Practical observations on the diet of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Herbert Barker.

  • Barker, T. Herbert (Thomas Herbert), 1814-1865.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on the diet of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Herbert Barker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ness of the statements already given, we shall take the liberty of appending a quotation :—• The o'elation of food to tlie mecJianical powers of the system,^' wi-ites Mr. Beckett, is of great importance : but this law is often entii'ely disregarded. It evidently never vras intended that children which have not cut their teeth, shoidd be furnislicd with food requiring mastication, yet how constantly do we see them supplied with portions of meat, pastry, and other (to them) indigestible substances, in direct violation of this plain law. The result is, that instead of premature developemeut of strength, we have Irritation of the lining membrane of the sto- mach and bowels, which induces diarrhoea, and may result iu the more fonnidable evils of convulsion or atrophy. The diffi- culty of getting parents to attend to simplicity of diet in child- fen, under five years of age, is a fertile source of disappointment to the practitioner, as well as of atrophy, mai-asmus, and. infan- tile remittent fever (all fatal forms of disease), to the child. This foolish system of indulgence extends to the lowest ranks of society, and seems often to be the most practised where it ia likely to be the most injurious. The relation of the food to the chemical requirements of tJt si/stem., is, however, of aU others, perhaps, the most important t- be borne in mind; and it is here that recent researches more es peciaUy avail us. AU the aliments we take resolve themselves into two grea classes, according to the purpose they subserve in the economy —either nourishing the structures, and hence called Elements of Nutrition; or affording animal heat by the breatliing process, and therefore termed Elements of Eespiration. The former, that is, the elements of nutrition, are quadruple compounds, chiefly composed of foiir gases—^nitrogen being the characteristic gaseous constituent. The latter, or the elements of respiration, are triple compounds, composed of three gases, and carbon generally, is their characteristic element.