The care and management, and consequently the health and future well-doing of the child, principally devolve upon the mother; “for it is the mother after all that has most to do with the making or the marring of the man.” Dr. Guthrie justly remarks that—“Moses might never have been the man he was unless he had been nursed by his own mother. How many celebrated men have owed their greatness and their goodness to a mother’s training!” Napoleon owed much to his mother. “‘The fate of a child,’ said Napoleon, ‘is always the work of his mother;’ and this extraordinary man took pleasure in repeating, that to his mother he owed his elevation. All history confirms this opinion.... The character of the mother influences the children more than that of the father, because it is more exposed to their daily, hourly observation.” I am not overstating the importance of the subject in hand when I say that a child is the most valuable treasure in the world, that “he is the precious gift of God,” that he is the source of a mother’s greatest and purest enjoyment, that he is the strongest bond of affection between her and her husband, and that “A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, A messenger of peace and love.” In the writing of the following pages I have had one object constantly in view—namely, health— “That salt of life, which does to all a relish give; Its standing pleasure, and intrinsic wealth, The body’s virtue, and the soul’s good fortune—health.” ABLUTION. 3. _Is a new-born infant, for the first time, to be washed in warm or in cold water?_ It is not an uncommon plan to use _cold_ water from the first, under the impression of its strengthening the child. This appears to be a cruel and barbarous practice, and is likely to have a contrary tendency. Moreover, it frequently produces either inflammation of the eyes, or stuffing of the nose, or inflammation of the lungs, or looseness of the bowels. Although I do not approve of _cold_ water, we ought not to run into an opposite extreme, as _hot_ water would weaken and enervate the babe, and thus would predispose him to disease. Lukewarm _rain_ water will be the best to wash him with. This, if it be summer, should have its temperature gradually lowered, until it be quite cold; if it be winter, a _dash_ of warm water ought still to be added, to take off the chill. It will be necessary to use soap—Castile soap being the best for the purpose—it being less irritating to the skin than the ordinary soap. Care should be taken that it does not get into the eyes, as it may produce either inflammation or smarting of those organs. If the skin be delicate, or if there be any excoriation or “breaking-out” on the skin, then Glycerin soap, instead of the Castile soap, ought to be used. 4. _At what age do you recommend a mother to commence washing her infant in the tub or in the nursery-basin?_