The daily ablution of an infant is no more natural or necessary than it would be to take a fish out of water once a day, and cover it with dirt, in order to make it thrive more vigorously thereafter in its native element. Cleanliness is next to godliness; but washing should be only for the purpose of keeping the body clean, and this can be effected without scrubbing the whole surface daily. Water is not the natural habitat of humanity.
Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of flatulency, and constantly directing your mind to such signs,—that mind being ladened with illusions about disease, health laws, and death,—these actions convey your mental images to your children's bodies, and often stamp them there, making it probable that, at any time, such ills may be reproduced in the very ailments you fear.
