But those who are so ready to become counsellors on these occasions, will tell us, perhaps, that the child must be “fed to spare the mother.”  That is to say, nursing weakens the mother, and the child must be taken away, a part of the time, to save her strength.

Now it may safely be doubted whether the process of nursing, in itself considered, does weaken, at all.  The Author of nature has made provision for the secretion (formation) of the milk, whether the child receives it or not.  If it is not taken by the child, or drawn off in some other way, one of two things must follow;—­either it must be taken up by what are called absorbent vessels, and carried into the circulation, and chiefly thrown out of the system as waste matter, or it will prove a source of irritation, if not of inflammation, to the organs themselves which secrete it.  In both cases, the strength of the mother is quite as likely to be taxed, as if the child received the milk in the way that nature intended.

Besides, on this very principle, the plan of saving a mother’s strength by requiring another to nurse for her, is but saying that we will weaken one person to save another.  Or if we feed the child, to “spare its mother,” what is this, in practice, but to say that the works of the Creator are very imperfect; and that he has thrown upon the mass of mankind a task to which they are not equal?  For the mass of mankind are poor; and the poor, having neither the means nor the time to escape the duties in question, must submit to them, while their more wealthy neighbors escape.

But it is idle to defend customs so monstrous.  They admit of no defence that has the slightest claim to solidity.  The general rule then is, that mothers should nurse their own children.

SEC. 2. Conduct of the Mother.

Originally it was not my intention to give directions, in this volume, in regard to the food, drink, &c., of the mother while nursing; but repeated solicitations on this point, have led me to the conclusion that a few general principles may be very properly introduced.

The future health, and even the moral well-being of the child, depend much more on the proper management of the mother herself than is usually supposed.  How, indeed, can it be other wise?  How can the mother’s blood be constantly irritated with improper food and drink, without rendering the milk so?  And how can a child draw, daily and hourly, from this feverish fountain, without being affected, not only in his physical frame, but in his very temper and feelings?

It is not enough that we adopt the principles already insisted on by some of our wisest medical men, and even by one or two medical societies,[Footnote:  Those of Connecticut and New Hampshire.] that children in this way often acquire a propensity for exciting drinks, that may end in their downright intemperance.  What if it should not, in every case, proceed quite so far as to make the child a drunkard?  If it