NURSING.
“The starting beverage meets the thirsty lip;
’Tis joy to yield it, and ’tis joy to sip.”
The newborn infant needs no artificial food. It should be put to the breast whenever it shows an inclination. The true mother will delight in the privilege of nursing her child, and will allow nothing but the most entire inability to prevent the exercise of this maternal office.
The mother’s milk is the natural food, and nothing can fully take its place. Every means should be used to secure and maintain this natural nutriment before resorting to artificial food. The nursing process, by sympathetic action, assists in restoring the uterus to normal conditions. A few years since everybody supposed the baby must be fed artificially the first two days of its life, that there was a break in nature’s provision for its sustenance. The consequence was the poor little victim was dosed with all sorts of slops, catnip tea, panada, gruel, cracker water, cream tea, etc., etc. Remember, it needs nothing but the secretion that is in the breast, which is laxative at first, and removes the meconium from the bowels. If for any reason the mother has not milk for her child, or is separated from it, the best substitute is a wet nurse, whose babe should be near the same age. The nurse should be well and strong, having abundant and nourishing milk.
The best artificial food is cream reduced and sweetened with sugar of milk. Analysis show that the human milk contains more cream and sugar and less casein than the milk of animals. The reduced cream, sweetened, closely approximates human milk. The difference in the quality of cream presents a great difficulty. No rule can be given for its reduction. Most nurses leave it too rich, and the child’s system is soon deranged.
To obviate this difficulty, let new milk stand from four to six hours, take the top off, reduce one-half with hot water; to one pint add one teaspoonful of sugar of milk and one grain of phosphate of lime. When the child is from three to five months old, oatmeal, barley or bran gruel can be added.
Children have not sufficient secretion of saliva to convert starch into sugar. Therefore never use arrowroot or corn starch; these do not digest in the stomach, and intestinal derangement is likely to follow. Bran or barley gruel furnishes phosphates, which are essential to stimulate digestion.
Microscopical examination of the artificial foods prepared and sold for infants, proves many of them deficient in gluten and too abundant in starch to make them desirable nutriment. The following extract from “Playfair’s Midwifery” explains the
“Causes of mortality in hand-fed children.—Much of the mortality following hand-feeding may be traced to unsuitable food. Among the poorer classes especially there is a prevalent notion that milk alone is insufficient, and hence the almost universal custom of administering various farinaceous foods, such as corn-flour or arrowroot, even from the earliest period. Many of these consist of starch alone, and are therefore absolutely unsuited for forming the staple of diet, on account of the total absence of nitrogenous elements. Independently of this, it has been shown that the saliva of infants has not at first the digestive action on starch that it subsequently acquires, and this affords a further explanation of its so constantly producing intestinal derangement. Reason, as well as experience, abundantly proves that the object to be aimed at in hand-feeding is to imitate as nearly as possible the food which nature supplies for the newborn child, and therefore the obvious course is to use milk from some animal, so treated as to make it resemble human milk as nearly as may be.
“Artificial human milk.—An admirable plan of treating cow’s milk, so as to reduce it to almost absolute chemical identity with human milk has been devised by Professor Frankland, to whom I am indebted for permission to insert the receipt. I have followed this method in many cases, and find it far superior to the usual one, as it produces an exact and uniform compound. With a little practice nurses can employ it with no more trouble than the ordinary mixing of cow’s milk with water and sugar. The following extracts from Dr. Frankland’s work will explain the principles on which the preparation of the artificial human milk is founded: ‘The rearing of infants, who can not be supplied with their natural food, is notoriously difficult and uncertain, owing chiefly to the great difference in the chemical composition of human milk and cow’s milk. The latter is much richer in casein, and poorer in milk-sugar than the former, whilst asses’ milk, which is sometimes used for feeding infants, is too poor in casein and butter, although the proportion of sugar is nearly the same as in human milk. The relation of the three kinds of milk to each other are clearly seen from the following analytical numbers, which express the percentage amounts of the different constituents:
| Woman. | Ass. | Cow. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casein | 2.7 | 1.7 | 4.2 |
| Butter | 3.5 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Milk-sugar | 5.0 | 4.5 | 3.8 |
| Salts | .2 | .5 | .7 |
These numbers show that by the removal of one-third of the casein from cow’s milk, and the addition of about one-third more milk-sugar, a liquid is obtained which closely approaches human milk in composition, the percentage amounts of the four chief constituents being as follows:
| Casein | 2.8 |
| Butter | 3.8 |
| Milk-sugar | 5.0 |
| Salts | .7 |
The following is the mode of preparing the milk: Allow one-third of a pint of new milk to stand for about twelve hours, remove the cream and add to it two-thirds of a pint of new milk, as fresh from the cow as possible. Into the one-third of a pint of blue milk left after the abstraction of the cream, put a piece of rennet about one inch square. Set the vessel in warm water, until the milk is fully curdled, an operation requiring from five to fifteen minutes, according to the activity of the rennet, which should be removed as soon as the curdling commences, and put into an egg cup for use on subsequent occasions, as it may be employed daily for a month or two. Break up the curd repeatedly, and carefully separate the whole of the whey, which should then be rapidly heated to boiling in a small tin pan placed over a spirit or gas lamp. During the heating a further quantity of casein, technically called ‘fleetings,’ separates, and must be removed by straining through muslin. Now dissolve 110 grains of powdered sugar of milk in the hot whey, and mix it with the two-thirds of a pint of new milk, to which the cream from the other third of a pint was added, as already described. The artificial milk should be used within twelve hours of its preparation, and it is almost needless to add that all the vessels employed in its manufacture and administration should be kept scrupulously clean.
Any babe can be fed from the first with a spoon, and in a few weeks it will drink from a cup or glass. When it seems necessary to use the nursing bottle the utmost care should be taken to keep it clean and sweet. Two bottles should be used alternately. The one not in use should be thoroughly rinsed, and then laid (without the nipple) in an earthen or granite dish, containing a solution of common soda. Let it remain there until needed, then rinse it well, and you may feel that it is in good condition. Cleanse the nipple by hand. Do not use the rubber tube.
A young babe should not be fed more frequently than once in two hours, and by the time it is three months old once in three hours is preferable. Most children, when four or five months old, can be taught to sleep all night without nursing. Nothing deranges a child’s digestion more than irregular and constant nursing. I have seen a mother give her child the breast five times during a half-hour’s conversation. It is unreasonable to suppose that a child is hungry every time it nestles and frets. Consider the time since it has nursed, and look for other causes of uneasiness before giving it the breast.
A babe should be weaned when it is from twelve to eighteen months old. The exact time depends largely upon its development, and also upon the mother’s condition. Begin weaning by omitting nursing once a day for several days, then twice a day, and so on. In this way the little one is weaned almost, or quite unconsciously, is never for a minute unhappy, and the mother is saved great anxiety and worry. Before weaning and some time after, it should be fed upon oatmeal, barley meal, wheat meal, graham bread and milk, wheatlet, etc. The digestive organs are not in a condition for a mixed diet until the teeth are developed, and, as has been indicated above, the saliva is not yet an efficient aid for digesting starchy food. Many a case of summer complaint, convulsions, etc., is due to the meat, pie and cake upon which the child has been fed.
Meat-fed children are cross, irritable and quarrelsome. Some three years since a kind, conscientious mother said: “The greatest trial of my life is that my children quarrel so with each other. I cannot understand the reason. Nothing they do annoys me so much, and by teaching, persuasion or punishment I have been unable to change their habit.”
Hoping to give her aid, I asked many questions—among other things in regard to diet. She told me they were great meat eaters; her husband and brother must have it three times a day, and the children often ate scarcely anything else. I told her the story of the bear that was kept at the museum in Giessen; when fed on bread only it was quiet and tractable—even children could play with it with impunity—but a few days’ feeding upon meat would make it ferocious, quarrelsome and dangerous.
She agreed to try the experiment upon her children. I counseled her, as her husband did not dine at home, to make a special dinner for the children. Instead of giving them scraps of cold meat, pies and cake, etc., make them milk toast, tiny graham or corn meal gems, cracked wheat or wheatlet moulded in small cups with fruit sauce, fruit puddings, etc. Spare no pains in making it attractive and palatable. Decorate the table with fruit and flowers, and make the occasions frequent when their own holiday presents of china should be used. Follow this with a light lunch at night, of simple, farinaceous food before the ordinary family dinner. In this way they would be tempted with the meat only at breakfast, and even then, fresh fish, fish balls, omelets, etc., might often be made to supplant the platter of steak or ham.
