Diseases of children : a short introduction to their study / [Fleetwood Churchill].

  • Churchill, Fleetwood, 1808-1878.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of children : a short introduction to their study / [Fleetwood Churchill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    child, when cold is applied to the abdomen of the mother, shew a quick sensibility to alterations of temperature. 14, So far, then, the condition of the foetus in utero is one of quies- cence, except as regards the functions of nutrition and development. Secluded and protected by exquisite arrangements, in its temporary abode, from all external influence and injury, it is at once, at the termi- nation of gestation, plunged into the midst of excitement, and exposed to influences and impressions which act rudely on organs hitherto un- tried. ‘‘ In one instant it is transferred from unconscious repose, soli- tude, and darkness, to life, and light, and action. From being sur- rounded by a bland fluid of unvarving warmth, it passes at once to the rude contact of an ever-changing and colder air, and to a harder pressure, even from the softest clothing, than it ever before sustained. Pre- viously nourished by the mother’s blood, it must now seek and digest its own food, and throw out its own waste. The blood, once purified and restored through means of the mother’s system, must now be oxy- genated by the child’s own lungs. The animal heat once supplied to it by another source must now be elaborated by the action of its own organs.’””* The first impression, and a most painful one, is that of cold, and the first act is to evince its sufferings by cries and struggles. No doubt, benefit is derived from this,—it assists in establishing full respiration, and gives an impetus to the general circulation. The distress occasioned at first by cold is augmented by the compa- ratively rough handling, washing, and dressing, and by the stimulus to which each sense is exposed. The eye, hitherto closed in darkness, opens to the light, and the ear for the first time is conscious of various and confused sounds; and the brain and nervous system, so far used to but few and simple impressions, become the centre of varied and complicated ones from each awakened sense, and these impressions, for the most part, painful. Moreover, a very remarkable change takes place in the posture and muscular movements of the infant. Not that it makes no muscular exertions previously, but from the small space in which it was confined, these were necessarily limited and uniform; a limb could be moved to and fro, but complete extension was impossible. Now the infant lies at full length, and under the handling of its nurse stretches forth its limbs, and struggles violently in its impotent distress. Very shortly after birth the organs of digestion are called upon to perform their functions, and although the food be mild and bland, yet the process is ordinarily a prodigious step beyond the functions hi- therto performed by the stomach, if indeed it was at all active during gestation. 15.. When we consider, therefore, that from a state of quiescence, and simple organic nutrition, the infant at birth is roused into a state