Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
The cure of infants
413:1
and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and
and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and
God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter.
The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contem-
plation of physical wants or conditions induces those very
conditions. A single requirement, beyond what is neces-
sary to meet the simplest needs of the babe is harmful.
Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and
food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter
does not. The wise or unwise views of parents and other
persons on these subjects produce good or bad effects on
the health of children.
Ablutions for cleanliness
413:12
The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural
The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural
nor necessary than would be the process of taking a fish
out of water every day and covering it with dirt
in order to make it thrive more vigorously in its
own 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. I insist on bodily cleanliness within and with-
out. I am not patient with a speck of dirt; but in caring
for an infant one need not wash his little body all over each
day in order to keep it sweet as the new-blown flower.
Juvenile ailments
413:24
Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of
Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of
flatulency, and constantly directing the mind to such
signs, – that mind being laden with illusions
about disease, health-laws, and death, – these
actions convey mental images to children's budding
thoughts, and often stamp them there, making it probable
at any time that such ills may be reproduced in the very
ailments feared. A child may have worms, if you say so,
or any other malady, timorously held in the beliefs con-