This lady entered into the plan heartily, and was more than amply paid. In less than a month she could see a difference in the habits of her children, and a year later she testified that it would hardly be recognized as the same family. The children were cheerful, playful, gleeful, and full of spirit—but in place of fretfulness and quarrels, were kind, benevolent and considerate to each other. They were also more than ordinarily exempt from acute attacks of fevers and inflammation.
CHAPTER XVII.
DISEASES OF INFANTS.
The diseases herein treated are mainly those for which a physician is seldom called. A few suggestions are also added upon those in which the severity of the attack necessitates attention before medical aid can be obtained.
Aphtha is sometimes the result of scrofula, otherwise it is caused by improper quality or quantity of food, either natural or artificial. In bottle-fed babes it often results from the milk not being sufficiently diluted, or from the use of starchy food. Neglect of general cleanliness in many cases give rise to this ailment. The child is feverish, fretful, and often refuses the breast on account of pain experienced in nursing. Sometimes there is vomiting and thin watery diarrhea. The tongue, gums, palate and inside of cheeks and lips are thickly specked with white flecks; sometimes there is a dirty diphtheritic-like membrane. Aphtha usually runs its course in a few days. Those cases are exceptional which are followed by unpleasant results.
Treatment.—Sometimes the case requires merely the washing of the mouth two or three times a day with a weak solution of borax, ten grains to one ounce of water. The mouth should be cleansed after each meal, as should also the mother’s nipple.
℞ Hydrastis 10 gr.
Sugar, 100 gr.
Pulverize thoroughly and put a small quantity into the mouth two or three times a day.
Arsenicum, 3d.—Patches of a dark color; severe, watery, painless diarrhea, thirst and great prostration. Dose, six pellets every three hours.
Merc. Sol., 3d.—Dribbling saliva, offensive breath, greenish diarrhea with pain. Dose, six pellets every four hours.
Excoriation of groin and axilla frequently trouble very fat, scrofulous or bottle-fed babies. The surface becomes raw, inflamed, and often painful.
Bathe frequently in tepid soft water, or what often proves better, milk and water. Dry with a soft linen cloth. Or hold the sufferer over a tub or basin, and from a large sponge squeeze tepid soft water on the affected part. Repeat every two or three hours. This is grateful and healing. The occasional use of cosmoline or of sweet cream in which clover blossoms have been steeped is beneficial. Avoid nursery powders. If the methods advised fail, scorch flour and apply several times a day. Should there be eruptions or ulcers use a powder of the following:
℞ Scorched Flour ℥j
Powdered Hydrastics ʒj
Mix. Apply through a powder bag after washing.
Borax, half a drachm to a pint of soft water, gives relief where great inflammation attends the excoriation. Lay upon the affected part for an hour or two at a time soft cloths wet in the cold lotion. Frequent washing and perfect cleanliness are really the best preventives and cures.
Colic is the torture of babyhood, as well as a constant source of parental solicitude. It is not considered a dangerous disease, but the sufferings of the little one are a great tax upon sympathetic nerves. There is no special age when the infant is subject to colic. It occurs more frequently when it is from two to five months old. However, children may suffer from it before they are two weeks old.
Severe colics are usually the result of derangements of the liver, and when mothers are badly nourished, the child is frequently born with the trouble. The condition is largely due to a deficiency of nitrogenous elements and phosphates in the food. The system is over supplied with carbonates in the shape of starch, fats and sugar, and deficient in elements that build up the tissues, such as gluten, fibrin, albumen, etc. The mother partakes of food that produces an inflammatory condition, and lacks in that which makes muscle, bone and nerve. She should be cautious about eating of mixed dishes and also of greasy and highly seasoned food.
Let her diet be chiefly of barley, wheatlet, rolled wheat, and bread from graham flour, or Lockport entire wheat flour, with the addition of fish, milk and eggs. Fruits can be partaken of freely, avoiding those that are exceedingly acid. It is only when fruit is not eaten all the time, that colic in the child is caused by the mother’s partaking of it. If it has been eaten freely during pregnancy, it will do no harm during lactation. Until the causes of colic can be removed, palliative treatment must be resorted to.
A colicky baby must be kept warm, avoiding all changes in temperature.[2] A rubber bag or bottle filled with hot water and put in the crib will keep the child, once quieted, asleep for hours. During the paroxysms put the child’s feet in a basin of hot water, or place cloths wrung from hot water over its bowels, and if the attack is very severe, a full hot bath will often give relief.[3]
[2] An interesting account has lately appeared in medical journals, entitled, “Incubating Babies.” Some physician had charge of foundlings, and tried the experiment of keeping them devoid of clothing in ventilated boxes, at an even temperature of 80°. They were fed at regular intervals. They slept most of the time. During the waking periods, kicked, laughed and crowed, but seldom cried. He lessened the mortality very greatly, and possibly proved to the world that the hardening or toughening process is begun too soon for the best vigor of childhood.
[3] A warm bath, indeed, let the cause of “griping” be what it may, usually affords instant relief.—Chevasse.
Avoid giving opiates. They constipate the bowels and derange digestion. In acute attacks following their use, the brain and spine are likely to be seriously involved. Nearly all cordials sold for colic contain opium. Analysis reveals morphine, one grain to the ounce, in Winslow’s soothing syrup.
The following from a daily paper only shows that many medicines are the mother’s enemy, instead of the “Mother’s Friend.” “The Tewksbury almshouse horror once more calls attention to the frightful abuse of narcotics for which the medical profession is to a great extent responsible. In the Tewksbury child’s hospital the nurses were provided with morphine in half-pint bottles! No wonder the babies were kept so still that they died at a rate never before heard of. An idea of the extent to which narcotics are given to infants in English manufacturing towns is gleanable from the deposition of a Hanley chemist before a coroner’s jury. He testified that he made up and sold six gallons a day of an article called ‘Mother’s Friend.’ This stuff contains seven and one-half drops of laudanum to the ounce. With this it is customary to dose their babies so that they shall sleep during the time the young mothers are engaged at the factories. Of course the infant mortality of the place is frightful.
“In contradistinction to this practice of barbarously working young mothers, Mr. Schneider, the owner of the great Creuzot iron works in France, compels a mother to stay from work for a few months before and after a child is born. For the carrying out of this humane purpose he has created a fund out of which the wages of the mother during the period of her incapacity are paid.”
Convulsions, brain fever, summer complaint, etc., are often the result of the early use of opiates. I can recall many cases where spasms in summer complaint were caused evidently and directly by the use of opiates employed to check a slight ailment, in itself harmless.
For Colic.—Some diffusible stimulant is preferable to narcotics. In mild cases, a few tea-spoonfuls of hot water suffice, and there is but little objection to the old-fashioned catnip tea.
Peppermint essence.—One drop in six tea-spoons of hot water often affords relief. Feed slowly.
Camphor, tincture.—Pain is severe and cramp-like, knees flexed, hands and feet cold, face livid, especially if there is diarrhea; put one drop on a tea-spoonful of sugar, mix thoroughly, then add six tea-spoons of hot water. Dose—A tea-spoonful every ten minutes.
Chamomilla, 2d.—Stools are green and every diaper is stained. The child is very restless, nurses often, constantly desires change of position and attendants, wants to be carried from room to room. If the homeopathic preparation does not give relief, make an infusion of the blossoms. To six grains of the bloom, pour one gill boiling water. Feed slowly. Four or five tea-spoonfuls are usually sufficient. Any of these preparations, except camphor, should not be sweetened.
Nux Vomica, 3d.—Constipation or undigested curds of milk in the feces. Child starts in its sleep, has short naps and throws its head back when it cries. To one grain add six tea-spoons of warm water, and give every ten minutes in half tea-spoonful doses. For colic of children and grown people, I have found more frequent relief from this remedy than all others. It promotes digestion, equalizes the circulation and feeds the nervous system. The nursing mother should also take it once or twice a day when the child has these symptoms, and an occasional dose taken by both, prevents subsequent attacks. She must remember, too, to take sufficient rest and sleep, using every means to promote her own best health.
