The Physical Training of ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
The Physical Training of Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene
_What, in a case of Inflammation of the Lungs_ NOT _to do_.—Do not, on
any account, apply leeches. They draw out the life of the child, but not
his disease. Avoid—_emphatically let me say so_—giving emetic tartar. It
is one of the most lowering and death-dealing medicines that can be
administered either to an infant or to a child! If you wish to try the
effect of it, take a dose yourself, and I am quite sure that you will
then never be inclined to poison a baby with such an abominable
preparation! In olden times—many, many years ago—I myself gave it in
inflammation of the lungs, and lost many children! Since leaving it off,
the recoveries of patients by the ipecacuanha treatment, combined with
the external application of Smith’s _tela vesicatoria_, have been in
many cases marvelous. Avoid broths and wine, and all stimulants. Do
_not_ put the child into a warm bath, it only oppresses the already
oppressed breathing. Moreover, after he is out of the bath, it causes a
larger quantity of blood to rush back to the lungs and to the bronchial
tubes, and thus feeds the inflammation. Do not, by a large fire, keep
the temperature of the room high. A small fire, in the winter time,
encourages ventilation, and in such a case does good. When the little
patient is on the mother’s or on the nurse’s lap, do not burden him
either with a _heavy_ blanket or with a _thick_ shawl. Either a child’s
_thin_ blanket, or a thin _woolen_ shawl, in addition to his usual
night-gown, is all the clothing necessary.
203. _Is Bronchitis a more frequent disease than Inflammation of the
Lungs? Which is the most dangerous? What are the symptoms of
Bronchitis?_
Bronchitis is a much more frequent disease than inflammation of the
lungs; indeed, it is one of the most common complaints both of infants
and of children, while inflammation of the lungs is comparatively a rare
disease. Bronchitis is not nearly such a dangerous disease as
inflammation of the lungs.
_The symptoms._—The child for the first few days labors under symptoms
of a heavy cold; he has not his usual spirits. In two or three days,
instead of the cold leaving him, it becomes more confirmed; he is now
really poorly, fretful, and feverish; his breathing becomes rather
hurried and oppressed; his cough is hard and dry and loud; he wheezes,
and if you put your ear to his naked back, between his shoulder-blades,
you will hear the wheezing more distinctly. If at the breast, he does
not suck with his usual avidity; the cough, notwithstanding the breast
is a great comfort to him, compels him frequently to loose the nipple;
his urine is scanty, and rather high-colored, staining the napkin, and
smelling strongly. He is generally worse at night.
Well, then, remember if the child be feverish, if he have symptoms of a
heavy cold, or he have an oppression of breathing, if he wheeze, and if
he have a tight, dry, noisy cough, you may be satisfied that he has an
attack of bronchitis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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