In Chapter II, when describing a sanitary nursery, I mentioned the importance of having a pan of water on the radiator, or the register if the house is heated by furnace. All this heat should be turned off at night, so that the child may sleep in a cool room. This means that he must be warmly dressed; and his bed covers should be carefully adjusted, and should be plentiful, though light in weight. In this connection it may be mentioned that insufficient clothing and excessive clothing are equally apt to cause colds. The child whose hands and feet are cold and whose lips are blue is not sufficiently clad. The child who perspires from heavy clothing in the house will take cold when he goes out into the air. In country houses, in particular, a baby should never be carried from one warm room to another through a cold hall, unless he is carefully wrapped in a shawl. Neither should a baby be allowed to play on the floor in a draught. He should be laid on the bed and surrounded by pillows if he is active; or some resourceful member of the family can build him a little pen raised two or three feet from the floor on legs, and covered with a pad. This should have a padded fence around it so that the baby will not roll out. Another reason why the baby may contract a cold if allowed to play on the floor is the fact that he will find there the germs which come with dust. And, finally, the baby’s nose or mouth should never be wiped with a handkerchief used by adults or by other children. Handkerchiefs are the very best carriers of germs. When a small baby has a cold in the head his discomfort can be relieved by dropping a little melted vaseline or albolene into the nose with a medicine dropper. Vaseline may also be rubbed on the outside of the nostrils. In an older child relief can be secured by using warm boric acid—one teaspoonful to a pint of water—with a nasal atomizer. Generally a cathartic, like castor-oil or calomel, will help to work off a cold. It is not wise, however, to make any violent change in the baby’s daily habits. He should not be loaded down with heavy clothing. Irritating flannels should not be wrapped around his chest; nor should the room be overheated, or the supply of fresh air shut off. None of these things will relieve a cold. They will make the child more uncomfortable. If fever develops and the child does not throw off the cold a physician should be summoned. If the throat is sore no time should be lost in sending for a physician, for the mother cannot tell the difference between tonsilitis and diphtheria. If the doctor announces the trouble diphtheria, insist on antitoxin immediately. This wonderful remedy has passed the experimental stage: it is saving thousands of lives every year.