In introducing this subject, it may be well to call attention to two important points that are often either unrecognized or overlooked.

First. - All children, but particularly infants, have little power to resist the depressing influences of continued cold, and on this account require warm clothing.

Too much cannot be said against the fashion which, for the sake of supposed beauty, demands that children should be dressed in a way to leave their legs and knees bare. Even in the house, and except in extreme tropical weather, this barbarous practice is injurious, as it exposes a considerable part of the body to constant chilling. The physician knows, and the intelligent layman should be readily convinced of, the bad effects of such protracted abstraction of body-heat. The explanation is simple: every child is supplied by nature with a certain definite quantity of nerve force destined to be expended each day in maintaining what physiologists term "the functions of the body," namely, breathing, circulation of the blood, digestion, heat-production, and so on. Now, if an undue proportion of this nerve force be consumed in producing body-heat, as must be the case when so large a surface is left bare, the other functions will be robbed of force. From this robbery the digestion suffers most. With feeble digestion comes constipation or its opposite, diarrhoea. Again, if the surface be chilled, the blood which should circulate in the skin is driven to the interior of the body, and the vessels of the mucous membrane become surcharged. This surcharging, or congestion, causes the condition known as catarrh, which, affecting the lining membrane of the alimentary tract, causes vomiting and diarrhoea; and, in the case of the lungs, bronchitis.

Mothers who allow their children to have their legs and knees covered with the "hideous" long stockings or drawers, often come to me and complain that Mrs. So-So's children have bare legs, and are even healthier and more robust looking than theirs. Some children are born hardier than others, but no one knows, in the long run, how much better in health, in after life, are those whose vital forces have been husbanded and strengthened in infancy and childhood. I cannot waver in my opinion. I have been too often called to the bedside of these poor little "robust" children whose health, and even life, might have been spared had their clothing been better adapted to their tender years. One great argument advanced by the advocates of bare knees is that in olden times all children were clad with their arms and neck, as well as knees, bare. No one says how many died by the wayside. What mother would, on a winter's day, care to sit on the floor or walk through the halls with her knees uncovered? The mother who protests the loudest I have always observed to be warmly dressed herself.

Second. - Infants and children have soft tissues. This statement applies as well to the bones as to the muscles. Therefore, the clothing should fit loosely, that it may not interfere with the motion of the limbs, with the rise and fall of the chest in respiration, or with the necessary freedom of the muscles of the abdominal wall or intestinal canal, one of which is concerned in respiration, the other in the no less important function of digestion.

Let the clothing, then, be warm and loose.

Thought for the infant's clothing must begin before its birth, with the filling of the "baby's basket." This should contain the following articles:

A nainsook slip.

A flannel skirt.

A merino shirt, high neck and long sleeves.

A flannel band, twenty inches long and five inches wide.

A soft woolen shawl, to be used for a wrap in cold weather.

Worsted socks.

Two linen diapers.

Large and small safety-pins.

One pair blunt-pointed scissors.

Powder box and puff.

Soft hair brush.

Cold cream or white vaseline.

Linen bobbin.

Two soft towels.

Castile soap.

Small soft flannel wash cloths, for washing face and head.

Small silk sponge, for bathing body and limbs.

Absorbent cotton for cleansing mouth, eyes, genital organs and buttocks.

As soon as the child is born and the cutting of the cord frees it from maternal connection, it is the rule to wrap it in a piece of soft flannel and place it in a position of safety until, certain necessary attentions having been rendered to the mother, a convenient time arrives for washing. After this operation, which will be described on a future page, the child is dressed for the first time. Every infant requires knitted worsted shoes, or, as they are popularly called, "socks," a napkin and an abdominal band or "binder"; the rest of the dress - the body clothing proper - consists usually of three garments, which vary in pattern with individual ideas and tastes.

The socks are made of silk thread or soft worsted yarn fashioned by needles into the shape of shoes, and of such a size as to fit the foot loosely, while covering the leg two inches or more above the ankle. They are held in position by a loosely tied tape or a narrowed band of stitches - the mechanism of which every knitter will understand - near the top. Stockings are unnecessary, and are rarely used before the clothes are shortened.

The napkin or diaper may be made either of linen or muslin, the former material being preferred, as it is less heating and less liable to cause chafing of the skin when wet. At first the diaper should be half-a-yard wide and one yard long; later, as age advances, larger sizes will be required. When used it is folded into a square and then into a triangle, and must be carefully adjusted to the infant's person so that it may not cause pain by undue pressure upon the back or abdomen.

A soiled napkin can never be safely used a second time, even though the soiling medium be simply urine and the subsequent drying be thorough. In consequence, an abundant supply is essential. The least dampness renders its use dangerous, and while insisting upon the washing of all soiled napkins, it is equally important that they be aired for at least twelve hours before being used again, that they may be surely dry. One must be most careful, too, to insist upon the laundress washing the napkins in hot suds made with a pure soap, and boiling for twenty minutes. No soda is to be used in washing, and no starch or bluing in ironing as the constant contact of diapers impregnated with irritating substances is sure to produce troublesome excoriation of the buttocks and neighboring delicate skin.