A BOOK
OF
MEDICAL DISCOURSES
_IN TWO PARTS_.
PART FIRST:
TREATING OF THE CAUSE, PREVENTION, AND CURE OF INFANTILE BOWEL
COMPLAINTS, FROM BIRTH TO THE CLOSE OF THE TEETHING PERIOD, OR TILL
AFTER THE FIFTH YEAR.
PART SECOND:
CONTAINING MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE LIFE AND GROWTH OF
BEINGS; THE BEGINNING OF WOMANHOOD; ALSO, THE CAUSE, PREVENTION, AND
CURE OF MANY OF THE MOST DISTRESSING COMPLAINTS OF WOMEN, AND YOUTH OF
BOTH SEXES.
BY
REBECCA CRUMPLER, M. D.
BOSTON:
CASHMAN, KEATING & CO., PRINTERS.
FAYETTE COURT, 603 WASHINGTON ST.
1883.
Copyright 1883,
By REBECCA CRUMPLER, M.D.
DEDICATION.
TO
MOTHERS, NURSES,
AND ALL WHO MAY DESIRE TO MITIGATE THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE HUMAN RACE,
_THIS BOOK_
IS PRAYERFULLY OFFERED.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE.
Introduction 1
I. How to Marry 5
II. The Present Modes of Washing and Dressing the New-born 7
III. Preparations for Confinement 11
IV. The Better Mode of Washing the New-born 14
V. Necessity of Agreeable and Soothing Surroundings 18
VI. Nursing from the Breast made easy 20
VII. The Uselessness of “Baby Medicines” during the Month 25
VIII. Dropping of the Navel Cord 32
IX. Artificial Nursing 36
X. The Milk Fever 40
XI. Precautions after the month—Proper and Improper Diet 45
XII. General Treatment of Infants 52
XIII. Time for Weaning 57
XIV. Sects. 1, 2, 3, 4. Cholera Infantum _versus_ Starvation 61
XV. The Causes and Prevention of Cholera Infantum 76
XVI. Convenient Methods for Raising Infants without the Breast 80
XVII. Teething made easy, Secs. 1, 2 90
XVIII. Complications of Teething with Diseases 98
XIX. General Remarks 105
Part Second. Miscellaneous Information 120
INTRODUCTION.
I now present to the public a few thoughts in book form, trusting that
they will be accepted on their merits alone. The following pages contain
a few simple appeals to common sense, and are addressed to mothers,
nurses, and women generally. All honor is due to a far-seeing
legislation which has recognized the importance of fitting woman for the
great and natural office of nurse, or doctress of medicine; for by it
facilities are offered to each member of a community for the promotion
of Christian enlightenment. By frequent visits through various parts of
the United States, at all seasons of the year, as well as by quite an
extensive opportunity while in the capacity of family nurse, and
subsequent practitioner, I have become quite familiar with those
ailments and diseases which afflict many infants from birth to the close
of the teething period, or till after the fifth year of their age.
It may be well to state here that, having been reared by a kind aunt in
Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, I
early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to be in a
position to relieve the sufferings of others. Later in life I devoted my
time, when best I could, to nursing as a business, serving under
different doctors for a period of eight years (from ’52 to ’60); most of
the time at my adopted home in Charlestown, Middlesex County,
Massachusetts. From these doctors I received letters commending me to
the faculty of the New England Female Medical College, whence, four
years afterward, I received the degree of Doctress of Medicine. I then
practised in Boston, but desiring a larger scope for general
information, I travelled toward the British Dominion. On my return,
after the close of the Confederate War, my mind centred upon Richmond,
the capital city of Virginia, as the proper field for real missionary
work, and one that would present ample opportunities to become
acquainted with the diseases of women and children.
During my stay there nearly every hour was improved in that sphere of
labor. The last quarter of the year 1866, I was enabled, through the
agency of the Bureau under Gen. Brown, to have access each day to a very
large number of the indigent, and others of different classes, in a
population of over 30,000 colored. At the close of my services in that
city I returned to my former home, Boston, where I entered into the work
with renewed vigor, practising outside, and receiving children in the
house for treatment; regardless, in a measure, of remuneration. Although
not now in a locality where my constant attendance is required, I do not
fail to notice the various published records of the condition of the
health of Boston and vicinity.
