I expect, as the result of the study of this book, not that you will assume to be physicians to any greater extent than you otherwise would, but that you will act wisely and intelligently instead of confusedly, or blindly, in the emergencies in which you will be called upon to act,—that you will be, not merely attendants at the bedside of the sick, but, that best aid to the physician, the true nurse. Do not claim to be doctor or midwife, or anything whatever that you are not. If a smattering of knowledge causes any affectation, it will only degrade you. Study physiology in the books commonly used; store your minds with the facts and instructions in this book; obtain additional knowledge in every way that is practicable. As you have opportunity, make practical application of the knowledge received, and you will commend yourself more and more to your sick or suffering friends. PART I. PREGNANCY AND CONFINEMENT. CHAPTER I. CONDUCT OF THE MOTHER BEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE. The physical treatment of children should begin, as far as may be practicable, with the earliest formation of the embryo. It will involve the conduct of the female even before her marriage, as well as during her pregnancy—the various contingencies which effect her in health as well as in disease. Very much depends on her to insure for her child a vigorous constitution, or to prevent a feeble frame in the child. She should not _enter_ into the holy state of marriage with heedless haste; if she does, she will discharge its duties with inexcusable neglect. To constitute a mother, in the best sense of the term, requires a patient endurance of fatigue, and anxious solicitude, which will sorely tax the mother’s strength. I would, if possible, diminish the toil and danger of childbirth, and relieve the fatigue and anxiety of nursing. And let me, in one paragraph, give a hint to the husband: that the responsibility and care of the children is too much laid on the mother; she is overburdened. Let the father partake in the arduous and responsible duty of their education. And let me hint, also, that the health and strength of the child depends upon the father as well as the mother. MARRIAGE SHOULD NOT BE AT TOO EARLY A PERIOD OF LIFE.—I am not disposed to discourage early marriage, but I am decidedly opposed to a premature one. Marriage should not take place until the body is healthily and completely developed; to bear offspring prematurely endangers not only the mother’s health, but it materially influences the health and well-being of the child. We cannot fix rigorously the age at which the body becomes fully expanded. I am inclined to say it is at 20 in the female, and at 24 in the male; but original stamina, education, climate, mode of life, etc., have their influence, and may make an earlier or a later marriage proper.