Constipation is not a very frequent ailment of infants, but is occasionally met with, and sometimes becomes very obstinate. When a nursing child is thus affected, the mother will usually be found to be suffering from the same conditions. In such a case, she should follow the directions in Chap. V, and through correct habits in her own system, she will doubtless find the child relieved.
Want of regularity in its habits often produces costiveness in an infant. If he is fed or nursed regularly, and held out at the same time of each day, and as he gets older is put upon a chair, he will seldom be troubled with this complaint. It is wonderful how soon the bowels in most cases, by this simple plan, may be brought into a regular habit.
A soap suppository should be used after a day or two, if this method fails. This is a safe, speedy and certain method of moving the bowels. Make it by paring a piece of white castile soap round. Should be about the size of a lead-pencil, pointed at the end, and two inches in length. Moisten in warm water and introduce nearly the whole length. After remaining from one to five minutes it will be expelled and the bowels will be comfortably and effectually relieved.
If the feces are very hard, like little balls, it is better to give an enema of castile soapsuds, to one cupful of which, one tea-spoonful of sweet oil has been added. Squeezing cold or tepid water over the child’s bowels, followed by hand friction, aids to stimulate them to action.
Some advise rubbing the bowels with castor oil, getting thereby the aperient effect, without the irritation of an internal dose.
Do not begin by giving a little baby aperient drugs. Chevasse says: “If you once begin, and continue it for a while, opening medicine becomes a dire necessity, and then woe betide the poor unfortunate child.”
Purgative medicines irritate beyond measure the tender organs of an infant and ordinarily result in constipation.
Diarrhea of infants is nature’s first method of removing obstructions and overcoming derangements of the system, and in nine cases out of ten should not be interfered with.
The natural movements are usually thin, and of a bright orange color. One author describes them as being of the “consistence and color of mustard mixed for the table.” They are nearly devoid of smell, or at least have only a faint, disagreeable odor. Many children at first have from three to six movements in a day. If they should increase to from six to twelve and still not change materially in consistence, color or odor, there is no cause for uneasiness.
Many an attack of sickness is the result of checking a diarrhea with opiates and astringents. If the discharges become watery, green, attended with griping, or streaked with mucus or blood, are of an ashen or chalk color, or if they have undigested curds of milk, then they demand attention. Above all, keep the child quiet and apply heat. The hot water bottle is most excellent. An enema of hot water often gives entire relief without the use of other remedies. I have known large families of children, in which for years no other means was used for the successful control of this disease.
Dysentery is indicated by mucus and blood with straining. It is an inflammation of the rectum and large intestines. Warm flaxseed tea injections after the discharge give great relief. Compresses should be put on the bowels for an hour or two at a time, three or four times a day.
A general pack is exceedingly helpful where fever attends this or other affections.
To pack a child, remove all its clothing, put on its nightdress, lay in the crib on a woolen blanket: wet the nightdress in tepid water, using a sponge, put a hot bottle to the feet.
Wrap the child closely in the blanket and be sure reaction takes place. Let it lie in this one hour, when it should be sponged carefully and wiped dry. This pack is indicated in any disease of children where there is sufficient fever and heat to produce reaction. Remember, the simplest measures are often the most effectual. (The above suggestions are equally valuable in giving packs to adults.)
Summer complaint is an inflammation or irritation of the mucus membrane of the intestines. Owing to dentition and change of food, children are more liable to this affection in their second summer. They are then constantly the subject of anxious solicitude by their parents and friends.
If the discharges are only frequent and yellow, unaccompanied by pain and fever, there is no cause for anxiety. It is simply an effort of nature to restore normal conditions, and should not be interfered with. Too hastily checking this diarrhea is frequently the cause of spasms and other serious affections.
The symptoms of summer complaint proper, are frequent, watery movements; at first may be green but soon become gray, brown and frothy, sometimes having a mixture of phlegm and mucus; frequently are fetid, and, at times, contain undigested food. It may or may not be accompanied by pain. Nausea and vomiting are frequent symptoms, and if severe, constitute cholera infantum. The surface of the body is cold, often in a cold perspiration, while the soles of the feet and palms of the hands are dry and hot. It is usually attended with great thirst, a quick pulse and increased temperature.
Some children are prostrated at once by the attack, losing flesh and strength rapidly, while others keep about many days. Appetite fails, or else there are morbid cravings, often for the very things that increase the irritation. If the disease is not abated, the fever and thirst increase, the tongue becomes dry and brown, pulse is more rapid, the strength fails, great restlessness ensues, the brain becomes affected, coma ensues, and death closes the scene.
Impure air and improper diet are the principal causes of this disease. Sleeping and living rooms not being sufficiently ventilated, the blood becomes poisoned. Children are fed a mixed diet too soon. Rich and highly seasoned food that is even unsuitable for adults, except in a vigorous outdoor life, is given them, and at irregular hours. The delicate organs are overtaxed, and inflammatory conditions produced. When a child is weaned it should be fed upon oat, wheat and corn meal mush, bread and milk, rice, cracked wheat, wheatlet, barley, and ripe fruits. Meats, condiments, tea and coffee, and food containing fats should be avoided. Even most of the vegetables are not adapted to children.
Give them simple but nutritious diet, turn them, like colts, outdoors to run and play, and you will save yourselves anxiety, save doctor’s bills, and best of all, save your children. Blood that is too carbonaceous can be oxygenized by plenty of outdoor exercise, both by adults and children. The less clothing a child wears in hot weather the better, only I would advise that flannel be worn next the skin. This will prevent sudden checking of perspiration. By all means let the little children go barefoot. A child that has a sand pile to play in, and is allowed to run barefoot, must be of a very delicate organization if he can have summer complaint. By direct contact with the earth, superabundance of electricity is carried off, and thus is lessened the possibility of inflammation. The child that spends most of its waking hours outdoors, barefooted, seldom gets summer complaint. He has:
“Sleep that wakes in laughing day;
Health that mocks the doctor’s rules;
Outward sunshine; inward joy;
Blessing on thee, barefoot boy!”
In summer complaint give but little food, and that only in a liquid form. Barley water, rice water, oatmeal gruel, bran jelly, lemon jelly and orange whey, are all good. Milk can be used, if relished and digested. It is ordinarily better to be reduced by adding one-third boiling water. All of these must be given in small quantities and at regular intervals. The best drink is soft water. If there is vomiting, a drink made by steeping whole parched corn, is excellent. Also oatmeal coffee is good. The juice of acid fruits is beneficial, and can be used freely. But on no account allow the pulp, seed or skin to be eaten. Remember, very little nourishment can be appropriated. The child, especially if nursing, often takes food on account of thirst.
A compress wrung from cold water should be applied if there is local heat, and allowed to remain for two or three hours, then removed, and the parts bathed in tepid water. If there is pain, hot fomentations or hot enemas, will be advantageous.
Under all circumstances avoid opiates and astringents. These stop the discharges without removing the cause, and if the disease does not recur in the same form, some other organ is liable to become affected. If the child seems to need nourishment and is not able to take it, an enema of a thin bran tea will prove nourishing without being irritating.
Keep the child quiet, in a well ventilated room, or in the open air. A bed made of the inside corn husks stripped fine, is the best. A new material for bedding made of Florida moss is excellent. A child, sick or well, should not sleep on bed or pillows of feathers. By observing these simple directions most cases of this dread disease can be saved.
Remedies for dysentery and summer complaint.
Arsenicum, 3d.—The discharges are thin, watery, yellow, accompanied by thirst, hands and feet hot. Six pellets every two hours.
Cuprum, 3d.—Discharges green, frequent and small, with much pain. Six pellets every two hours.
Camphor tincture.—Discharges watery, frequent vomiting, coldness of extremities. Prepared and given as on [page 221].
Mercury sol., 3d.—Discharges watery, gush out, followed by sinking, have a bad odor. Six pellets every three hours.
Mercury cor., 3d.—Green discharges streaked with mucus or blood, accompanied by straining effort. Six pellets every four hours.
Veratrum Viride, 3d.—Coldness of extremities, head hot, thirst, nausea, vomiting. Six pellets every two hours.
Phosphorus, 3d.—Odorless, clay colored discharges. Four pellets every hour.
