Teething, in town and country, 67
Temperature and ventilation of a nursery, 133
Temperature of a warm bath, 254
Thread or maw-worm, and its causes, 213
Throats, sore, precautions to prevent, 325
Thrush, cause, symptoms, prevention and cure of, 100
Thumb, the best gum-stick in the world, 62
Tight bands, belts and hats, 111
Tight lacing, the ill effects of, 284
Times for feeding an infant, 35
Tobacco smoking for boys, 327
Tobacco smoking, cases illustrating the danger of, 327
Toe-nails, the right way of cutting, 116
Tongue-tied, to ascertain if an infant be, 34
“Tooth-cough,” should anything be given in, 67
Tooth-powder, an excellent, 313
Top crust of bread as infant’s food, 38
Tous-les-mois, 37
Toys, children’s, 158
Toys painted with arsenic, 137, 158
Trade or profession for a delicate youth, 308
Treatment of the delicate, 226
Treatment of some urgent serious diseases, 79, 171
Truth, the love of, 147
Tub, commencement of washing an infant in a, 20
Tumbling and rolling of a child, 154
Vaccination, the advantages of, 53
Veal for a child, the objection to, 126
Vegetables for a child, 126
Ventilation, and on stopping of chimneys, 150, 230
Ventilation and sleep, 308
Ventilation of a nursery, 134
Violet powder, to make, 23
Walking, on the early, of infants, 151
Walking exercise, value of, 291
Walking in his sleep, a child, 168
Warm baths for children, 253
Warm external applications, 254
Warts, the best remedy to destroy, 339
Washing of a child, remarks upon the, 108
Washing of an infant, remarks upon the, 19
Washing a new-born infant’s head with brandy, 21
Washing a nursery floor, 136
Wasp, the sting of a, 268
Water, on the importance of good, 127
Water on the brain, 173
Water, cold and warm, for ablution, 107
Weather, on a child almost living in the air in fine, 153
Weather, on sending the young out in wet, 153
Wet flannel application, 255
White lily leaf for bruises, 257
Whom, and how, to nurse the young, 44
Whom to select as a nurse for feeble children, 47
Windows of a nursery should be large, 138
Windpipe, foreign substance in the, 273
Wine for children and youths, 130, 288
Winter clothing, the time to leave off, 116
Woolen garments, the use of, 113, 282
THE END.
TO THE READER.
Before presenting a few from the numerous commendations to this
invaluable work, we desire to furnish the _verbatim_ copy of an able
letter addressed to the editor by JOHN BELL, M.D., author of treatises
on “Baths” and “Mineral Waters,” “Regimen and Longevity,” “Health and
Beauty,” etc., etc. The eminent services, as an editor and author,
rendered by DR. BELL to the profession will cause his words to sink
deeply in the minds and hearts of thousands of parents and physicians,
who have alike been profited by his skill and wisdom.
THE PUBLISHERS.
PHILADELPHIA, March 16, 1871.
F. H. GETCHELL, M.D.
DEAR DOCTOR:—I must compliment you on your neat Introduction as in
itself a good summary, with additional enforcement, of the advice
contained in the work of Dr. Chavasse on the “Physical Training of
Children.” The author has been very successful in conveying much
needed instruction in language clear, forcible and readily
comprehended by every reader. Mothers, for whose benefit the work has
been prepared, must feel, with it in hand, that they have gained a
friendly, disinterested and wise counsellor to admonish and guide them
in many trying emergencies to a proper physical management, and to
some extent concurrent moral culture, of their offspring, from the
first hour of infantile life, on through childhood, until the time for
school education begins. Familiar truths are here presented with a
freshness and piquancy which carry with them the renewed assent and
conviction of those who deemed themselves possessed of the requisite
knowledge, while by the larger number, the uninitiated into maternal
cares and children’s wants, they cannot fail to be received as the
utterances of wisdom and long experience. In his inculcations the
author does not assume that a child is a mere machine, to be made to
go through certain movements by an older controlling hand, nor that it
is to be left, like a young plant, to grow up in fruitless luxuriance,
without pruning or grafting. He favors a large charter for nature, but
he dwells also on the existence of natural laws, growing out of the
very framework and constitution of a living body, an infraction of
which, whether it be through ignorance, pedantic teaching, fashion or
the intrusion of physic, is followed by injury to health and
happiness. A child is not to be treated as an automaton, but as a
being whose physical and mental organization, instincts and germs of
intelligence are to be gradually developed under careful training.
