If any inflammation be present, or if he have but just recovered from
one, it would be improper to send him into the open air, but not
otherwise, as the fresh air would be a likely means of strengthening the
lungs, and thereby of preventing an attack of inflammation for the
future. Besides, the more a child is coddled within doors, the more
likely will he be to catch cold, and to renew the inflammation. If the
weather be cold, yet neither wet nor damp, he ought to be sent out, but
let him be well clothed; and the nurse should have strict injunctions
_not_ to stand about entries, or in any draughts—indeed, not to stand
about at all, but to keep walking about all the time she is in the open
air. Unless you have a trustworthy nurse, it will be well for you either
to accompany her in her walk with your child, or merely to allow her to
walk with him in the garden, as you can then keep your eye upon both of
them.
257. _If a child be either chicken-breasted, or if he be narrow-chested,
are there any means of expanding and of strengthening his chest?_
Learning ought to be put out of the question; attention must be paid to
his health alone, or consumption will probably mark him as its own! Let
him live as much as possible in the open air; if it be country, so much
the better. Let him rise early in the morning, and let him go to bed
betimes; and if he be old enough to use the dumb-bells, or, what is
better, an india-rubber chest expander, he should do so daily. He ought
also to be encouraged to use two short sticks, similar to, but heavier
than, a policeman’s staff, and to go, every morning, through regular
exercises with them. As soon as he be old enough, let him have lessons
from a drill-sergeant and from a dancing-master. Let him be made both to
walk and to sit upright, and let him be kept as much as possible upon a
milk diet, and give him as much as he can eat of fresh meat every day.
Where milk does not agree, it may generally be made to do so by the
addition of one part of lime-water to seven parts of new milk. Moreover,
the lime will be of service in hardening his bones; and in these cases,
the bones require hardening. Cod-liver oil, a teaspoonful or a
dessertspoonful, according to his age, twice a day, is serviceable in
these cases. Stimulants ought to be carefully avoided. In short, let
every means be used to nourish, to strengthen, and invigorate the
system, without at the same time creating fever. Such a child should be
a child of nature; he ought almost to live in the open air, and throw
his books to the winds. Of what use is learning without health? In such
a case as this you cannot have both.
258. _If a child be round-shouldered, or if either of his
shoulder-blades have “grown out,” what had better be done?_
Many children have either round shoulders, or have their shoulder-blades
grown out, or have their spines twisted, from growing too fast, from
being allowed to slouch in their gait, and from not having sufficient
nourishing food, such as meat and milk, to support them while the rapid
growth of childhood is going on.
If your child be affected as above described, nourish him well on milk
and on farinaceous food, and on meat once a day, but let milk be his
staple diet; he ought, during the twenty-four hours, to take two or
three pints of new milk. He should almost live in the open air, and must
have plenty of play. If you can so contrive it, let him live in the
country. When tired, let him lie, for half an hour, two or three times
daily, flat on his back on the carpet. Let him rest at night on a
horse-hair mattress, and not on a feather bed.
Let him have every morning, if it be summer, a thorough cold water
ablution; if it be winter, let the water be made tepid. Let either two
handfuls of table salt or a handful of bay salt be dissolved in the
water. Let the salt and water stream well over his shoulders and down
his back and loins. Let him be well dried with a moderately coarse
towel, and then let his back be well rubbed, and his shoulders be thrown
back—exercising them, much in the same manner as in skipping, for five
or ten minutes at a time. Skipping, by-the-by, is of great use in these
cases, whether the child be either a boy or a girl—using, of course, the
rope backward, and not forward.
Let books be utterly discarded until his shoulders have become strong,
and thus no longer round, and his shoulder-blades have become straight.
It is a painful sight to see a child stoop like an old man.
Let him have twice daily a teaspoonful or a dessertspoonful (according
to his age) of cod-liver oil.
When he is old enough, let the drill-sergeant give him regular lessons,
and let the dancing-master be put in requisition. Let him go through
regular gymnastic exercises, provided they are not of a violent
character.
