EXCEPTION 2.—­The second striking exception to the general rule that has been laid down, is when the mother is unable to nurse her own child from positive ill health, or when circumstances exist which render it obviously improper that she should do it.  The following are some of the circumstances which render such a departure from nature indispensable.

1.  When the mother is affected strongly with a hereditary disease, such as consumption or scrofula; or when her constitution is tainted, as it were, with venereal disease, or other permanent affections.

2.  When nursing produces, uniformly, some very troublesome or dangerous disease in the mother; as cough, colic, &c.

3.  There are a few instances in which the milk of the mother, owing to an unknown cause, has been found by experience to disagree with the child.  In these circumstances, it is the unquestionable duty of the mother to resort wholly to feeding.

4.  Sometimes the milk, at first abundant, fails suddenly, owing to some accidental or constitutional defect; and this failure becomes habitual.  In all these circumstances, the proper resort is to a sucking bottle, or a hired nurse.  I generally prefer the latter.  The cases which seem to me to admit of the former, will be pointed out in the next section.

“When the bottle is used,” says Dr. Dewees, “much care is requisite to preserve it sweet and free from all impurities, or the remains of the former food, by which the present may be rendered impure or sour; for which purpose a great deal of caution must be observed.”

The business of feeding a child, whether by the bottle or the spoon, should never be hurried:  the slower it is, the better.  We should stop from time to time, during the process.  Nor should the nourishment be given while lying down; it is much more pleasant, as well as more safe, to sit up.

A few thoughts more on the character and condition of the milk which we give to the young, will conclude the second division of this section.

Some are fond of boiling milk for infants; but to this I am decidedly opposed, so long as they are in health.  Boiling takes away, or appears to take away, some of the best properties of the milk.

It is true that milk which is boiled does not turn sour so readily in hot weather; but it is quite unnecessary to boil milk in the common manner in order to present its changing, since such a result can be prevented by another process.  You have only to put your milk in a kettle, cover it closely, and heat it quickly to the boiling point, and then remove and cool it as speedily as possible.  This plan prevents the rising to the surface of that coat or pellicle which contains some of the most valuable properties of the milk.