That woman should study the mechanism of the human structure to better
enable her to protect life, before assuming the office of nurse, few
will agree. But that good service has been performed by those who were
entirely ignorant of it, every one must admit. In my own experience,
there was much that to me was obscure, yet, strange to say, I never met
with an accident. A kind Father directed every thought in behalf of the
helpless.
I believe matrimony to be a divine institution; and that the results
arising from a union of the sexes should be considered an important
study for each party concerned. If we as intelligent beings sit still in
this matter of physical security, premature decay must take the place of
perfection. Since I have, with no small degree of diffidence, consented
to submit my long-kept journal to the public in the form of a book, I
desire to present the different subjects by the use of as few technical
terms as possible; and to make my statements brief, simple, and
comprehensive. Indeed I desire that my book shall be as a primary reader
in the hands of every woman; and yet none the less suited to any who may
be conversant with all branches of medical science. If women are
permitted to read and reflect for themselves, it is hardly possible that
they will say it is uninteresting to them, or that it should only be
read by men.
In dealing with subjects that bring to mind thousands of premature
mortalities, as, for instance, those from cholera infantum or pneumonia,
I deem it expedient to speak only of what I know and to which I can
testify. I have endeavored to give some domestic or ready palliative
reliefs for the several cases described; thereby hoping to avoid the
possibility of a remedy’s being applied without an acquaintance with the
character and phases of the complaint for which it is intended. There is
no doubt that thousands of little ones annually die at our very doors,
from diseases which could have been prevented, or cut short by timely
aid. People do not wish to feel that death ensues through neglect on
their part; indeed they speak of consumption, cholera infantum, and
diphtheria, etc., as if sent by God to destroy our infants.
They seem to forget that there is a _cause_ for every ailment, and that
it may be in their power to remove it. My chief desire in presenting
this book is to impress upon somebody’s mind the possibilities of
prevention.
MEDICAL DISCOURSES.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO MARRY.
At what age should a girl marry? is a question frequently asked by young
girls of some confiding friend, and almost as frequently
unsatisfactorily answered. Suppose the question be amended thus:—At what
age and _how_ should young girls marry? The answer to the last clause I
would say, taking all things into consideration, with the consent of
parents or guardians, it is best for a young woman to accept a suitor
who is respectable, vigorous, industrious, and but a few years her
senior, if not of an equal age. One who gives evidence, previous to
wedlock, of being both capable and willing to take the entire
responsibility of a wife upon himself. No objections, of course, to a
union with wealth, all other things being equal. No sickly, sensitive
young girl need expect to have it all sunshine, even with an
industrious, well-meaning man for a husband, rich or poor. The age of a
young woman should be about 19 or 20. It should be remembered that the
union of persons of premature growth, that is before the body is well
developed on either side, favors weakly children. And the same is true
of the union of persons far advanced in years. Weakly mixtures also
produce delicate children. A union of persons whose parents are of
unmixed blood, and whose statures are nearly in proportion, usually
turns out well. A man’s age should be between 22 and 25 when taking the
responsibility of a family upon him. I will add just here that the way
to be happy after marriage is to continue in the careful routine of the
courting days, till it becomes a well understood thing between the two.
After marriage, if medical aid is required by the wife, let it be sought
in a direction that there will never be cause to regret. Some women are
over anxious for a family, and by their nervous whims make themselves
and those around them unhappy. But it is to be deplored that there is a
much larger class of young women whose minds are dark on the subject of
preservation of health, and who soon forget, if they ever thought of the
liabilities of a married life. On taking cold or feeling languid or
nauseated a physician must at once be sent for. It should be borne in
mind that many women begin to show signs of pregnancy by cold, severe
pain in the head, back, stomach, or various parts of the body.
Numbers begin and continue for months with severe cramp colic, and if
remedies of a powerful nature are applied, the mischief may be alarming.
Many of the teas, sweats, baths, and potions that are effective in
relieving a cold will be wholly ineffective when pregnancy is certain.
Therefore repeated trials but disturbs the nervous system of the mother,
through which all things are transmitted to the living germ. In all
cases of suppression of the monthly flow after marriage, a careful
physician should be at once consulted, if there is any reason to doubt
that it is caused by pregnancy. Suffice it to say that too frequent
physicking and over-indulgence in intoxicating liquors and tobacco, will
cause sickly diminutive offspring, to say nothing of premature births.