But, bear in mind, let there be in these cases no mechanical
restraints—no shoulder-straps, no abominable stays. Make him straight by
natural means—by making him strong. Mechanical means would only, by
weakening and wasting the muscles, increase the mischief, and thus the
deformity. In this world of ours there is too much reliance placed on
artificial, and too little on natural means of cure.
259. _What are the causes of Bow Legs in a child; and what is the
treatment?_
Weakness of constitution, poor and insufficient nourishment, and putting
a child, more especially a fat and heavy one, on his legs too early.
_Treatment._—Nourishing food, such as an abundance of milk, and, if he
be old enough, of meat; iron medicines; cod-liver oil; thorough
ablution, every morning, of the whole body; an abundance of exercise
either on pony, or on donkey, or in carriage, but not, until his legs be
stronger, on foot. If they are much bowed, it will be necessary to
consult an experienced surgeon.
260. _If a child while asleep, “wet his bed,” is there any method of
preventing him from doing so?_
Let him be held out just before he himself goes to bed, and again when
the family retires to rest. If, at the time, he be asleep, he will
become so accustomed to it that he will, without awaking, make water. He
ought to be made to lie on his side; for, if he be put on his back, the
urine will rest upon an irritable part of the bladder, and, if he be
inclined to wet his bed, he will not be able to avoid doing so. He must
not be allowed to drink much with his meals, especially with his supper.
Wetting the bed is an infirmity with some children—they cannot help it.
It is, therefore, cruel to scold and chastise them for it. Occasionally,
however, wetting the bed arises from idleness, in which case, of course,
a little wholesome correction might be necessary.
A water-proof cloth, or bed-sheeting, as it is sometimes called—one yard
by three-quarters of a yard—will effectually preserve the bed from being
wetted, and ought always, on these occasions, to be used.
A mother ought, every morning, to ascertain for herself whether her
child have wet his bed; if he have, and if unfortunately the water-proof
cloth have not been used, the mattress, sheets, and blankets must be
instantly taken to the kitchen fire and be properly dried. Inattention
to the above has frequently caused a child to suffer, either from a
cold, from a fever, or from an inflammation; not only so, but if they be
not dried, he is wallowing in filth and in an offensive effluvium. If
both mother and nurse were more attentive to their duties—in frequently
holding a child out, whether he asks or not—a child wetting his bed
would be the exception, and not, as it frequently is, the rule. If a
child be dirty, you may depend upon it the right persons to blame are
the mother and the nurse, and not the child!
261. _If a child should catch Small-pox, what are the best means to
prevent pitting?_
He ought to be desired neither to pick nor to rub the pustules. If he be
too young to attend to these directions, his hands must be secured in
bags (just large enough to hold them), which bags should be fastened
round the wrists. The nails must be cut very close.
Cream smeared by means of a feather, frequently in the day, on the
pustules, affords great comfort and benefit. Tripe-liquor has, for the
same purpose, been strongly recommended. I, myself, in several cases
have tried it, and with the happiest results. It is most soothing,
comforting, and healing to the skin.
262. _Can you tell me of any plan to prevent Chilblains, or, if a child
be suffering from them, to cure them?_
_First, then, the way to prevent them._—Let a child, who is subject to
them, wear, in the winter time, a square piece of wash-leather over the
toes, a pair of warm lamb’s-wool stockings, and good shoes; but, above
all, let him be encouraged to run about the house as much as possible,
especially before going to bed; and on no account allow him either to
warm his feet before the fire, or to bathe them in _hot_ water. If the
feet be cold, and the child be too young to take exercise, then let them
be well rubbed with the warm hand. If adults suffer from chilblains, I
have found friction, night and morning, with horse-hair flesh-gloves,
the best means of preventing them.
_Secondly, the way to cure them._—_If they be unbroken_, let them be
well rubbed, every night and morning, with spirits of turpentine and
camphorated oil, first shaking the bottle, and then let them be covered
with a piece of lint, over which a piece of wash-leather should be
placed.
Take of—Spirits of Turpentine, three drachms;
Camphorated Oil, nine drachms:
Mix for a Liniment. For an adult, four drachms of the former, and
eight of the latter, may be used. If the child be young, or if the
skin be very tender, the camphorated oil may be used without the
turpentine.