Growth, health and flexibility of movements come first: polish and the
graces may well be an afterthought. The first instinctive wants of an
infant, the gratifying of which is necessary to its existence, are air
to breathe, food to nourish, external warmth by suitable covering, and
sleep to invigorate and refresh. It is now that the reason of the
mother and of her immediate aids should be deliberately exercised in
the regulation of these instincts. Selection and limitation of means
for the purpose must be made, and the physical training of the infant
is thus already begun. How important that this training should be
conducted with a full knowledge of the necessities of the case! and
yet it is this very knowledge that is so generally wanting, and which
it is the great object of Dr. Chavasse to supply. His advice and
directions to this end are full and explicit, minute without being
tedious and plain without being trivial. All the deeds and
contingencies of nursery-life are anticipated, and the treatment
required in consequence is carefully detailed. The cardinal purposes
of a sanitary teacher are to preserve the health of the child, to
restore it when lost and to prevent disease. While giving full scope
to the fulfilment of these purposes, the author admits, with reserve,
the necessity of indicating the means of curing some of the ailments
and chief diseases incident to childhood. He enjoins the mother to
send for a physician as soon as the case requires medical aid, and he
gives the additional and often-needed advice to abide strictly by the
directions of her medical adviser. There are times, however, when the
suddenness and violence of the attack and the inability to procure
timely professional assistance throw the mother on her own resources,
and it is under these circumstances that the author teaches her how to
act and what prescriptions to give, but not without many cautions on
his part. It must still be continually borne in mind that everything
can be done in the way of prevention, and much in the way of cure, by
a timely and judicious use of the ordinary hygienic means applied for
the growth and preservation of the child, viz.: air, water, food,
clothing, exercise of the body and nurture of the affections. The
medicine-chest ought never to form part of the furniture of the
nursery. Meddlesome medicine is bad, and that medicine is always
meddlesome when it is applied without actual necessity, clearly
indicated by a competent judge. The mother will find this judge in the
author of the present volume.
Especially to be commended are the sub-chapters on _The Nursery_,
_Exercise_, _Amusements_ and _Education_, the mere reading of which by
parents, and more particularly by mothers, cannot fail, while
inculcating new duties on them, to call their affections into
increased activity and extend their benevolent feeling to all who are
placed under similar circumstances with themselves. Air and light and
range for romps and games, pleasant words and nurture in love inspire
children with joy and gladness, and parents, in reading these
feelings, catch the soft contagion and become happier themselves in
making their miniature second selves happy. In a subsequent part of
the volume, under the head of “Boyhood and Girlhood,” additional
advice is given on many of the topics which were detailed in reference
to infant life. First among these is daily ablution in its full sense,
including the use of the bath as “a grand requisite for health.” The
transition from bathing to swimming is very natural and easy.
“Swimming ought, then, to be a part and parcel of the education of
every boy and girl.” In urging exercise and amusements for the young,
and specifying many ways, including the gymnasium, dancing and
skating, in which the desired object may be attained, the author could
not fail to caution against the perversion of the pleasures of the
dance by the too general accompaniments of tight dress in crowded
rooms, impure air, late hours, over-exertion and rapid transitions of
temperature, to which are too frequently added excesses in eating and
the drinking of stimulating and intoxicating liquids. Children’s
parties are properly stigmatized as disgusting and demoralizing.
Schools come up for consideration, and most valuable advice and
warning are given for the treatment of girls sent to these
institutions. Physical education should always precede mental, and be
continued with it. In a question between health and books, the former
should always carry the day. “Unfortunately, in this enlightened age,
we,” as the author justly remarks, “commence at the wrong end—we put
the cart before the horse: we begin by cultivating the mind, and we
leave the body to be taken care of afterward; the results are broken
health, precocious, stunted and deformed youths, and premature decay.”
