In our American cities, hot weather kills more young children than any other cause. Look at the weekly record of deaths in New York or Philadelphia, and you will find that every degree of noon temperature above 950 costs scores if not hundreds of little lives. In those cities, about one-half of the deaths of children in the first year of life, and nearly one-third of those in the second year, take place in June, July, and August.

High heat, crowding, filth, and unsuitable food, conspire against children in the summer homes of the city poor. But the rich may suffer also, from excessive heat, town air, and improper diet, for their children; and these causes produce many cases of summer complaint, or " cholera infantum."

Whoever, of our city families, can take their infants out into the country, during their first, second and third summers, for the months of June, July, August, and September, ought to do it. With those who cannot, the next best thing is to take or send them out on frequent excursions, on land or water, and to have them often in the open parks or squares; for as much pure, cool air as they can get. It is the best preventive, and often the best curative, of summer complaint.

For those who are obliged to live in the crowded parts of towns or villages, the rules given by the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia " for the management of infants during the hot season " have proved serviceable. I will quote them here, in addition to what has been already said on our previous pages on the same subject*.