teething. A child seldom cuts his second grinders until after he is
two years old. _He is, usually, from the time they first appear, two
years in cutting the first set of teeth_. As a rule, therefore, a
child of two years old has sixteen, and one of two years and a half
old, twenty teeth.

60. _If an infant be feverish or irritable, or otherwise poorly, and
if the gums be hot, swollen, and tender, are you an advocate for their
being lanced_?

Certainly; by doing so he will, in the generality of instances, be
almost instantly relieved.

61. _But it has been stated that lancing the gums hardens them_?

This is a mistake--it has a contrary effect. It is a well-known fact,
that a part which has been divided gives way much more readily than
one which has not been cut. Again, the tooth is bound down by a tight
membrane, which, if not released by lancing, frequently brings on
convulsions. If the symptoms be urgent, it may be necessary from time
to time to repeat the lancing. It would, of course, be the height of
folly to lance the gums unless they be hot and swollen, and unless the
tooth, or the teeth, be near at hand. It is not to be considered a
panacea for every baby's ill, although, in those cases where the
lancing of the gums is indicated, the beneficial effect is sometimes
almost magical.

62. _How ought the lancing of a child's gums to be performed_?

The proper person, of course, to lance his gums is a medical man. But