Inflammation of the bowels is inflammation of the intestines, involving either all their coats or only their mucus lining. The symptoms are rigors, followed by dry, hot skin; quick, wiry, strong pulse; thirst, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea or constipation; severe pain in the abdomen, especially around the navel, aggravated by pressure. Lies on his back with his knees drawn up.
Causes.—Errors in diet, cold, use of drugs, especially of purgatives and strong medicines used to check diarrhea. Remember what is said of diarrhea on [page 224], and do not be in haste to check the first symptoms. Use liquid food only. It is seldom necessary to give remedies.
Hot fomentations alternated with cold compresses carefully adjusted, will prove very efficacious. Hot enemas should also be given.
Dentition under natural and proper conditions should not be accompanied by constitutional disturbances. Some law must have been violated to have caused derangements with teething.
The symptoms of the disorders of dentition are hot, swollen gums, accompanied by feverishness and restlessness, starting, as if in fright, or interrupted sleep, increased flow of saliva, various eruptions on the head or body, derangements of the digestive organs. Summer complaint is the most frequent of the ailments peculiar to teething, which see [page 225].
The most prevalent and serious cause for these ailments is to be found in the adoption of a mixed diet at too early an age. A teething infant cannot with impunity be thus fed. This is sufficiently proved by the lack of a full complement of teeth needful for mastication. Disturbed conditions of the mother, as worry, anger, over-heating, and fatigue often result in serious effects on the nursing child.
Let the gums be bathed frequently in cold water. Lancing is seldom necessary.
Starchy foods and sweets should be avoided. It has been proven that the love for sweets often manifested by children is an unnatural appetite. It is doing injury to the teething infant to cultivate this taste by universally sweetening its food. Supplement the milk diet with graham mush, wheatlet, granula, or bread of the fine flour of the entire wheat.
Keep the child much in the open air. See that the head is cool and the feet warm. Bathe daily in cold water, and keep a flannel band or shirt about the abdomen.
Chamomilla, 2d.—An excellent medicine for most cases of disordered dentition, especially in the absence of fever. Also when there is bilious purging, intestinal irritation, cough, nervousness and fretfulness. Six pellets every hour.
Aconitum, 2d.—Feverishness, restlessness, inflamed gums. Ten drops in half a glass of water, teaspoonful every half hour. A cloth wet in this preparation given to a child to hold in its mouth will alleviate heat and pain in the gums, and will be highly appreciated by the little one.
Calcarea Carb., 3d.—Slimy diarrhea in scrofulous patients. Six pellets every three hours.
Arsenicum, 3d.—Thirst, hot hands and feet, great emaciation. Six pellets every hour.
Bell., 3d.—Flushed face, nervous irritability, uneasiness in sleep. Six pellets every hour.
Pod., 2d.—Diarrhea with pain of an intermitting character, prolapsus ani. Six pellets every three hours.
Silicea, 6th.—Perspiration about the head upon falling asleep. Six pellets three times a day.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DISEASES OF INFANTS.—CONTINUED.
Worms—Thread or pin worms and round worms are most common. Thread-worms are about half an inch in length, white in color, and move rapidly. They are found in the anus or lower part of the rectum.
Thread-worms give rise to restlessness and itching about the anus, especially in the evening after first falling asleep. Give with a child’s syringe a small injection of a tablespoonful of raw linseed oil. In some instances annointing externally with the oil or with cosmoline will give relief. Keep the parts well cleansed, using suds of carbolic soap. The round-worm is from six to fifteen inches long, resembling the common earth-worm, but of a paler color. It is supposed to feed on the chyle, and lives generally in the small intestines, but it sometimes passes upward into the stomach, and is expelled by vomiting, or downward, and is ejected with the evacuations.
The presence of the round-worm may be indicated by indigestion, swelling of the abdomen, restlessness, grinding of the teeth in sleep, convulsion, etc. It is the result of a mixed diet, and is rarely found when the child has been fed on the product of the grains.
Santonine, 1st.—Grain doses, three times a day for three days. Follow this on the fourth day by a copious enema, one pint of water, to which one tea-spoon of salt has been added. After three days, if the symptoms still continue, repeat treatment.
Incontinence of Urine.—This annoying ailment is common among children. Mothers and nurses often deal impatiently with the unfortunate child, believing it to be a habit, which may be easily overcome. It is more often a malady than a habit. In neither case is it ever cured by scolding. If a habit, a promised reward is more effective than harsh treatment. Give the child a light supper devoid of liquids. Take him up once or twice in the night to urinate. Bathe the spine at bedtime with equal parts of alcohol and ammonia, followed by hand friction.
Retention of Urine.—The child is restless, uneasy and unable to pass water, beyond perhaps a small quantity, though there is frequent urging. It may be caused by cold, injuries or acute disease. A full hot bath, or hot fomentations nearly always produce relief.
Aconitum, 3d.—Retention from cold, fever, or inflammation, hot, dry skin, thirst, etc.
Cantharis, 3d.—Frequent urging, with total suppression; or the discharge, with pain, of a few drops of bloody urine.
Croup is liable to attack a child any time from the age of one month, until nine or ten years old. The attacks occur most frequently when about two or three years of age. Nothing will more quickly make a mother’s heart stand still with alarm and terror than to hear the hoarse, whistling, sonorous breathing of croup. A few directions will be of service until medical attendance can be obtained.
Authors recognize two varieties, the spasmodic and membranous, and recently some speak of diphtheritic croup. In the first, the inflammation does not run so high, and the hoarseness may be simply nervous. It runs its course rapidly. Usually the child goes to bed all right and awakens about 11 or 12 o’clock with a loud ringing or rasping cough, and some difficulty of breathing. The attack relieved, will seem all right through the following day, unless an occasional cough. Usually recurs three or four successive nights, is seldom fatal.
In membranous croup, there may be a slight hoarseness and difficulty of breathing several days before the attack becomes severe. The mucus membrane of the throat becomes red and inflamed, with a thick ropy exudation that forms in a membrane, covering the entire fauces. Fever may or may not be present. Symptoms remain much the same, day and night. Duration of the disease from two to fourteen days.
The following are a few of the symptoms to aid in distinguishing between the different forms of croup:
TRUE OR MEMBRANOUS CROUP
Begins any time.
First symptoms catarrhal.
Symptoms slight at first.
Cough harsh and rough.
Voice weak, whispers.
Membrane always visible.
No fetor.
Membrane lies upon mucus membrane, is loose, and can be removed easily.
Membrane invades the larynx from below and progresses upward. Membrane always continuous and glairy.
FALSE OR SPASMODIC CROUP.
Begins from ten to twelve o’clock at night.
Severe at first.
Cough loud and ringing.
Voice hoarse.
No membrane.
DIPHTHERIA.
Fetid breath.
Membrane dips down in the mucus membrane.
Is tenacious, firm, adherent.
Membrane invades the larynx from above and progresses downward, and often is seen in patches.
Many cases of spasmodic croup are relieved entirely by using promptly a compress of ice cold water; should be worn day and night, and kept well covered with a woolen cloth. Apply to the throat only. Renew in one or two hours, if the first application does not give relief. Many families never resort to any other means for croup, being confident that this will give certain relief.
The following remedy I have used for years with the happiest result. Families that have croupy children keep it in the house, and I seldom have to be called out at night for croup by regular patrons. It can be put up at any homeopathic pharmacy. Do not try to get it at the drug store, as the ordinary drug clerk has no inkling of homeopathic trituration.
℞ Tartar Emetic, 2d trit. ʒ ij
Aconite Tincture, gtts. ij
Mix. Dry out, triturate half an hour. Put six grains in twelve tea-spoons of water, and give in tea-spoonful doses every ten or fifteen minutes. It is not necessary that the emetic effect of the drug should be secured. It has a specific action upon the air passages, and is an invaluable remedy in many of the acute affections of throat and lungs. Aconite alone gives relief frequently, and many physicians use no other remedy. The two together in the above preparation have seldom failed me, and as an old friend I recommend it. During the day following the attack give a tea-spoonful of the remedy once in two hours. Keep the child on a light diet and free from exposure.
In membranous or diphtheritic croup, the services of a physician will always be secured if possible.
