often the mark of intellectual possibilities above the average, and the children who are cast outside the ordinary mould, who are the most wayward, the most intractable, who react to trifling faults of management with the most striking symptoms of disturbance, are often those with the greatest potentialities for achievement and for good.  It is natural for the mother of placid, contented, and perhaps rather unenterprising children, looking on as a detached outsider, seeing nothing of the teeming activities of the quick, restless little brain, and the persistent, though faulty reasoning—­it is natural for her to blame another’s work, and to flatter herself that her own routine would have avoided all these troublesome complications.  The mother of the nervous child may often rightly take comfort in the thought that her child is worth the extra trouble and the extra care which he demands, because he is sent into the world with mechanism which, just because it is more powerful than the common run, is more difficult to master and takes longer to control and to apply for useful ends.

It is through the mother, and by means of her alone, that the doctor can influence the conduct of the child.  Without her co-operation, or if she fails to appreciate the whole situation, with the best will in the world, we are powerless to help.  Fortunately with the majority of educated mothers there is no difficulty.  Their powers of observation in all matters concerning their children are usually very great.  It is their interpretation of what they have observed that is often faulty.  Thus, in the example given above, the mother observes correctly that defaecation is inhibited, and produces crying and resistance.  It is her interpretation that the cause is to be found in pain that is at fault.  Again, a mother may bring her infant for tongue-tie.  She has observed correctly that the child is unable to sustain the suction necessary for efficient lactation, and has hit upon this fanciful and traditional explanation.  The doctor, who knows that the tongue takes no part in the act of sucking, will probably be able to demonstrate that the failure to suck is due to nasal obstruction, and that the child is forced to let go the nipple because respiration is impeded.  The opportunities for close observation of the child which mothers enjoy are so great that we shall not often be justified in disregarding their statements.  But if we are able to give the true explanation of the symptoms, it will seldom happen that the mother will fail to be convinced, because the explanation, if true, will fit accurately with all that has been observed.  Thus the mother of the child in whom defaecation is inhibited by negativism may have made further observations.  For example, she may have noted that the so-called constipation causes fretfulness, that it is almost always benefited by a visit to the country or seaside, or that it has become much worse since a new nurse, who is much distressed