The first thing to be done (after sending for a medical man) is to freely dash water upon the face, and to sponge the head with cold water, and as soon as warm water can be procured, to put him into a warm bath [Footnote: For the precautions to be used in putting a child into a warm bath, see the answer to question on "Warm Baths."] of 98 degrees Fahrenheit. If a thermometer be not at hand, [Footnote: No family, where there are young children, should be without Fahrenheit's thermometer.] you must plunge your own elbow into the water: a comfortable heat for your elbow will be the proper heat for the infant. He must remain in the bath for a quarter of an hour, or until the fit be at an end. The body must, after coming out of the bath, be wiped with warm and dry and coarse towels; he ought then to be placed in a warm blanket. The gums must be lanced, and cold water should be applied to the head. An enema, composed of table salt, of olive oil, and warm oatmeal gruel--in the proportion of one table-spoonful of salt, of one of oil, and a tea-cupful of gruel--ought then to be administered, and should, until the bowels have been well opened, be repeated every quarter of an hour; as soon as he comes to himself a dose of aperient medicine ought to be given. It may be well, for the comfort of a mother, to state that a child in convulsions is perfectly insensible to all pain whatever; indeed, a return to consciousness speedily puts convulsions to the rout. 64. _A nurse is in the habit of giving a child, who is teething, either coral, or ivory, to bite: do you approve of the plan_? I think it a bad practice to give him any hard, unyielding substance, as it tends to harden the gums, and, by so doing, causes the teeth to come through with greater difficulty. I have found softer substances, such as either a piece of wax taper, or an India-rubber ring, or a piece of the best bridle leather, or a crust of bread, of great service. If a piece of crust be given as a gum-stick, he must, while biting it, be well watched, or by accident he might loosen a large piece of it, which might choke him. The pressure of any of these excites a more rapid absorption of the gum, and thus causes the tooth to come through more easily and quickly. 65. _Have you any objection to my baby, when he is cutting his teeth, sucking his thumb_?