Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
The above reasons, coming from such a learned and experienced
physician as Sir Charles Locock, are conclusive, and have decided me
to comply with his advice, to enlighten a mother on the _treatment_ of
some of the more urgent diseases of infants and of children. In a
subsequent letter addressed to myself, Sir Charles has given me the
names of those _urgent_ diseases, which he considers may be treated by
a mother "where a medical man cannot be procured quickly, or not at
all." They are Croup: Inflammation of the Lungs; Diptheria; Dysentry;
Diarrhoea; Hooping Cough, in its various stages; and Shivering
Fit. Sir Charles sums up his letter to me by saying, "Such a book
ought to be made as complete as possible, and the objections to
medical treatment being so explained as to induce mothers to try to
avoid medical men is not so serious as that of leaving them without
any guide in those instances where every delay is dangerous, and yet
where medical assistance is not to be obtained or not to be had
quickly."
In addition to the above I shall give you the _treatment_ of
Bronchitis, Measles, and Scarlet Fever. Bronchitis is one of the most
common diseases incidental to childhood, and, with judicious
treatment, is, in the absence of the medical man, readily managed by a
sensible mother. Measles is very submissive to treatment. Scarlet
Fever, _if it be not malignant_, and, _if it be not complicated with
diphtheric-croup_, and if certain rules be strictly followed, is also
equally amenable to treatment.
I have been fortunate in treating Scarlet Fever, and I therefore think
it desirable to enter fully into the _treatment_ of a disease which is
looked upon by many parents, and, according to the usual mode of
treatment, with just cause, with great consternation and dread. By
giving my plan of treatment, fully and simply, and without the
slightest reservation, I am fully persuaded, through God's blessing,
that I may be the humble means of saving the lives of numbers of
children.
The diseases that might be treated by a mother, in the absence of a
medical man, will form the subject of future Conversations.
I think it right to promise that in all the prescriptions for a child
I have for the use of a mother given, I have endeavoured to make them
as simple as possible, and have, whenever practicable, avoided to
recommend powerful drugs. Complicated prescriptions and powerful
medicines might, as a rule, to be seldom given; and when they are,
should only be administered by a judicious medical man: a child
requiring much more care and gentleness in his treatment than an
adult: indeed, I often think it would be better to leave a child to
nature rather than to give him powerful and large doses of
medicines. A remedy--calomel, for instance--has frequently done more
mischief than the disease itself; and the misfortune of it is, the
mischief from that drug has oftentimes been permanent, while the
complaint might, if left alone, have only been temporary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account