I shall be happy to accede to your request, and to give you the fruits of my experience in the clearest manner I am able, and in the simplest language I can command—freed from all technicalities. I will endeavor to guide you in the management of the health of your offspring;—I will describe to you the _symptoms_ of the diseases of children;—I will warn you of approaching danger, in order that you may promptly apply for medical assistance before disease has gained too firm a footing;—I will give you the _treatment_ on the moment of some of their more pressing illnesses—when medical aid cannot quickly be procured, and where delay may be death;—I will instruct you in case of accidents, on the _immediate_ employment of remedies—where procrastination may be dangerous; I will tell you how a sick child should be nursed, and how a sick room ought to be managed;—I will use my best energy to banish injurious practices from the nursery;—I will treat of the means to prevent disease where it be possible;—I will show you the way to preserve the health of the healthy,—and how to strengthen the delicate;—and will strive to make a medical man’s task more agreeable to himself,—and more beneficial to his patient,—by dispelling errors and prejudices, and by proving the importance of your _strictly_ adhering to his rules. If I can accomplish any of these objects, I shall be amply repaid by the pleasing satisfaction that I have been of some little service to the rising generation. 2. _Then you consider it important that I should be made acquainted with, and be well informed upon, the subjects you have just named?_ Certainly. I deem it to be your imperative duty to _study_ the subject well. The proper management of children is a vital question,—a mother’s question,—and the most important that can be brought under the consideration of a parent; and, strange to say, it is one that has been more neglected than any other. How many mothers undertake the responsible management of children without previous instruction, or without forethought; they undertake it as though it may be learned either by intuition or by instinct or by affection! The consequence is, that frequently they are in a sea of trouble and uncertainty, tossing about without either rule or compass; until, too often, their hopes and treasures are shipwrecked and lost!