Proto-iodide of mercury is my “sheet anchor” for both these affections. Of this I give the second trituration in grain doses every two hours. Often give the prescription recommended for spasmodic croup at the same time, a tea-spoonful every twenty or thirty minutes. Other remedies, such as iodine, bromine, nitrate of amyl, bichromate of potassa, phosphorus, etc., are used as the symptoms indicate; but the proto-iodide or bin-iodide of mercury will meet the exigencies of more cases than any other one known remedy. Of course hot baths, hot fomentations and cold compresses must be brought into requisition. I have seen great relief, even where the disease seemed in the last stages, from a poultice of fresh phytolacca (pokeroot), applied to the throat. This is made by pounding the root and mixing it with hot flaxseed or meal poultice. Not being able to procure the root, fluid extract can be used.
Diphtheria is now considered an infectious disease, produced by bacteria or infusoria that inoculate the patient. Many claim to be able to cure the disease by local means only, while the invasion is only local, before the entire system is poisoned. A child in robust health will usually resist the infection. The following methods of treatment are highly vaunted for their efficacy. Both of the drugs recommended are invaluable in destroying infusoria, and are used in the hands of eminent practitioners with success:
Sulphur.—Put a teaspoonful into a wine glass of water and stir it with the finger instead of a spoon, as it does not readily amalgamate with water. When well mixed, it is to be given to the patient to gargle. When the fungus is too nearly closing to allow the gargling, the sulphur should be thrown through a quill into the throat, and after the fungus has shrunk to allow it, then the gargling. If the patient cannot gargle, take a live coal, put it on a shovel, and sprinkle a spoonful of flour of brimstone upon it; let the sufferer inhale it by holding the head over it, and the fungus will die. Sulphur kills every species of fungus in man, beast and plant, in a few minutes. At one time at Princess Mary’s Cottage Home, London, an outbreak of diphtheria attacked fifty of the inmates. One of the lady nurses cured them all by causing the patients to gargle with sulphur, and to take it internally.
Permanganate of potassium.—Take ten grains and mix with one ounce of cold water. As soon as dissolved it must be applied with a rag or sponge, mop or swab, to the whitish places in the tonsils and other parts, on which is seen the diphtheritic membrane. Do this very gently, but thoroughly, every three hours until better; then every six hours until well. It does not give pain but is rather nauseous to the taste. In the stinking form of diphtheria this solution soon destroys all odor, and in most cases it destroys the membrane without leaving any bad effect behind.
The following is given if the tongue is coated white.
℞ Hyposulphite of soda, ʒi.
Oil of sassafras, gtts. v.
Glycerine and water, aa ℥ij.
Mix. Give a teaspoonful every one to three hours.
If the tongue is not coated,
℞ Phytolacca tincture, gtts. xx.
Glycerine and water, aa ℥ij.
Tea-spoonful doses every one to three hours.
The phytolacca is the common poke-root, and as it loses its strength by drying and age, the tincture should be from the fresh root, or it is worthless.
Contagious diseases common to infants usually need cause no apprehension. Under favorable conditions they run their course in a few days. Ordinarily, the danger, and ailments following these diseases are the result of the prevailing drug treatment. Give the patient light, fresh air and all the water he wants, with frequent bathing, and in most cases the physician will not be required. This is especially true of measles. The prevailing custom of confining the patient in heated and darkened rooms, smothering him with blankets, and dosing him with hot teas will bring about the very conditions to be avoided.
Give him no food unless he craves it, then for a few days liquids only. Remember that all eruptive diseases are only the expression of existing conditions, and if not interfered with will leave the child in a better state of health. If the intelligent mother has given birth to a healthy child, she need not fear to encounter these affections in their simple form. Indeed, children most in harmony with nature escape them altogether.
Scarlet fever, or scarletina is more liable to assume a malignant form than any other eruptive fever. When this threatens, the case should be placed in the hands of a competent physician. It spreads by infection rapidly and insiduously. The rash first appears on the breast, then on neck, face, body and limbs. This is preceded by a sore throat, with the usual symptoms of fever. Thorough and abundant ventilation is a most vital point in the treatment. Use carbolic acid freely. Keep a sheet wet in a solution of it hanging in the room. The patient should be frequently sponged. If the throat is troublesome apply a wet compress, and occasionally inhale steam. The wet pack, as prescribed on [page 225], is most valuable, if administered by an experienced person. An eminent physician testifies that he never lost a case of scarlet fever in which he used the wet pack.
In suppression of the eruption a hot bath or pack is efficacious in bringing it out.
Diet.—New milk and hot milk (reduced one-third). Milk is a good antidote for poison, and lessens the virulence of the fever. Grapes, oranges and fruit juice are excellent.
| MEASLES. | SCARLET FEVER. |
|---|---|
| 1. Rash appears on fourth day. | 1. Rash appears the second day. |
| 2. Catarrhal symptoms are prominent, watery discharge from the eyes and nose, sneezing, harsh cough, etc. | 2. Catarrhal symptoms are usually absent, but there is great heat of the skin, sore throat, and sometimes delirium. |
| 3. The rash begins near the roots of the hair. | 3. The rash begins on the neck and face. |
| 4. The rash is of a pinkish red or raspberry color. | 4. The rash is of a bright scarlet color, and by pressing with the finger a white spot is produced, lasting a few seconds. |
| 5. The eruption is somewhat rough, so as to be felt by passing the hand over the skin. | 5. Eruption usually presents no inequalities to sight or touch, and is so minute and closely crowded as to give the skin a uniformly red appearance. |
| 6. Has a peculiar fetid odor. | 6. A peculiar brilliant glistening stare of the eyes. |
| 7. Liquid, tender, watery eye. | |
| 8. The cuticle is thrown off in minute portions, like fine scales of bran. | 7. The cuticle is thrown off in large patches, especially from the hands and feet. |
Whooping cough is both epidemic and contagious. It is usually mild in a healthy child, but severe and sometimes fatal in others. The younger the child the more dangerous the disease. The cough is generally worse at night. Even after apparent recovery it may be brought back by exposure to cold, by improper food, or by want of careful nursing. A reasonable amount of outdoor exercise is conducive to the favorable progress of the malady. Dampness should be avoided, as the skin is generally sensitive to cold, especially after a fit of coughing. Infants should be carefully watched, day and night, that they may be placed in a favorable position during the paroxysms.
Light, digestible food in moderate quantities should be given frequently. Hot milk is especially soothing and nutritious, particularly during the first days of the attack, and may well take the place of all other food.
Convulsions rarely attack very young infants, unless from malformation of the heart. Convulsions usually accompany teething, indigestion, whooping cough, fevers, worms, indeed any disease that causes a reflex action upon the brain. Occasionally a child has a convulsion without any premonitory symptom, but usually there will be a restlessness in sleep, a rolling of the head, twitching of the limbs, with clenched fists, stertorious breathing, and heavy, lethargic sleep. From this condition there is suddenly involuntary muscular contractions, rolling of the eyes, frothing at the mouth, and the head drawn backward. Whatever is to be done must be done quickly, and generally before medical aid can be summoned. First, the mother and attendants must command themselves. Nothing is more frightful than to see a little one in convulsions, but upon no occasion is self-possession more needed. Remember children rarely die in the first paroxysm.
Get the child into hot water as soon as possible. Don’t wait to remove its clothing; put into a foot-tub or child’s bath having the water as hot as can be borne, supporting it on two hands. And from time to time as much hot water as the hands will bear. It should remain in the bath until relaxation is produced, and then be wrapped in thoroughly heated blankets.
If there is not sufficient warm water in the house for a bath, it is often quite as effectual to take a pitcher of hot water, turn the child upon its face, hold it over a pail, and pour the water on the back of the neck. This is more easily managed than a bath, and often is all that is requisite to bring about relaxation. A bag of hot salt laid to the back of the neck will prevent a return. If there is constipation or irritation in the bowels, give a copious enema of warm soft water. If worms are suspected, add salt, a tea-spoonful to one pint of water.
For further treatment, as there are so many different things that will cause spasms, one should better depend upon medical advice.
In closing these brief hints upon diseases of children, I wish to impress upon the parent’s mind the fact that in nine cases out of ten children need no treatment for their ailments. Their natural recuperative power gives them ability to throw off disease in a marvelous manner.
