jingling of bells or the shrill toned whistle, and that every purpose of amusement is much better effected by talking to them, and new ideas constantly conveyed: thus I said to my babe to day, George where is Rover? at the same time pointing to a favourite spaniel which lay upon the carpet; the dog advanced, and the child sprang for ward delighted; and now when he is asked where is Rover? he immediately looks around to find him; thus he has acquired an idea productive of constant pleasure.On reading this passage to my little circle, Amelia ran to her brother Edward, clapping her hands and exclaiming, Oh, Oh, mamma has put Rover in her book! This was followed by a lecture to my audience upon the nature of printing and vending books, and the pleasure and profit of reading them; when my eldest son, who thinks himself very profound in greek and latin, with a dash of the pedant natural to his age, gravely observed to his father, "If mamma would but study greek, and write her book in that language, Rover might become immortalized like Ulysses' dog in the Odyssey." Thus

we endeavour to connect amusement with profit, in the various grades of infant and juvenile life. But to return to my subject: The very best assistant in this way to the irruption of the teeth is a cork. Take a cork screw and worm it into a new cork of a proper size to be admitted with ease into the mouth, and you have a play thing both useful and pleasing to the child; the soft and spongy nature of the cork is exactly suited to the tender state of the gums, and is unattended by the danger inseparable from permitting such young infants to chew a crust of bread, which is often recommended; but they too frequently get off large pieces, which might be productive of fatal consequences unless great attention was paid, and this cannot always be obtained from ordinary attendants and the ivory or ebony head of the common cork screw I believe equally good as the coral, when a more polished substance is required; and if of gold or silver, they are still better. I have observed an infant set several minutes at one time and bite the cork, with evident tokens of pleasure, while his little hands were bu

sily employed playing with the cork screw. It is my opinion that a due attention to air, exercise and amusement, is the chief requisite to ensure comparatively easy dentition; but great care must be taken to keep infants in health at this time, for although teething cannot, perhaps, properly be termed a disease, it is often attended by, or productive of many disorders; such as long continued constipations, convulsions and fevers, or violent diarrhoea, and consequent weakness of body various kinds of rash likewise frequently appear at this time, and may generally be esteemed salutary. But although thus menaced on all sides by various complaints, infants who have been properly managed from the birth, and nourished entirely by milk, will generally triumph over them all, and most commonly escape them entirely; therefore, I will notice such complaints as sometimes occur in the healthiest children, and unless very much neglected scarcely deserve the name of diseases. We find almost every child will be either very costive or greatly the reverse at this period, and it should be the mother's pecu

liar care, to watch these symptoms, and afford the necessary aid in due time; in either case no alarm need be felt while the child appears in good spirits, has a good appetite, and does not by unusual fretfulness, or any other marked symptom, evince certain indisposition: and here again the allwise hand of the great Creator is displayed, for not more true are the indications of the magnetic needle, than the aspects of the infant countenance; and as the skilful mariner, by noting the one, conducts his vessel safely to her destined port, so may the judicious mother, by observing the other, judge accurately of her infant's health. I never feel in the least anxious about my children while their eyes are bright and lively, their faces dressed in smiles, and they show a constant disposition to play; (by which I would infer that the partial ebullitions excited by endeavours to amuse them do not reach my meaning;) but when they look pale and dejected, their eyes dull and heavy, seldom irra diated by a smile, it is beyond doubt that they are ill and require some little medicine to assist "oppressed nature in her arduous

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task." If the child is strong and robust, it will be most inclined to feverish complaints, attended by constipation, in which case I have always found magnesia answer a very good purpose, especially if the child is affected with acidity in the stomach and bowels, which will generally be the case. The magnesia may be given in doses of a tea-spoonful to infants from four to six and seven months, in a little pepper mint, or caraway water, sweetened with manna, before going to bed, and repeated in the morning, if it has not the desired effect. Magnesia, however, will not always operate as a purgative, and when this happens, and the complaint proves obstinate, the best medicine I ever tried is syrup of elder berries: a table spoonful will be sufficient for an infant of six months, or under, and after that the dose may be increased to two table spoonsful without danger. I have known this effectually remove a disposition to constipation, which would not yield to other purgatives, and leave the children in perfect health for many months. Rhubarb should be avoided, as its astringency will but aggravate the

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