I said, "Pray, sit down, dear nurse, and let us reason together.

Do not think I am setting up my judgment against yours, with all your experience.

I am simply trying to act on the opinions of a distinguished physician, who says there should be no pressure on a child anywhere; that the limbs and body should be free; that it is cruel to bandage an infant from hip to armpit, as is usually done in America; or both body and legs, as is done in Europe; or strap them to boards, as is done by savages on both continents.

Can you give me one good reason, nurse, why a child should be bandaged ?" "Yes," she said emphatically, "I can give you a dozen." "I only asked for one," I replied.
"Well," said she, after much hesitation, "the bones of a newborn infant are soft, like cartilage, and, unless you pin them up snugly, there is danger of their falling apart." "It seems to me," I replied, "you have given the strongest reason why they should be carefully guarded against the slightest pressure.

It is very remarkable that kittens and puppies should be so well put together that they need no artificial bracing, and the human family be left wholly to the mercy of a bandage.