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Clutha Leader, Volume XLI, Issue 2, 14 July 1914, Page 7

gits' I'OUIS. —A MOTHER'S a letter. jte following lottpr has just come to from tlx- country:— your wecklv coUiiiin 111 tin* Otago Daily Times o,lp which I regularly ;':id look forward to. It is a , 3 t I'll" 11 t0 . voun * mothers to have f'h interesting ami useful knowledge grilled weekly. I t-ertainly have Ljii'l it >0 - ;u " 1 t0 tllarik >' ou (cr tl»' benefit I have derived from, vour arri<-I<>~. ■ y av 1 ask you to write at some date on the subject of .•Bal'i'"" ( olds'" This common ail(OUt Vl ' rv provah'tit. and is rather jjicult t" d"al with in very young i' til ' lron ' • , , i ! [have a -lear wee girl, three and aklf months old. She is entirely b reast .fcd, has her meals regularly, I <leeps by herself. She is very bppy and contented, and never had a Mummv.' ; Some time ago she !(ju«ht ii severe cold, and was nearly | ( loke«l with the phlegm in her nose jaj.l throat. : [ rubbed her nose, ehest and back i fjith warm olive oil, gave her occa- j <ioaal sips of honey, aud sprinkled | lier pillow with eucalyptus. | Will von kimllv tell me if all that i the best that could have been 1 am sure many mothers will j j3 il vour answer with interest. There is another point on which 1 j m doubtful. Should the scaly forgation on the to[> of baby's head be remove'! Several mothers of large families have told me not to touch it, j that it serves as a protection for the j teller head. Others, again, advise to amove it with warm olive oil and a fine tooth comb. 1 would value highly your opinion on the subject. ' Just one more question. Are the so(a!]eil "• Ehvtric Teething Bands" of p? value, or is the benefit attributed (j'their use purely imaginary.' They ttitainlv have more than one Royal Kitimonial, and, to my knowledge, uveral children who wore them cut tieir teeth without trouble. REPLY. It the meantime the only comment I pi pass on so-called electric teething iL is to say that they may be put ithe same category with other highBaling appliances, such as so-called utric or magnetic belts, which exert leitttric or. magnetic influence over itolv, and would probably be more ■ useless if they did. fe' colds are quite another matr.iileeil, with the exception of inpon and diarrhoea, there is no Kil condition on which it is more Ktant for parents to have clear is regarding nature, causation and (ration. But why limit our atten»to colds as affecting babies.' Why (look at the matter more broadly, nag that colds often run through the Wi house, and the baby catches it tK the grown-ups.' Why not deal lithe nature, causation and prevenBo' "colds'' in general.' BOIOX ('OLDS.—XATI'RH, CAUSATION .AXI) PREVENTION'. Ccmmoii colds are generally regarded svsterious, accidental and more or B unavoidable visitations of Provilee. In reality they are nothing of ikiml. They are no more mysterilor inevitable than constipation or inboea, and tliey are precisely* analoBtosuili fevers as pneumonia, plourf.rceadcs or tvphoid fever.

Csmioii colds are nor merely like Bs—they ;ire actually fevers; they salwvs .iiie to an invasion of the i; by millions of microbes, which *1 with amazing rapidity in \ nose and upper air-pas-p.to<\ ijuickly poison the blood and Kt more Di- loss every tissue of the iy. the victim to'feel hot and Wby turns, fevered, thirsty, and sore, Mull, languid and miserable. fele microbes are always liable to lurking about the mouth, nose and *t ( and if someone introduces a *i% virulent strain of germ into a wit is apt to make a successful cain- ( ■P against the whole household, if > family happens to live under counts which render ;he tissues of their tin feeble fighters in general, and Ki»lly inefficient to combat this par- *& class of organism. In other "is, if they happen to be people who "iially live in warm, stuffy rooms, d to fortify their bodies daily by cold •"ging or bathing followed by rubf> to! active exercise, and who do '""ail themselves of the healthy •king efforts of open air and sun»t *"* way to ensure proper hardiness "esistiveiu-s in the case of the baby socially ,|oalt with in "Feeding and re »f Baby/' j.ages 1 and 2, 61, 82 to [ l,5 'oH\:i;i.l 160. l 1»otc the following from page 82, J leave tho mother to read for lier- " the rest of the passage, ami to look ' a "'l study also what is said ou the * r Pages referred to. In this way e *'" prepare herself to grasp fully of what 1 shall have to [ next week, not only as to babies' '«, hut as to the whole subject of ourselves in a practical, •"oil-sense way against the colds, twoats, , OU gi ls an( j j n fl U euza which ' so insidious a part iu undermining institution and in keeping people jjV 1 "! proper standard of health "J* a 'l civilised communities. FOR BABY.—SENSORY AND MUSCULAR. ■*»?• exercise (which comes to us ? trough the skin) is most imbecause it is what "runs us." main source of the stimulation [■■ W| bodily machinery, including

even the voluntary muscles. The essential vital organs (nerve centres, heart, lungs, digestive and excretory organs, etc.) depend for their activities almost entirely on .stimuli coming to them through the sensory nerves; hence one cannot over-state the advantage of pure fresh, flowing air day and night, and of open-air outings, especially in sunshine. Keep the skin active. A large amount of exercise should be taken, from a very early age, in the form of vigorous suckling, kicking, waving the arms, etc., and later on by crawling. Every such activity should be encouraged. At least twice a day the infant should have for 15 to 20* minutes the free, unhampered use of his limbs. CATARRHAL FEVERS, COMMONLY CALLED COLDS. The above is the title of a medical book of over 100 pages by Dr R. Prosser White, who sets out to show that '•colds," while among the most serious of human ailments, are strictly avoidable, and are simply fevers, just as measles and typhoid are fevers, and that, like these maladies they can be prevented by making the body fit, strong and resistive, and by keeping our homes as free as possible from poisonous germs, which accumulate in stuffy rooms, etc. (To be continued next week.)

GLAXO BUILDS BONNIE BABIEti. Glaxo is used the world over in the principal hospitals for children, and is recommended by leading doctors. Write to "Glaxo," Dept. 20, Palmerston North, tor a free copy of the Glaxo Baby Book containing 72 pages of advice on infant feeding and on the care and training of the child.