The principles and practice of obstetricy, as at present taught / by James Blundell ; to which are added, notes and illustrations by Thomas Castle.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of obstetricy, as at present taught / by James Blundell ; to which are added, notes and illustrations by Thomas Castle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    are the indications that the refrigerating applications have exerted their full operation. Warmth about the head, pulsating fontanels, and inward fits, are the best signs that the refrigerants are again required. To equalize the circulation, the warm bath is of great service ; and although timorous mothers are very anxious lest the water should weaken, I think I never, in one instance, witnessed a dan- gerous debility produced in this manner; and of the bath I have made frequent use. 97° of Farenheit’s thermometer appears to be a very fit temperature ; ten or fifteen minutes is an average period of immersion, to be lengthened if the child seem lively, and to be abbreviated should faintness occur.* I have known infants to be I'egularly attacked with convulsions every time they screamed ; vex them, and a fit ensued : hence the importance of keeping all quiet. When the other remedies, namely, bleeding, purging, refrigeration of the head, and warm immersion, have been used, quiet may sometimes be ensured by syrup of poppies, or other anodynes.d I know that in convulsive cases, with much lethargy, protracted for one or two weeks to- gether, infants sometimes unexpectedly recover ; and I have seen • If after three or four immersions, the child still scream when bathed, the bathing vessel maj be covered with a blanket, and this being gradually pressed down with the infant, the water transudes almost unperceived through the texture, so that the little patient is in the bath before it is aware of it. When the bath is obstinately refused, wrapping the infant in a flannel, wrung out of water at the temperature of 97« of Farenheit, may be found an excel- lent substitute; it may lie there among the folds, as comfortably as in the womb of the mother. If you wish to make the child superlatively happy, tell the friends to put a few broken corks in the water: Dis miscent euperis. Thirty or forty years afterwards they would not find half the pleasure in a globe and sceptre. Dr. Blundell. t In young infants, opiates must be given with great caution; for though some, under convulsive and bowel affections, bear anodynes very well, there is always a fear of an over- dose; from half a drachm to a drachm of good syrup of poppies, or two drops of the tincture of opium, are a full daily quantity for an infant within the month. Negligent assistants ought not to be employed to measure out the preparation; infants have sometimes been killed by over doses; and still more frequently they have become drowsy, so as to neglect the breast and food for hours together, to their great detriment in bowel complaints. It is to be regretted that poppy syrup, so useful in children, varies so much in its strength and quality. Dr. Blundell. 3 U