“An excellent chilblain remedy is made by shaking well together, in a
bottle, spirits of turpentine, white vinegar, and the contents of an
egg, in equal proportion. With this the chilblains should be rubbed
gently whenever they are in a state of irritation, and until the
swelling and redness are dissipated.”
_If they be broken_, let a piece of lint be spread with spermaceti
cerate, and be applied, every morning, to the part, and let a
white-bread poultice be used every night.
263. _During the winter time my child’s hands, legs, etc., chap very
much: what ought I to do?_
Let a teacupful of bran be tied up in a muslin bag, and be put, over
night, into either a large water-can or jug of _rain_ water; and let
this water from the can or jug be the water he is to be washed with on
the following morning, and every morning until the chaps be cured.
_Rain_ water ought _always_ to be used in the washing of a child; pump
water is likely to chap the skin, and to make it both rough and
irritable. As often as water is withdrawn, either from the water-can or
from the jug, let fresh rain water take its place, in order that the
bran may be constantly soaking in it. The bran in the bag should be
renewed about twice a week.
Take particular care to dry the skin well every time he be washed; then,
after each ablution, as well as every night at bedtime, rub a piece of
deer’s suet over the parts affected: a few dressings will perform a
cure. The deer’s suet may be bought at any of the shops where venison is
sold. Another excellent remedy is glycerin, which should be smeared, by
means of the finger or by a camel’s-hair brush, on the parts affected,
two or three times a day. If the child be very young, it might be
necessary to dilute the glycerin with rose-water: fill a small bottle
one-third with glycerin, and fill up the remaining two-thirds of the
bottle with rose-water—shaking the bottle every time just before using
it. The best soap to use for chapped hands is the glycerin soap: no
other being required.
264. _What is the best remedy for Chapped Lips?_
Cold-cream (which may be procured of any respectable chemist) is an
excellent application for _chapped lips_. It ought, by means of the
finger, to be frequently smeared on the parts affected.
265. _Have the goodness to inform me of the different varieties of Worms
that infest a child’s bowels?_
Principally three—1, The tape-worm; 2, the long round-worm; and 3, the
most frequent of all, the common thread or maw-worm. The tape-worm
infests the whole course of the bowels, both small and large: the long
round-worm, principally the small bowels, occasionally the stomach; it
sometimes crawls out of the child’s mouth, causing alarm to the mother;
there is, of course, no danger in its doing so: the common thread-worm
or maw-worm infests the rectum or fundament.
266. _What are the causes of Worms?_
The causes of worms are—weak bowels; bad and improper food, such as
unripe, unsound, or uncooked fruit, and much green vegetables; pork,
especially underdone pork; an abundance of sweets; the neglecting of
giving salt in the food. One frequent, if not the most frequent, cause
of tape-worm is the eating of pork, more especially if it be underdone.
_Underdone_ pork is the most unwholesome food that can be eaten, and is
the most frequent cause of tape-worm known. _Underdone_ beef also gives
tape-worm; let the meat, therefore, be well and properly cooked. These
facts ought to be borne in mind, as prevention is always better than
cure.
267. _What are the symptoms and the treatment of Worms?_
_The symptoms_ of worms are—emaciation; itching and picking of the nose;
a dark mark under the eyes; grating, during sleep, of the teeth;
starting in the sleep; foul breath; furred tongue; uncertain
appetite—sometimes voracious, at other times bad, the little patient
sitting down very hungry to his dinner, and before scarcely tasting a
mouthful, the appetite vanishing; large bowels; colicky pains of the
bowels; slimy motions; itching of the fundament. Tape-worm and
round-worm, more especially the former, are apt, in children, to produce
convulsions. Tape-worm is very weakening to the constitution, and
usually causes great emaciation and general ill health; the sooner
therefore it is expelled from the bowels the better it will be for the
patient.
Many of the obscure diseases of children arise from worms. In all
doubtful cases, therefore, this fact should be borne in mind, in order
that a thorough investigation may be instituted.
With regard to _treatment_, a medical man ought, of course, to be
consulted. He will soon use means both to dislodge them, and to prevent
a future recurrence of them.
