot enter here into a particular Detail of all the Treatment necessary in such Cases.
Chapter XXVIII.
Directions with Respect to drowned Persons. [93]