The infant of a consumptive parent, however, must not be brought up by
hand. It must have a young, healthy, and vigorous wet-nurse; and in
selecting a woman for this important duty very great care must be
observed.[FN#6] The child should be nursed until it is twelve or fifteen
months old. In some cases it will be right to continue it until the
first set of teeth have appeared, when it will be desirable that a
fresh wet-nurse should be obtained for the last six months.[FN#7] If
the child is partially fed during the latter months (from
necessity or any other cause), the food should be of the lightest
quality, and constitute but a small proportion of its nutriment.



[FN#6] See "Choice of a Wet-nurse," p. 28.

[FN#7] One that has been confined about six weeks or two months.



But not only must the nourishment of such a child be regarded, but the
air it breathes, and the exercise that is given to it; as also, the
careful removal of all functional derangements as they occur, by a
timely application to the medical attendant, and maintaining,
especially, a healthy condition of the digestive organs. All these
points must be strictly followed out, if any good is to be effected.

By a rigid attention to these measures the mother adopts the surest
antidote, indirectly, to overcome the constitutional predisposition to
that disease, the seeds of which, if not inherited from the parent,