The Physical Training of ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
The Physical Training of Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene
In pain, either of the stomach or of the bowels, there is nothing
usually affords greater or speedier relief than the _external_
application of heat. The following are four different methods of
applying heat: 1. A bag of hot salt—that is to say, powdered table
salt—put either into the oven or into a frying-pan, and thus made hot,
and placed in a flannel bag, and then applied, as the case may be,
either to the stomach or to the bowels. Hot salt is an excellent remedy
for these pains. 2. An india-rubber hot water bottle, half filled with
hot water—it need not be boiling—applied to the stomach or to the bowels
will afford great comfort. Every house where there are children ought to
have one of these india-rubber hot water bottles. It may be procured at
any respectable vulcanized india-rubber warehouse. 3. Another, and an
excellent remedy for these cases, is a hot bran poultice. The way to
make it is as follows: Stir bran into a vessel containing either a pint
or a quart (according to size of poultice required) of boiling water,
until it be of the consistence of a nice soft poultice, then put it into
a flannel bag and apply it to the part affected. When cool, dip it from
time to time in _hot_ water. 4. In case a child has a feverish cold,
especially if it be attended, as it sometimes is, with pains in the
bowels, the following is a good external application: Take a yard of
flannel, fold it three widths, then dip it in very hot water, wring it
out tolerably dry, and apply it evenly and neatly round and round the
bowels; over this, and to keep it in its place and to keep in the
moisture, put on a _dry_ flannel bandage, four yards long and four
inches wide. If it be put on at bedtime, it ought to remain on all
night. Where there are children, it is desirable to have the yard of
flannel and the flannel bandage in readiness, and then a mother will be
prepared for emergencies. Either the one or the other, then, of the
above applications will usually, in pains of the stomach and bowels,
afford great relief. There is one great advantage of the _external_
application of heat—it can never do harm; if here be inflammation, it
will do good; if there be either cramps or spasms of the stomach, it
will be serviceable; if there be colic, it will be one of the best
remedies that can be used; if it be a feverish cold, by throwing the
child into a perspiration, it will be useful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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