THE NERVOUS CHILD PUBLISHED BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF HENRY FROWDE, HODDER & STOUGHTON 17 WARWICK SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 4 THE NERVOUS CHILD BY HECTOR CHARLES CAMERON M.A., M.D.(CANTAB.), F.R.C.P.(LOND.) PHYSICIAN TO GUY'S HOSPITAL AND PHYSICIAN IN CHARGE OF THE CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT, GUY'S HOSPITAL "RESPECT the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude."--EMERSON. LONDON HENRY FROWDE HODDER & STOUGHTON OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WARWICK SQUARE, E.C. 1920 _First Edition_ 1919 _Second Impression_ 1930 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY MORRISON & GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH PREFACE To-day on all sides we hear of the extreme importance of Preventive Medicine and the great future which lies before us in this aspect of our work. If so, it follows that the study of infancy and childhood must rise into corresponding prominence. More and more a considerable part of the Profession must busy itself in nurseries and in schools, seeking to apply there the teachings of Psychology, Physiology, Heredity, and Hygiene. To work of this kind, in some of its aspects, this book may serve as an introduction. It deals with the influences which mould the mentality of the child and shape his conduct. Extreme susceptibility to these influences is the mark of the nervous child. I have to thank the Editors of _The Practitioner_ and of _The Child_, respectively, for permission to reprint the chapters which deal with "Enuresis" and "The Nervous Child in Sickness." To Dr. F.H. Dodd I should also like to offer thanks for helpful suggestions. H.C.C. _March_ 1919. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. DOCTORS, MOTHERS, AND CHILDREN 1 II. OBSERVATIONS IN THE NURSERY 16 III. WANT OF APPETITE AND INDIGESTION 50 IV. WANT OF SLEEP 64 V. SOME OTHER SIGNS OF NERVOUSNESS 73 VI. ENURESIS 89 VII. TOYS, BOOKS, AND AMUSEMENTS 96 VIII. NERVOUSNESS IN EARLY INFANCY 104 IX. MANAGEMENT IN LATER CHILDHOOD 117 X. NERVOUSNESS IN OLDER CHILDREN 131 XI. NERVOUSNESS AND PHYSIQUE 145 XII. THE NERVOUS CHILD IN SICKNESS 160 XIII. NERVOUS CHILDREN AND EDUCATION ON SEXUAL MATTERS 169 XIV. THE NERVOUS CHILD AND SCHOOL 182 INDEX 191 THE NERVOUS CHILD CHAPTER I DOCTORS, MOTHERS, AND CHILDREN