Too much care and nursing is quite as harmful as too little. It is ordinarily better to make light of their ailments, and teach them the power of self-resistance to the encroachments of disease. A cheerful, hopeful manner, accompanied by the encouraging word, is quite as helpful in sickness of children as in that of adults.
Do not discuss their ailments before them. Avoid hinting that sickness is possible, or anticipating it for them as results of certain conduct. Keep it from your own mind also. Never allow yourself to say: “If you go out in the cold you will get sick.” “Don’t sit by the window you will take cold.” “Now do get out of that draft.” “You must not eat so much. Now, there, not one mouthful more, you will be sick.” “Do put on your overcoat and rubbers.”
Now, dear mothers, this may be a new thought to you, but this very caution, born of love and solicitude, creates a fear that may make it possible for your children to be sick. Let a child lead an active, rollicking life in harmony with nature, and in himself will certainly be developed power to resist disease.
It is possible to make health contagious.
“Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh as boyhood can.”
CHAPTER XIX.
ABORTION.
Abortion or miscarriage is the term applied to the death and expulsion of the fetus previous to six months; after that and before full term it is called premature delivery.
The liability to abortion is more frequent at the beginning and during the third month. It is usually preceded by occasional loss of blood, which rarely is excessive at first, but in from three days to three weeks increases in frequency and quantity until it may absolutely amount to hemorrhage. The first symptom in some instances is a violent chill. In such cases soreness, heat and pain are soon located in the pelvis and the flowing may be deferred for a few days. One may have continuous pain, more or less severe, until the embryo is expelled; or it may come up at irregular intervals from day to day for some two or three weeks, there being such complete intermissions that the patient hopes each time that all danger is over, and that gestation may be completed.
The danger to the mother is from hemorrhage before the expulsion of the embryo, and from retention of membranes after the fetus is born. These decaying in the uterus, the poison is absorbed into the system and septicæmia is the result.
The causes of abortion, both remote and exciting, are numerous. Any diseases of the womb that take away its vitality or prevent its enlargement will result in death of the fetus. Any general disease or condition of the system that results in weakness or feebleness may make the continuance of life in the embryo impossible.
Lack of room in the pelvis and abdomen is a frequent cause of abortion in first pregnancies. This is the result of tight and heavy clothing and insufficient exercise. Remaining too much in-doors and suffering the debilitating effects of impure, heated atmosphere, is also a remote cause. The violation of the laws of sexual congress is another. Immoderation in this respect is exceedingly harmful, as it diverts from its needed purpose the mother’s energies, and weakens embryonic life. Any incontinence during pregnancy endangers a woman who has once miscarried.
The recent causes are lifting, straining, a fall, a jar, a blow, a violent cold, or an acute attack of disease, sudden mental emotions, etc. The system so soon takes on any habit that, having once aborted, one is very liable to a recurrence of the same results in subsequent pregnancies, at the same period.
To prevent a miscarriage, observe faithfully the hygienic rules laid down in this book. Make the best possible conditions for health in every direction. Especially observe the law of continence. Once threatened with abortion, hemorrhage ever so slight having set in, a woman should by all means take her bed and observe perfect quiet. She must run no risks. Apply compresses and take frequent short, tepid sitz-baths, live on a mild, cooling diet, and the danger may be averted.
Aconite.—Chill or fever, with quick pulse and flow of bright red blood. Six drops of first dilution in a glass full of water; take a tablespoonful every hour.
Secale, 3d.—Cramp-like pains, blood clotted and dark, cadaverous expression of face. Dose: Six pellets every two hours.
Cimicifuga, 2d.—Pain in the back of the neck, aching in the limbs, back and groin, with pressing, bearing down. Dose: One grain every two hours.
A woman requires the same attention and treatment during and after a miscarriage that she requires in a confinement. A labor at full term is natural; a miscarriage is unnatural, and often requires a longer time for the system to recover from the shock.
Feticide is a produced abortion, whether by drugs, intentional shocks, electricity, or by instrumental interference, either by one’s own hand or by the hand of a surgeon.
Many women have been taught to think that the child is not viable until after quickening, and that there is no harm in arresting pregnancy previous to the feeling of motion; others believe that there is no life until birth, and the cry of the child is heard.
A high legal authority says: “The absurdity of the principle upon which these distinctions are founded is easy of demonstration. The fetus, previous to the time of quickening, must be either dead or living. Now, that it is not the former, is most evident from neither putrefaction nor decomposition taking place, which would be the consequence of an extinction of the vital principle. The embryo, therefore, before the crisis, must be in a state different from that of death, and that can be no other than life.”
When the female germ and male sperm unite, then is the inception of a new life; all that goes to make up a human being—body, mind and spirit, must be contained in embryo within this minute organism. Life must be present from the very moment of conception. If there was not life there could be no conception. At what other period of a human being’s existence, either pre-natal or post-natal, could the union of soul and body take place? Is it not plain that the violent or forcible deprivation of existence of this embryo, the removal of it from the citadel of life, is its premature death, and hence the act can be denominated by no more mild term than murder, and whoever performs the act, or is accessory to it, in the sight of God and human law is guilty of the crime of all crimes.
The life of the babe in her arms is to the mother more precious than all else; her heart is thrilled with a pang of agony at thought of the least danger to its life. By what false reasoning does she convince herself that another life, still more dependent upon her for its existence, with equal rights and possibilities, has no claim upon her for protection? More than this, she deliberately strikes with the red hand of murder, and terminates its existence with no thought of wrong, nor consciousness of violated law.
The woman who produces abortion, or allows it to be produced, risks her own health and life in the act, and commits the highest crime in the calendar, for she takes the life of her own child. She defrauds the child of the right to its existence.
By a wise provision we are placed in this world for growth, development and preparation for another life. As we leave this life, we must enter the other. In so far as a human being is deprived of this existence, to that extent he is deprived of schooling and preparation for the other life. Pause for one moment and think of the thousands of stunted, dwarfed beings that are prematurely ushered into an existence that can not be normal and designed. Were infants to have been born into spirit life, provision would have been made to that effect. That they are born into this life is proof that this world is best adapted for their growth and education.
There may be no harm in preventing the conception of a life, but once conceived it should not be deprived of its existence in that world which in all its appointments is specially adapted to its development.
What are some of the incentives to produce abortion? An unmarried woman seduced under false representations by a man who feels no responsibility for his own offspring, suffers alone all the shame and contumely of the act, and is tempted to cause miscarriage to shield her good name.
Married women who fear that maternity will interfere with their pleasures, are guilty of forcibly curtailing embryotic life. Others, again, who are poor or are burdened with care or grief, or have licentious or drunken husbands, shrink from adding to an already overburdened existence.
The first class, the girls who have lost their virtue under promise of marriage are most deserving of sympathy and commiseration, though none receive less. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” At the least imputation against a fair girl’s character, even those professing to be the followers of the loving Christ, often have so little leniency, so little of the Father’s love in their hearts, that they hug their Christian robes to their bodies, lest they be contaminated by the polluting touch of the victim. They “pass by on the other side” and leave the poor broken-hearted child bleeding by the wayside.
The girl’s lessons of life and purity have been learned mainly from one she loved and trusted, only to be betrayed. What wonder that in her ignorance of the value of life she should be tempted to add a second wrong to the first? She knows the shadow that has darkened her path; she realizes:
“Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun.”
And if she can conceal the evidence of her guilt, she may hope by honest endeavor to retrieve her good name, and thus is tempted to produce an abortion.
Two wrongs can not make one right. Before God and her own conscience, the only tribunals that in justice have any right to accuse her, she can not by any act gain absolution.
When girls are given proper instruction upon the relation of the sexes and understand how to govern and guard themselves; when young men are taught that virtue has as high a meaning for one sex as another, that the protective chivalry of which they boast does not imply that they shall force the woman with whom they associate to the defensive; and that the paternal interest in, and responsibilities for a child are equal to the maternal, then the temptation to produce abortion for the purpose of shielding one’s character will not exist.
Of the second class, who produce miscarriage for pleasure and selfish interest, there is little to say in extenuation. They may be victims of ignorance or of a false education. The maternal instinct is inherent in every woman’s heart. It seems strange that any morbid idea of pleasure could antagonize the natural aspiration to such an extent that one could destroy the viability of her own offspring.