All that is said in this volume on the subject of education is
pertinent, suggestive and instructive, not only to mothers, but to all
whose line of duty lies in training the young for the proper discharge
of their duties in after life. Were I attempting to give an analysis
of the work of Dr. Chavasse, I would have spoken first of his
instructions on the topics of diet and clothing, which are quite
comprehensive and adapted to the successive periods of infancy and
childhood on to adolescence. Water for drink, milk as the staple food,
“the most nourishing, wholesome and digestible,” ought to require no
special recommendation did we not sometimes see the substitution by
parents, intelligent in other respects, of beer and wine, and even
diluted spirits, for beverage, and of highly seasoned dishes of meat,
pastries, cakes, etc., for food. Of milk it is truly said that “the
finest and the healthiest children are those who for the first four or
five years of their lives are fed _principally_ upon it.” The use of
light clothing with a view of hardening children is discountenanced,
as it deserves to be, and the present fashion of dressing children
meets the strongest censure, as being both adverse to health and
furnishing early lessons of vanity. The clothing should be of such
texture and material as to keep up the animal heat, and in a climate
like ours, as indeed in all northern climates or those misnamed
temperate, the vicissitudes of temperature in which are so great and
frequent, woollen undergarments can rarely be dispensed with. To
children, and invalids at all ages, they are indispensable. The dress,
whatever may be the fashion, should be easy fitting, and this more
particularly, as pointed out by the author, in the matter of shoes and
boots, the undue tightness of which is an abomination only second to
tight lacing of the chest and abdomen.
Dr. Chavasse in the earlier editions of his work had carefully
restricted himself to the domain of hygiene, and he was mainly induced
to enlarge his teaching by the advice of Sir Charles Locock, in years
gone by accoucheur to the queen. Following out this advice, he now
gives, as already intimated, the treatment of some of the more urgent
and serious diseases of infants and of children, to be carried out
when a medical man cannot instantly be procured and when delay might
be death. To a consideration of these he adds that of various ailments
and of accidents, and thus enables the mother, with the assistance of
discreet adults of the house, to have prompt recourse to the best
means of treating them. The concluding section of the volume contains
good and available advice for the prevention of diseases, the
insidious approach of which makes it very necessary to detect their
real character, and to adopt the best means of arresting farther
progress, as in the instances of consumption and scrofula in both
sexes, and curvature of the spine, most common in females.
Where there is so much to commend in plan and execution of the work of
Dr. Chavasse, I feel no inclination to hunt out minor defects, and can
have no hesitation in proclaiming him to be one of our most successful
co-laborers in the grand domain of hygiene, and particularly in his
chosen department, the “Physical Training of Children.” I must, at the
same time, congratulate you, my dear doctor, for your having selected
such a worthy companion in a course of sanitary instruction which you
are pursuing in connection with your more onerous professional
engagements.
Yours, sincerely,
JOHN BELL.
* * * * *
J. W. BRINTON, M.D., of Philadelphia, _Lecturer on Operative and Minor
Surgery to the Summer Course of the Jefferson Medical College, Surgeon
to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Surgeon to Philadelphia Hospital, etc., etc._,
in referring to PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN, writes to the editor:
“The work seems to me an admirable one, and its suggestions, if
followed, must, I am sure, tend to prevent nursery mismanagement.”
* * * * *
REV. DANIEL MARCH, D.D., of Philadelphia, author of _Night Scenes in the
Bible_, _Our Fathers House_, _etc._, writes:
“I have been deeply interested in the title and contents of the work,
PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN. The slight examination which I have made
of several chapters satisfies me that the subject has been treated with
great clearness, delicacy and discretion. The book will come as a
messenger of light, comfort and life to multitudes of homes. It will do
much not only to promote health and long life, but to secure the highest
enjoyment and the wisest improvement of life while it lasts. I wish it
might find a place in every American home.”
* * * * *
REV. ALFRED NEVIN, D.D., of Philadelphia, author of _A Popular
Commentary on Luke_, _The Churches of the Valley_, _A Guide to the
Oracles_, _etc., etc._, says:
“I have examined the PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN sufficiently to
assure me that it would be a valuable acquisition to any family library
for constant and convenient reference. The _preventive_ suggestions
which it makes touching the influences and agencies which often damage,
if not destroy, the health of children, are of special importance. The
form of questions and answers, in which the instruction is embodied,
strikes me also as having many advantages. In addition to the intrinsic
merit of the book, the very handsome style in which it is published must
aid in giving it a wide circulation.”
* * * * *
HON. JOHN W. FORNEY, proprietor of the Philadelphia _Press_, and one of
the most distinguished editors of the country, pertinently says:
“I have examined the work, PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN, and regard it
as exceedingly useful and interesting. It abounds in valuable
information, and I do most cheerfully commend it to the public.”
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.