Let me caution a mother never to give her child patent medicines for the
destruction of worms. There is one favorite quack powder, which is
composed principally of large doses of calomel, and which is quite as
likely to destroy the patient as the worms! No, if your child have
worms, put him under the care of a judicious medical man, who will soon
expel them, without, at the same time, injuring health and constitution!
268. _How may Worms be prevented from infesting a child’s bowels?_
Worms generally infest _weak_ bowels; hence, the moment a child becomes
strong worms cease to exist. The reason why a child is so subject to
them is owing to the improper food which is usually given to him. When
he be stuffed with unsound and with unripe fruits, with much sweets,
with rich puddings, and with pastry, and when he is oftentimes allowed
to eat his meat _without_ salt, and to _bolt_ his food without chewing
it, is there any wonder that he should suffer from worms? The way to
prevent them is to avoid such things, and, at the same time, to give him
plenty of salt to his _fresh_ and well-cooked meat. Salt strengthens and
assists digestion, and is absolutely necessary to the human economy.
Salt is emphatically a worm-destroyer. The truth of this statement may
be readily tested by sprinkling a little salt on the common earth-worm.
“What a comfort and real requisite to human life is salt! It enters into
the constituents of the human blood, and to do without it is wholly
impossible.” To do without it is wholly impossible! These are true
words. Look well to it, therefore, ye mothers, and beware of the
consequences of neglecting such advice, and see for yourselves that your
children regularly eat salt with their food. If they neglect eating salt
with their food, they _must, of necessity, have worms_, and worms that
will eventually injure them and make them miserable.
269. _You have a great objection to the frequent administration of
aperient medicines to a child: can you devise any method to prevent
their use?_
Although we can scarcely call constipation a disease, yet it sometimes
leads to disease. The frequent giving of aperients only adds to the
stubbornness of the bowels.
I have generally found a draught, early every morning, of _cold_ pump
water, the eating either of loaf gingerbread or of oatmeal gingerbread,
a variety of animal and vegetable food, ripe sound fruit, Muscatel
raisins, a fig, or an orange after dinner, and, when he be old enough,
_coffee_ and milk instead of _tea_ and milk, to have the desired effect,
more especially if, for a time, aperients be studiously avoided.
270. _Have you any remarks to make on Rickets?_
Rickets is owing to a want of a sufficient quantity of earthy matter in
the bones; hence the bones bend and twist, and lose their shape, causing
deformity. Rickets generally begins to show itself between the first and
second years of a child’s life. Such children are generally late in
cutting their teeth, and when the teeth do come, they are bad, deficient
of enamel, discolored, and readily decay. A rickety child is generally
stunted in stature; he has a large head, with overhanging forehead, or
what nurses call a watery-head-shaped forehead. The fontanelles, or
openings of the head as they are called, are a long time in closing. A
rickety child is usually talented; his brain seems to thrive at the
expense of his general health. His breast-bone projects out, and the
sides of his chest are flattened—hence he becomes what is called
chicken-breasted or pigeon-breasted; his spine is usually twisted, so
that he is quite awry, and, in a bad case, he is hump-backed; the ribs,
from the twisted spine, on one side bulge out; he is round-shouldered;
the long bones of his body, being soft, bend; he is bow-legged,
knock-kneed, and weak ankled.
Rickets are of various degrees of intensity, the hump-backed being among
the worst. There are many mild forms of rickets; weak ankles,
knocked-knees, bowed-legs, chicken-breasts, being among the latter
number. Many a child, who is not exactly hump-backed, is very
round-shouldered, which latter is also a mild species of rickets.
Show me a child that is rickety, and I can generally prove that it is
owing to poor living, more especially to poor milk. If milk were always
genuine, and if a child had an abundance of it, my belief is that
rickets would be a very rare disease. The importance of genuine milk is
of national importance. We cannot have a race of strong men and women
unless, as children, they have had a good and plentiful supply of milk.
It is utterly impossible. Milk might well be considered one of the
necessaries of a child’s existence.
