Common disorders and diseases of childhood / by George Frederic Still.

  • Still, G. Frederic (George Frederic), Sir, 1868-1941.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Common disorders and diseases of childhood / by George Frederic Still. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Permanent teeth. First molars (‘ Six-year-old molars ’) Central incisors ..... Lateral incisors ..... First bicuspid ..... Second bicuspid ..... Canine ....... Second molars (‘ Twelve-year-old molars ’) Wisdom-teeth. Date of eruption. 6 years 7 8 9 10 11 12 •9 59 5 9 >9 5? 99 In the large majority of children the second dentition is an entirely uneventful process, scarcely attracting the notice of the children or its parents ; but there are children, particularly those of unusually nervous temperament, in whom if does, I think, occasionally produce some disturbance. I have known children to become fretful and grind their teeth at night when the second dentition was just beginning and, after the tooth which was apparently causing worry had come through, these symptoms passed off. Rarely, as with the first dentition, the cutting of the permanent teeth is associated with loss of weight. Stuttering is apt to be aggravated, and sometimes seems to be started by the second dentition. Two of the common nervous disorders of childhood, habit spasm and acquired enuresis—acquired, I mean, as distinct from the enuresis which is a persistence of the infantile condition—have their onset most frequently between the fifth and the eighth year, the time when the second dentition is com¬ mencing : it seems possible that their occurrence at this time is due at least in part to increased nervous instability produced by the second dentition. Mental Development The mental development of the child is subject to even greater variation than the physical growth. Immediately after birth the healthy infant shows evidence of ordinary tactile and tempera¬ ture sensation, and taste is certainly present within the first twelve hours : an infant, aged ten hours, made a grimace of displeasure and then refused altogether to suck when I placed a camel-hair brush moistened with a solution of quinine between its lips, whereas, immediately after, when I tried it similarly with the same brush moistened with a solution of sugar, the infant sucked vigorously and smacked his lips with evident satisfaction. Sight is present within a few hours after birth, at any rate a bright light causes blinking just before the infant is twenty- four hours old ; this of course may mean nothing more than the