Book excerpt: A true collector's item, Nurturing Yesterday's Child offers an illustrated history of the care of children from early Greek, Roman and Egyptian times to the present -- a history that will inform you and touch your heart. There is much to fascinate a parent and particularly those with medical connections and interests. Dr. Theodore Drake (1891-1959), co-inventor of Pablum, collected feeding vessels, rattles and teethers, amulets, furniture, books, stamps, and coins during a lifetime of medical studies and practice in Canada and abroad. His collection encompasses some 3,000 artifacts, 1,500 rare books, 1,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and all child welfare stamps up to the 1950s. Nurturing Yesterday's Child is a remarkable tribute to a remarkable man who showed the same amount of care and thoughtfulness when amassing this vast collection as he showed for the health of children throughout a long and distinguished medical career.