No family where there are young children, should be without Fahrenheit’s thermometer. If a thermometer be not at hand, you must plunge your own elbow into the water: a comfortable heat for your elbow will be the proper heat for the infant. He must remain in the bath for a quarter of an hour, or until the fit be at an end. The body must, after coming out of the bath, be wiped with warm and dry and coarse towels; he ought then to be placed in a warm blanket. The gums must be lanced, and cold water should be applied to the head. An enema, composed of table salt, of olive oil, and warm oatmeal gruel—in the proportion of one tablespoonful of salt, of one of oil, and a teacupful of gruel—ought then to be administered, and should, until the bowels have been well opened, be repeated every quarter of an hour; as soon as he comes to himself a dose of aperient medicine ought to be given. 64. _A nurse is in the habit of giving a child who is teething either coral or ivory to bite—do you approve of the plan?_ I think it a bad practice to give him any hard, unyielding substance, as it tends to harden the gums, and by so doing causes the teeth to come through with greater difficulty. I have found softer substances, such as either a piece of wax-taper, or an india-rubber ring, or a piece of the best bridle-leather, or a crust of bread, of great service. If a piece of crust be given as a gum-stick, he must, while biting it, be well watched, or by accident he might loosen a large piece of it, which might choke him. The pressure of any of these excites a more rapid absorption of the gum, and thus causes the tooth to come through more easily and quickly. 65. _Have you any objection to my baby, when he is cutting his teeth, sucking his thumb?_ Certainly not; the thumb is the best gum-stick in the world—it is convenient, it is handy (in every sense of the word), it is of the right size, and of the proper consistence—neither too hard nor too soft; there is no danger, as of some artificial gum-sticks, of its being swallowed, and thus of its choking the child. The sucking of the thumb causes the salivary glands to pour out their contents, and thus not only to moisten the dry mouth, but assists the digestion; the pressure of the thumb eases, while the teeth are “breeding,” the pain and irritation of the gums, and helps, when the teeth are sufficiently advanced, to bring them through the gums. Sucking of the thumb will often make a cross infant contented and happy, and will frequently induce a restless babe to fall into a sweet refreshing sleep. Truly may the thumb be called a baby’s comfort. By all means, then, let your child suck his thumb whenever he likes, and as long as he chooses to do so. There is a charming, bewitching little picture of a babe sucking his thumb in Kingsley’s _Water Babies_, which I cordially commend to your favorable notice and study.