In a matter so important as the rearing of children, one would imagine that every mother and nurse would be anxious for instruction on the nature, functions, and wants of the being committed to their fostering care. And yet it is notorious how rarely either one or other of them possesses any but the crudest notions of the animal economy, or can give reasons for the practices they recommend, or modify them in any degree to suit modifications of circumstances and constitution. In reality the wonder comes to be, not that so many children die, but that so many survive their early mismanagement. * * * * * From the age of six or seven years up to that of puberty, when the animal activity is at its height, growth in full progress, and the nutritive functions in their greatest vigour, a larger proportion of animal food, and a more generous diet, become necessary to the enjoyment of health and vigour; but they must still be accompanied by ample exercise and free exposure, otherwise they will tend only to clog and impede the functions of life. At that age the teeth and other organs concerned in digestion have become developed and fit for the assimilation of a richer aliment, and the rapid growth which takes place renders an abundant provision of the latter in a manner indispensable. It is then that the healthy youthful appetite demands quantity as well as quality, and that digestion goes on with an ease and vigour which the dyspeptic parent contemplates with a covetous and regretful eye. At that age, indeed, the nutritive functions are so predominantly active for the purpose of carrying on growth, and supplying the rapid waste caused by youthful activity, that if the natural craving for exercise in the open air be freely indulged, and due attention be given to the development of the bodily frame, the young may be very safely left to choose for themselves both the quality and quantity of their food. In such circumstances, the natural taste inclines so essentially to the preference of plain substantial nourishment, that there is very little risk of excess being committed. But where the parents are intent only on the intellectual advancement of their children, and accustomed to subject them daily to many successive hours of confinement and study, with only an hour or so of relaxation in the open air, as is too commonly the case both with those educated at home and with those in boarding-schools, an artificial state of being is induced, which makes the rule no longer applicable, and renders necessary a more careful attention to dietetic regimen.