Genuine fresh milk, then, is one of the grand preventives, as well as
one of the best remedies, for rickets. Many a child would not now have
to swallow quantities of cod-liver oil if previously he had imbibed
quantities of good genuine milk. An insufficient and a poor supply of
milk in childhood sows the seeds of many diseases, and death often
gathers the fruit. Can it be wondered at, when there is so much poor and
nasty milk in England, that rickets in one shape or another is so
prevalent?
When will mothers arouse from their slumbers, rub their eyes, and see
clearly the importance of the subject? When will they know that all the
symptoms of rickets I have just enumerated _usually_ proceed from the
want of nourishment, more especially from the want of genuine and of an
abundance of milk? There are, of course, other means of warding off
rickets besides an abundance of nourishing food, such as thorough
ablution, plenty of air, exercise, play, and sunshine; but of all these
splendid remedies, nourishment stands at the top of the list.
I do not mean to say that rickets _always_ proceeds from poorness of
living—from poor milk. It sometimes arises from scrofula, and is an
inheritance of one or of both the parents.
Rickety children, if not both carefully watched and managed, frequently,
when they become youths, die of consumption. A mother, who has for some
time neglected the advice I have just given, will often find, to her
grievous cost, that the mischief has, past remedy, been done, and that
it is now “too late!—too late!”
271. _How may a child be prevented from becoming Rickety? or, if he be
Rickety, how ought he to be treated?_
If a child be predisposed to be rickety, or if he be actually rickety,
attend to the following rules:
Let him live well, on good nourishing diet, such as on tender
rump-steaks, cut very fine, and mixed with mashed potatoes, crumb of
bread, and with the gravy of the meat. Let him have, as I have before
advised, an abundance of good new milk—a quart or three pints during
every twenty-four hours. Let him have milk in every form—as milk gruel,
Du Barry’s Arabica revalenta made with milk, batter and rice puddings,
suet-pudding, bread and milk, etc.
_To harden the bones_, let lime-water be added to the milk (a
tablespoonful to each teacupful of milk).
Let him have a good supply of fresh, pure, dry air. He must almost live
in the open air—the country, if practicable, in preference to the town,
and the coast in summer and autumn. Sea bathing and sea breezes are
often, in these cases, of inestimable value.
He ought not, at an early age, to be allowed to bear his weight upon his
legs. He must sleep on a horse-hair mattress, and not on a feather bed.
He should use, every morning, cold baths in the summer, and tepid baths
in the winter, with bay salt (a handful) dissolved in the water.
Friction with the hand must, for half an hour at a time, every night and
morning, be sedulously applied to the back and to the limbs. It is
wonderful how much good in these cases friction does.
Strict attention ought to be paid to the rules of health as laid down in
these Conversations. Whatever is conducive to the general health is
preventive and curative of rickets.
Books, if he be old enough to read them, should be thrown aside; health,
and health alone, must be the one grand object.
The best medicines in these cases are a combination of cod-liver oil and
the wine of iron, given in the following manner: Put a teaspoonful of
wine of iron into a wineglass, half fill the glass with water, sweeten
it with a lump or two of sugar, then let a teaspoonful of cod-liver oil
swim on the top; let the child drink it all down together, twice or
three times a day. An hour after a meal is the _best_ time to give the
medicine, as both iron and cod-liver oil sit better on a _full_ than on
an _empty_ stomach. The child in a short time will become fond of the
above medicine, and will be sorry when it is discontinued.
A case of rickets requires great patience and steady perseverance; let,
therefore, the above plan have a fair and long-continued trial, and I
can then promise that there will be every probability that great benefit
will be derived from it.
272. _If a child be subject to a scabby eruption about the mouth, what
is the best local application?_
Leave it to Nature. Do not, on any account, apply any local application
to heal it; if you do, you may produce injury; you may either bring on
an attack of inflammation, or you may throw him into convulsions. No!
This “breaking-out” is frequently a safety-valve, and must not therefore
be needlessly interfered with. Should the eruption be severe, reduce the
child’s diet; keep him from butter, from gravy, and from fat meat, or,
indeed, for a few days from meat altogether; and give him mild aperient
medicine; but, above all things, do not quack him either with calomel or
with grey powder.
273. _Will you have the goodness to describe the eruption on the face
and on the head of a young child, called Milk-Crust or Running Scall?_