I well remember years ago the wife of a well-to-do lawyer making application to me to produce abortion. She had but one child, and he three years of age. She was surrounded by every comfort a prosperous business man could afford. I sought the cause of the unnatural promptings of this intelligent woman’s heart. It seems that a trip to Europe was contemplated and planned for in the early summer, and that this unanticipated and chance maternity would thwart their expectations. With all the arguments I then possessed, I showed her the wrong she sought to do, but nothing seemed to weigh against the proposed trip. She returned the second and third time even, armed with a lawyer’s sophistry to endeavor to persuade me to be accessory to the diabolical deed. No doubt one cause of her persistency was fear of trusting her secret to me unless she could persuade me to be an accomplice.
She probably found some one to assist her out of the “trouble,” for she took the proposed trip, but I was not astonished to learn three or four years later that she was lying at death’s door with consumption. How many times she produced abortion I know not but I was told that for months she suffered from uterine hemorrhages and in the weakened state of her system a violent cold settled upon her lungs which soon terminated her life. This was the physical result of the crime she had committed.
Of the last class, who have an apparent need to limit the size of the family, what can be said in extenuation of their committing this crime? Shall not the mother who already has many children, who is herself sick, nervous and prostrated, or else has a husband who is diseased or a drunkard, leaving her the support of the family, save herself additional care by arresting the life of the embryo? The heart goes out in sympathy for all such, but even the most aggravating circumstances can not atone for the crime. The whole nature of every true woman revolts against forced maternity.
Thoughtful minds must acknowledge the great wrong done when children are begotten under adverse conditions. Women must learn the laws of life so as to protect themselves, and not be the means of bringing sin-cursed, diseased children into the world.
The remedy is in the prevention of pregnancy, not in producing abortion. When men and women have learned the wise control of the procreative functions, then may we hope that children will be begotten in love and unselfishness. It is the undesired and undesigned maternity that is revolting to the nature of woman. As long as men feel that they have a right to indulgence of the passions under law, no matter what the circumstances, what the condition of the wife, or the probabilities of maternity, so long will the spirit of rebellion take possession of women and the temptation enter their souls to relieve themselves of this unsought burden. May the day soon arrive when men will learn that even passion should serve reason, and that gratification should, at least, not be sought at the expense of conjugal happiness and unwelcome children.
CHAPTER XX.
MENSTRUATION.
Menstruation is the sanguineous flow accompanying the maturation of the ovum in the ovaries. It generally occurs regularly every twenty-eight days, and in temperate climates continues from about the fifteenth year to the forty-fifth.
Physiologists differ as to the cause of this phenomenon. It was for a long time believed to be a cleansing process peculiar to women; that Eve, having through her transgression entailed upon her daughters a curse, they needed more renovation and regeneration than men; and that aside from ordinary depurition this special secretion was given to them.
The theory now prevails that accompanying the maturation of the ovum there is a flow of blood to the generative organs, which in medical parlance is called hyperemia. The exudation of this venous blood from the membrane of the uterus constitutes menstruation; also that this menstruation is a provision of nature for the supply of a superabundance of blood, which during pregnancy is appropriated to the growth of the fetus. Thus is it allied to maternity leading us to regard this function with reverence.
In a normal state the discharge is slight, being from one to three ounces, and lasts two or three days.
Certain physiologists claim that all sanguineous flow is abnormal, that there should be no show of blood in a perfectly healthy woman. It is averred that the squaws of some Indian tribes have no show accompanying either ovulation or parturition.
Menstruation should be entirely devoid of suffering. A woman should have no cognizance of this function, save by the discharge. Could this be the rule, instead of the prevalent exception, the capacity of strength and endurance either for work or pleasure would be increased one hundred fold. The nation not only needs strong men but strong women, strong in physical as well as mental development. This strength is required for prosecuting a persistent warfare against prevailing and existing wrongs, as well as for transmitting health and vigor to the coming generation.
A woman in perfect health need take no especial care and make no change in her manner of life at this period. But under our artificial habits of life, such a woman is the exception rather than the rule, and in most cases some attention must be paid to the recurrence of the menses.
Many young ladies in attendance upon school, feel a need of some indulgence at that time, and are often granted respite from duty. Women following any regular occupation have learned to plan a day of lighter work at the recurrence of the period. Yet on the contrary some have found that congestion and pain are relieved by occupation sufficient to interest the mind, with exercise adapted to increase the circulation.
The disorders incident to menstruation are: Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea and Menorrhagia.
Amenorrhea is absence or suppression of the menses caused by cold, a chronic ailment, an anemic condition or some ovarian or uterine affection. It is also often the result of mental conditions, as grief, fright or severe mental strain.
One need not be uneasy about suppression when there is no special constitutional disturbance. Our grandmothers taught that the absence of the menses was always greatly to be feared, the prevailing idea being that serious results would follow to some vital organ. This is a mistake.
Patients during treatment for uterine ulceration and inflammation often gain steadily in health, although the menses cease for months. This has been observed especially in hygienic institutions.
At all events, in treating suppression avoid strong remedies, such as old-fashioned tansy tea, steel filings and ergot. These produce congestion, and may be the source of severe chronic ailments.
See to it that a general condition of health is attained. With plenty of out-door exercise, congenial employment and freedom from care, the young girl may, with rare exceptions, trust to nature for correction of suppression.
Dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, is of such frequent occurrence that it deserves especial attention. Most young ladies experience more or less suffering at this time. It may be only nervousness, wakeful nights, a slight headache, some pain in the back or pelvic regions, and a disposition to be alone; or the attacks may be severe, with pain in the back and pelvis, running down into the limbs; the surface and extremities cold, face pallid, with nausea, vomiting or fainting, and perhaps spasms.
This ought not to be, and, in most instances, need not be. With our present knowledge, the conditions for and causes of dysmenorrhea may be removed.
Among causes we find inflammation of the ovaries, oviducts, or mucous membrane of the womb, mechanical closure of the outlet of the womb, or, simply constipation, neuralgia or rheumatism.
With inflammation of the ovaries there is, previous to the recurrence of the menses and throughout its course, a dragging pain in the pelvis with swelling and soreness of the breasts, and more or less mental distress. These symptoms are not always relieved by the flow.
Inflammation of the mucous membrane of the uterus is the most frequent cause of dysmenorrhea. With this the pain begins with the flow and increases as the flow increases. There may be a discharge of shreds of membrane or clotted blood, and sometimes a membrane having the entire form of the cavity of the womb. This is produced by deposits of fibrine, like that of membranous croup.
When there is undue closure of the cervix the pain precedes the menstrual flow, and is relieved as the discharge becomes free.
The remote causes for dysmenorrhea are errors in dress and diet, want of exercise, etc.
To errors in woman’s dress more than any other one thing is the unnatural pain due. Women are burdened with heavy clothing, and every vital organ restricted by bands and bones. It is not unusual to count from sixteen to eighteen thicknesses of cloth worn so tightly about the pliable structure of the waist that actual deformity is produced.
The pelvis and chest are naturally well guarded from intrusion by the ribs and pelvic bones. But just at the point where belts are adjusted there is no protecting wall. Thus these parts are easily deformed, consequently digestion becomes imperfect, the circulation obstructed, the respiration restricted, and what is worse than all, the viscera crowd down upon the womb, the citadel of life.
Thus, by abuse, the maternal organism fails of fulfilling the divine charge committed to it by the Creator. The wonder is that intelligent, educated woman has ordinarily no thought of her relation to posterity, and her responsibility to offspring.
Exercises adapted to develop the muscles of the trunk and abdomen, giving breathing power and room for all the viscera will be found very satisfactory in their results, to women who will arrange their clothing suitably.
The restraint placed upon young girls, according to the usages of society, at the time when they most need exercise and muscular development, is not only mistaken wisdom, but a cruel physical wrong. They must be ladylike! So, perforce, they must not jump nor skip; they must not run up stairs two steps at a time, like a boy. No romping allowed! The physical freedom which is everywhere accorded to a boy, and by which he, all unconsciously fits himself for manhood, is forbidden the girl.
So she grows up without strength of nerve or muscle, and readily becomes a victim to all the ills that woman is heir to.
