ΤΟ

WILLIAM FARR, M.D., F.R.S., D.C.L.

'MY DEAR DR FARR,

The cordial approval and hearty encomiums you have, for the last thirty years, passed on this Book and on its companion Volume-Advice to a Mother— demand my warmest acknowledgments. You spoke highly of them when they first came out when they and the author were comparatively unknown-long before the books had achieved their great popularity-their marvellous success.

Such commendation, coming from a man whose knowledge of Medical and Social Science is so vast, is most flattering to me, and has given me additional energy to make this Book still more complete and useful, and more worthy of that noble Science, in whose vineyard you and I have so long and so earnestly toiled.

I am anxious, therefore, to associate your name with my own, for I owe you a deep debt of gratitude. the Dedication of this Volume as a small token of my respect Accept, then, and esteem, and believe me to remain,

DEAR DR FARR,

Ever yours most sincerely,

PYE HENRY CHAVASSE.

PRIORY HOUSE, OLD SQUARE,

BIRMINGHAM, January 1873.

PREFACE.

THE aggregate sale of the English editions alone of Advice to a Wife, and of Advice to a Mother, is now ten thousand copies annually, and still the circulation increases-edition after edition-each edition now consisting of fifteen thousand copies-following each other in rapid succession !

I have, in this Preface, but few observations to make; but, in truth, observations are, in this case, but little needed, for the enormous circulation of the work proclaims in language more emphatic and more convincing than any words that can be used, how much this book was required, and how thoroughly my efforts have been appreciated.

Once more- -for the tenth time-I resign this work into the hands of my fair readers, of my dear friends, and of my esteemed patients.

PYE HENRY CHAVASSE.

PRIORY HOUSE, OLD SQUARE, BIRMINGHAM,
January, 1873.

PREFACE TO NINTH EDITION.

THE success of this Book, and of its companion volume -Advice to a Mother-is truly marvellous. My third work-completing The Series-Counsel to a Mother, although a much younger book, is rapidly growing into public favour, and why should it not? The "counsel" contained therein is equally important, useful, and needful, and is the matured fruit of my judgment and experience. Counsel to a Mother is nothing more nor less than the Appendix or Supplement of Advice to a Mother; indeed, the three works (1.) Advice to a Wife, (2.) Advice to a Mother, and (3.) Counsel to a Mother-may each be considered a continuation and the completion of the other, forming one work, as where Advice to a Wife ends, Advice to a Mother begins, only to be taken up, carried on, and completed in Counsel to a Mother; the first work, Advice to a Wife, being on the management of wifehood; the other two works, Advice to a Mother and Counsel to a Mother, on the care and management of childhood. The three volumes comprising The Series constitute a complete Code of Health for Wife, for Mother, and for Offspring -a work complete in three volumes.

Ten Thousand Copies of this one Edition-THE NINTH are now published. The sale of this Book daily and rapidly increases: the demand for the work speaks in language not to be misunderstood how much it was needed, and how thoroughly my efforts have been appreciated. The fact is, much of the information contained therein has never appeared in print before, and is perfectly original; and yet it was information absolutely necessary for a wife to know, not only for her own well-doing, but also for that of the helpless babe committed to her charge. True, there was among women a great deal of unwritten lore on the subject;