This is a mistake—it has a contrary effect. It is a well-known fact that a part which has been divided gives way much more readily than one which has not been cut. Again, the tooth is bound down by a tight membrane, which, if not released by lancing, frequently brings on convulsions. If the symptoms be urgent, it may be necessary from time to time to repeat the lancing. It would, of course, be the height of folly to lance the gums unless they be hot and swollen, and unless the tooth or the teeth be near at hand. It is not to be considered a panacea for every baby’s ill, although, in those cases where the lancing of the gums is indicated, the beneficial effect is sometimes almost magical. 62. _How ought the lancing of a child’s gums to be performed?_ The proper person, of course, to lance his gums is a medical man. But, if perchance you should be miles away and be out of the reach of one, it would be well for you to know how the operation ought to be performed. Well, then, let him lie on the nurse’s lap upon his back, and let the nurse take hold of his hands, in order that he may not interfere with the operation. Then, _if it be the upper gum_ that requires lancing, you ought to go to the head of the child, looking over, as it were, and into his mouth, and should steady the gum with the index finger of your left hand; then you should take hold of the gum-lancet with your right hand—holding it as if it were a table-knife at dinner—and cut firmly along the inflamed and swollen gum and down to the tooth, until the edge of the gum-lancet grates on the tooth. Each incision ought to extend along the ridge of the gum to about the extent of each expected tooth. _If it be the lower gum_ that requires lancing, you must go to the side of the child, and should steady the outside of the jaw with the fingers of the left hand, and the gum with the left thumb, and then you should perform the operation as before directed. Although the lancing of the gums, to make it intelligible to a non-professional person, requires a long description, it is, in point of fact, a simple affair, is soon performed, and gives but little pain. 63. _If teething cause convulsions, what ought to be done?_ The first thing to be done (after sending for a medical man) is to freely dash cold water upon the face, and to sponge the head with cold water, and as soon as warm water can be procured, to put him into a warm bath of 98 degrees Fahrenheit. For the precautions to be used in putting a child into a warm bath, see the answer to question on “Warm baths.”