Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Gender, Health, Sanitation, Disease, Physiology, Human Development

    Argues that 'though Nature [...] has endowed all female creation with the attributes necessary to [...] the healthy rearing of their offspring', there are enough cases of mothers being 'physically or socially' unable to undertake these 'duties', that they are 'compelled' to 'call in the service of hired assistance'. Agrees that the unsanitary living conditions of some children 'would seem to set the laws of sanitary provision at a defiance'. Observes that while some children raised in healthy environments can still contract fatal diseases, many children raised in squalor 'live and thrive'. Argues that this 'apparent immunity to the physical laws' can be explained by the fact that, in this latter class of children, 'uncleanliness is counteracted by an unrestrained liberty of limb and mind' which results in the body being conditioned for a longer life. (28) Aims its remarks at the 'young and probably inexperienced mother' who, though dependent on the 'opinionated obstinacy' of nurses, can 'instruct another, and see that her directions are carried out'. Introduces the subjects of 'wet nursing' and 'artificial dry nursing' and proposes to describe the 'grand chain of causes' on which the life, organs, and development of the child depend.