Homo-Culture; Or, The Improvement of Offspring Through Wiser GenerationHolbrook, M. L. (Martin Luther)
Philosophy
Homo-Culture; Or, The Improvement of Offspring Through Wiser Generation
Holbrook, M. L. (Martin Luther)
Eugenics; Heredity
From the keeping of stomach and bowels absolutely healthy, by a regular
and reasonable exercise of their all-important functions, not only has
the boy been free from irritability, and spontaneously happy and
self-amused, sometimes quiet, and sometimes jolly to overflowing. But
the second great nuisance of those ordinarily attending baby-raising,
namely, sour stomach followed by colic, was eliminated. A secondary
result of this entire regularity of functioning at the upper end of the
alimentary canal was that a like regularity set in at the other end.
That is, at the thirteenth week he began to have but one daily passage
of faecal matter, and that soon after breakfast. Of the approach of this
act he notified his mother without fail, and thereafter we had no soiled
diapers. Movements were received on pieces of old cloth, and cloth and
all tossed into a pan of ashes, or the fire, when we had one. When, at
six months, we put him onto cow's milk, mixed with thin graham porridge,
to supply the extra nourishment demanded by rapid growth, he went up to
two movements per diem--morning and evening. Thus, the third great
nuisance of of diaper washing was eliminated, in its more disagreeable
feature. Eructation of curds, rashes, colic, diarrhoea--these common
ailments of ordinary babyhood, we have never had a sight of. We believe
it due solely to strict adherence to the four-meals-a-day plan. These
consist of an early breakfast, a later breakfast, a dinner about one
o'clock and a supper between six and seven. The bath comes at any
convenient time. On pleasant days, even in winter, he is outdoors, well
wrapped, in a chair, for hours, and often has a long nap there. He was
provided, by my own needle and penknife, with an ample fur sleeping
sack, into which he is securely buttoned every evening and laid in his
box-bed, on a trunk. He never sleeps with his parents. According to the
coolness or coldness of the nights, additional covering, in the shape of
soft blankets and shawls, is laid in on the box, their weight supported
by the edges of the box. He cannot uncover himself, but he can kick
freely, and use his arms. We dressed him, from the first, in the
"_Gertrude_" system of baby clothes, introduced by Dr. Grosvenor, of
Chicago--all woolen princess garments, with shirring strings at the
lower hems, by which they are made closed bags, ending just below the
feet; warm, but allowing of kicking _ad libitum_. At five months--it
being winter time--he went into short clothes, including solid suits of
warm flannel underwear, shirts, drawers and long snug-fitting stockings.
He has never had a cold. His muscles, from the first (due to his
mother's gymnastics), were firm and active, like those of an adult. At
the fourth week he surprised us by suspending his entire weight from his
hands and arms one morning. Legs, neck, back and hands particularly have
developed steadily in power and quickness. There was never any fat
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