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

  • Blundell, Dr., 1790-1878.
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 Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    For the cure of the lues venerea in infants, the ordinary alternatives may be employed; the hydrargyri submurias,. pilula hydrargyri, and hydrargyrum cum creta being the principal mercurial preparations. Calomel is rough.— Blue pill mav be mixed with mucilage, when it is easily administered in any quantity. Let the medicine be continued for two or three weeks after the obvious symptoms have disappeared, and if diarrhoea is to be feared, cautiously add a little anodyne to prevent it. SECTION XIII. The Medical Diseases of Infants. To investigate and treat those diseases of young infants which fall under the care of the physician, is no agreeable task, for at this early age we are often surrounded with more feeling than judgment; and as the child cannot speak for itself, its complaints are sometimes involved in much obscurity. External Signs. Since infants are not capable of communicating their ailments, we are often compelled to look to certain external signs. Thus, to speak of the more prominent, be it observed that the diseases of young children frequently exhibit marks upon the skin ; the surface of the body, therefore, ought always to be inspected; and, in doing this, you may, at the same time, observe the degree of plumpness or emaciation, as well as the bulk of the abdomen, which is alwavs large in infants. The body may be cooler than natural, and is frequentlv warmer; this heat showing itself in the hands, feet, and mouth, and head more especially ; do not, then, neglect to inquire into the temper- ature of the child. Croup, hooping cough, measles, gastric cough, thoracic inflammations, and so on, of course affect the breathing, and to the action of the lungs and thorax, therefore, our attention should, in all cases, be directed. In convulsive affections the scalp is hot, the fontanels beat more forciby than the radial artery, even the hair sometimes grows very fast, and the head sweats ; inquire into all these points. In chylopoietic and cerebral affections, so common in children, the number and character of the'stools change, and vomiting is occasionally produced. Infantile vomiting is of less importance than the vomiting of the adult; and, it should be observed, that the rejection of coagulated milk, is no proof of gastric disease ; for coagulation is one of the first effects produced by the healthy disgestive juice. The actions of young children ought not to pass unnoticed; they raise the knees to the abdomen when affected with colic ; put the fingers in the mouth when teething ; pick the nostrils in worms or analogous affections; and when dis- posed to cephalic diseases, they may roll the head on the pillow, or frequently apply the hand to it. In young children, I pay but little attention to the pulse ; even in health, it is nearly twice as frequent as in the adult.* When investigating infantile disease, do not lose sight of the gums. * At birth, about one hundred and forty; at the end of the first year, one hundred and twenty ; of the second, one hundred and ten ; of the third and fourth years, about ninety-six; in the seventh, about eighty-six ; in manhood, various, from seventy to eighty in the minute; and, in old age, sometimes as low as sixty.—Dr. Blundell.