The wheel window ventilator, Fig. 10, consists of a movable diaphragm and a revolving wheel, the whole varying from six to eight inches in diameter. When placed in position, which is readily done by cutting a circular hole in a window pane or in the door, the difference in temperature between the interior and exterior of the rooms will create a

current, and cause the wheel to revolve noiselessly. The revolving wheel, while it prevents a draught, allows of the passage of two currents, that of fresh air inward and foul air outward, and the diaphragm enables one to control the supply of air.

An admirable domestic arrangement for ventilation consists of a board eight or ten inches in

height placed across, and close to, the window sill, as in Fig. II.

This, when the lower sash is raised, as indicated by the dotted lines, allows of a free entrance of air without a draught, the current being directed upward (as shown by the arrows).

Together with the above careful provision for constant purification of the atmosphere, it is essen

FIG. 11.

BOARD VENTILATOR IN PLACE.

tial to “air” thoroughly both of the nurseries through widely opened windows. With the day nursery this must be done whenever the child leaves it for any length of time, care being taken to close the windows, and get the temperature to the proper degree before his return. The night nursery should be aired after the children leave it in the morning, and after the mid-day nap.

The air of the nurseries should, of course, never be unnecessarily contaminated. Cooking or smoking in the rooms are to be especially avoided. In regard to the latter, there is no doubt that children. are often made sick by the fumes of tobacco, and that, of all forms, cigarette smoke is the most injurious.

Cleaning. It is hardly necessary to say that the nurseries must be kept perfectly clean. Napkins and bed clothing that have been soiled by the discharges from the bladder or bowels must be removed at once from the room, and the practice of hanging diapers wet with urine before the nursery fire to dry should be emphatically discouraged. Equal care must be taken to promptly empty and clean chamber vessels after use.

The furniture, woodwork and window glass, as well as the floors, must be kept clean and free from dust by wiping with a damp cloth at least once a week.

Should there be a stationary washstand in either room, it is most important to thoroughly clean the basin every day, and to disinfect the waste pipe, however short it may be, twice every week. The latter may be done with ammonia,copperas or Platt's Chlorides. The process is very simple, and consists in pouring down the pipe a gallon or more of a diluted solution of either of the above articles. Copperas

is the cheapest and in my opinion the best; a double handful of it in an ordinary bucketful of water forms an efficient disinfectant and deodorizer.

The substance known as Household Ammonia may be employed in the strength of two tablespoonfuls to a gallon of water, and is especially useful where there is a suspicion that the interior of the waste pipe has become coated with a layer of soap.

Platt's Chlorides is used in the proportion of one part to four of water, and is very efficient, though more expensive than either of the other materials.

The nurseries must never be cleaned whilst the children are occupying them.

7

CHAPTER III.

THE NURSE-MAID.

While the mother is the natural guardian of the physical and moral welfare of her children, the nurse-maid has a considerable influence over both; for the former, however anxious and watchful, has so many other duties, both domestic and social, that she must absent herself at times from the nursery; the latter, on the contrary, lives there. By day, and often, too, at night, she has the care of the children, attending to their apartments, to their persons, food and clothing, participating in their amusements and exercise, and watching over their sleep. The selection of a nurse-maid, therefore, is a matter of much importance.

The celebrated Dr. West, in discussing the nursing of sick children, makes the following statement in regard to a nurse's qualifications: "Indeed, if any of you have entered on your office (hospital nursing) without a feeling of very earnest love to little children-a feeling which makes you long to be with them, to take care of them, to help them you have made a great mistake in undertaking such duties as you are now engaged in."