The maternal management of children in health and disease / Thoroughly revised by Robert W. Parker.

  • Bull, Thomas
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The maternal management of children in health and disease / Thoroughly revised by Robert W. Parker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to save life : do not hesitate to have this done, for even in cases where the operation does not actually save the child’s life it at least saves much suffering, and pre- vents the child being choked to death. Its Prevention.—Croup seldom occurs during the first year of infantile life; most frequently in the second year, and between this and puberty (the four- teenth year) its attacks are occasionally to be appre- hended. When it has once attacked a child, it is very liable to recur at any period before the thirteenth or fourteenth year of age. It may even do so several times, and after intervals of various duration. It is very desirable, therefore, that a parent should be acquainted with the means of prevention. They con- sist in the following measures : —The careful protection of the child from cold or damp weather, particularly the north-east winds of spring, following heavy rains ; for croup is most prevalent in those seasons which are cold and moist, or when the alterations of temperature are sudden and remarkable. If the residence of the child is in a low, damp situation, or near the sea, or any lai’ge body of water, he should, if possible, be removed to a healthier spot, for croup appears to be almost endemic in such places. Five times, in its most severe form, have I been called to treat this dis- ease in children of the same family, who live in the immediate neighbourhood of London, but inhabiting a house in a low marshy spot, and near a large body of water: and when I have met this complaint it has generally been in similar places; seldom in the city itself. Dr. Alison, however, notices a curious circum- stance, and which it may be useful to remember : he says, ‘ That it seems to be often produced by the child’s sitting in a room newly washed; and that he has