The complete repose depicted on the countenance of a sleeping child when free from illness is shown also by the posture of the body. The head lies easy on the pillow, the trunk rests on the side, slightly inclined backward, the limbs assume various but always most graceful attitudes, and no movement is observable but the gentle rise and fall of the abdomen in respiration. In the waking state, the child, after early infancy, is rarely still. The movements of the arms, at first awkward, soon become full of purpose as he reaches to handle and examine various objects about him. The legs are idle longer, although these, too, soon begin to move about with method, feeling the ground in preparation, as it were, for creeping and walking.

Examples of Variations in Disease. - Restless sleep, with a desire to be rocked, fondled or "walked" in the nurse's arms, are common symptoms of acute attacks of illness, especially when attended by pain. Children beyond the age of infancy toss about uneasily in bed or want a change from the bed to the lap, under similar circumstances. Extreme and long-continued drowsiness and quietness, on the other hand, often precede the onset of such specific fevers as scarlatina or measles.

Sleeping with the head thrown back and the mouth open indicates enlarged tonsils or adenoid growths; a tendency to "sleep high," or with the head and shoulders elevated by the pillow, accompanies disease of the heart and lungs, and "sleeping cool," that is, resting only after the bedclothes have been kicked off, is an early symptom of rickets.

Frequent carrying of the hand to the head, ear, or mouth shows headache, earache, or pain of a coming tooth. Constant rubbing of the nose is a feature of irritation of the bowels or stomach.

Should the thumbs be drawn into the palms of the hands, and the fingers tightly clasped over them, or if the toes be strongly flexed or extended, a convulsion may be expected.