A very little care and planning devoted to this subject would bring to women both health and happiness. Like Rose, in Miss Alcott’s delightful story, a naturally frail girl may be developed into a hearty and vigorous young woman, and this too without unduly subjecting her to the mortification of singularity.
Neither is it necessary, in order to preserve health, that her thorough education should be neglected. The hue and cry that has been raised against the higher education of woman, on the ground of her physical incapacity to endure severe mental training, is not well founded.
The fact is that girls and women can bear study, but they can not bear compressed viscera, tortured stomachs and a misplaced uterus. The impure air, almost universal in schoolrooms, has much to answer for in the alleged incapacity of girls for mental wear and tear. Given pure air, the Delsarte training, loose and light clothing and unimpaired digestion, and our girls will in due time prove to the world that, notwithstanding a vigorous pursuit of study, “a girl is just as good as a boy.”
Out-door games and amusements are becoming more and more fashionable. Among these lawn tennis, croquet, archery, rowing, bean-bags and tri-cycling are popular and healthful in their tendency.
Next to errors in dress and deficient exercise, errors in diet may be responsible for painful menstruation. How can this be? Once, on inquiring of a class of young ladies the cause of this trouble, I received various replies; as skating, jumping rope, climbing stairs, improper clothing, etc.
A little eleven-year-old girl raising her hand, asked: “Is it not eating too much candy?” The rest of the girls laughed. But I replied, “You need not smile; this young lady has sounded the keynote of your trouble. It is not only too much candy, but you eat too freely of the carbonaceous foods, fats and sweets, without taking sufficient exercise to have them appropriated. Inflammation is the result and hence suffering ensues.”
Treatment for dysmenorrhea must be palliative and curative. No young girl should be allowed to endure this pain. It gives a shock to the nervous system, which sooner or later will act upon her general health, and depreciate her vitality.
In palliative treatment it has been customary to use alcoholic stimulant in some form. Symptoms at first are relieved, the blood being caused to flow to the surface, thus lessening congestion. The patient is made perhaps not actually drunk, but is stupefied. My observation, however, is that menstrual pain removed by this agency, recurs more severely at subsequent periods. The reason of this must be that the alcoholic stimulant increases the already inflamed condition. It is not good treatment.
The application of heat in some form will safely relieve almost any case. A relay of hot lamp chimneys is available in sudden attacks, even if at night; or a hot plate or stove-lid, wrapped in cloths is excellent in an emergency. In more severe cases, use hot fomentations (Page 114) or the hot water bottle.
A hot sitz-bath (Page 184) is the best resort where cramp-like symptoms with vomiting or fainting are experienced, or where the patient is threatened with spasms. Anticipate suffering by this treatment as soon as indicated by premonitory symptoms. Continue the bath until a copious perspiration is induced, probably from thirty minutes to an hour. Then rub off lightly without exposure, keeping wrapped in the blankets, and applying the hot water bottle, lie quietly for some time. Many who ordinarily suffer from three to five days can be relieved in one hour by this means alone. This course will prevent a recurrence of so severe an attack.
The curative measures employed must accord with the pathological condition of the patient. For local ailments, treatments must be that indicated for them; neuralgia and rheumatism will demand their own suitable remedial agents.
A lady, thirty-five years of age, had been for a long time a great sufferer at every menstrual period, five or six days being spent in bed each month. There was apparently no uterine disease. Ordinary treatment proved ineffectual. A casual inquiry at length disclosed the fact that she had long been afflicted with rheumatism, not confined to any locality. This gave a clue to her case, and a short treatment for this affection resulted in entire recovery from both that malady and the distressing menstrual attacks. The thermal bath (Page 118) was mainly depended on in her cure.
Local treatment or remedies will seldom be found necessary, if the whole system is kept in the best hygienic condition. A young woman had for nine years been a martyr to dysmenorrhea, spasms attending every period, often continuing for days. Like the woman in Scripture, “She had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,” having had in all nine doctors, one of whom had performed a severe operation. Although still young, she was almost a perfect wreck. She had no strength for manual labor, often being unable to walk across the room. Her mental condition was equally deplorable, being scarcely able to do for herself. She was very sensitive to the cold, and consequently wore much heavy clothing suspended around her hips.
In her case few remedies were used. She was induced to make a radical change in her dress, and put upon a thorough course of exercises adapted to develop and invigorate the muscles of the abdomen, and insure a healthy action of the viscera. She was also encouraged to assist daily in light housework, with much free exercise in the open air.
The change was marvelous. Upon the recurrence of her next period, a hot sitz-bath was administered at the first symptoms of distress, and relief was speedy. Her improvement steadily continued; she was no longer agonized with pain and subject to convulsions. Before the three months of her treatment had expired, she was entirely restored to health.
The alteration in her appearance was great, buoyancy of manner and vivacity of expression taking the place of the look of dumb hopelessness which had been hers. The leaden load of physical suffering was lifted from her brain, and a new mental life began. No patient could evince or express more hearty and grateful appreciation of the great change which had been wrought.
This is only one of many instances illustrating the efficacy of simple hygienic methods. The cases are infrequent that will fail to respond favorably when nature is given an opportunity to rally her forces.
Menorrhagia, or profuse menstruation, accompanies inflammation, ulceration, polypus and other uterine diseases. It is not unusual to find it with dysmenorrhea, as it may be induced by the same causes.
The general treatment and remedies are similar in both disorders.
Aconitum, crude tincture.—This is one of the first remedies to be sought in any kind of hemorrhage, especially where there is throbbing pulse, with cold hands and feet. Dose:—Two drops in half a glass of water, tablespoon doses every ten to thirty minutes, according to severity of case. It is important to remember that aconite is a number one remedy in the first stages of hemorrhage from any organ. One can hardly go amiss in giving it. It has a specific effect in controlling the heart’s action, and thus relieves congestion and hemorrhage. An old lady had for twenty years been subject to frequent attacks of hemorrhage of the lungs. She never allowed herself to be without her bottle of aconite, and was always able to check an attack by using it promptly.
Aconitum, 2d.—Is also indicated in cases of inflammation or congestion of the uterus or ovaries, especially if attended with febrile symptoms.
Cimicifuga, 2d.—Heavy, aching pain in the back, extending to limbs, restlessness, cannot keep still. Rheumatic or neuralgic dysmenorrhea. It is also valuable for preparatory treatment, taken two or three doses a day for ten days previous to the recurrence of the period.
Belladonna, 2d.—Congestive enlargement of the uterus or ovaries, bearing down pains, and heat in the vagina.
Pulsatilla, 2d.—Vomiting, fainting, scanty menses, chilliness, moving pains in abdomen, mental depression, hysteria. Discharges bright in color.
Caulophyllum, 2d.—Painful menstruation, with a normal discharge. May be used as a palliative during the menses, and as a curative agent meanwhile.
Ergot, 3d to 6th.—Very severe, cramp-like pains, can not be endured. Discharge dark, clotted and fetid; surface and extremities cold; features pinched.
Dose:—In each of the above remedies ten drops in eight spoonfuls of water. Take one spoonful every half hour.
CHAPTER XXI.
DISEASES OF WOMEN.
Uterine diseases are the cause of many of the pathological symptoms accompanying pregnancy, and may be the cause of the pain in parturition. To attain to the best conditions for maternity, the removal of these disorders is essential.
Nine-tenths of American women are more or less afflicted with these maladies. They are thus unfitted for ordinary vocations, and the functions of reproduction are so perverted that maternity becomes a dreaded burden.
This book is not a “doctor book” in the ordinary understanding of that term, neither is this chapter a regular treatise upon the diseases of women. The causes of these ailments, however, and some simple common sense hints are given. These will enable women to avoid and to alleviate suffering, without resorting to drugs, or severe local treatment.
Inflammation is the most common derangement of the uterus; indeed, some authors claim that it causes or accompanies all other uterine diseases.
Inflammation may affect either the mucous membrane, the cervix or the fundus, or the entire organ may be involved. When the lining membrane only is affected, the patient has heat and burning in the pelvis; with or without pain, and there is a light, glairy discharge which later may become dark and offensive and often irritating.
Inflammation in the fundus or cervix gives at first a dragging, heavy pain in the pelvis, extending down the thighs and legs, with heat and pain in the lower part of the back. It is also attended with swelling of the organ and more or less discharge.
As the disease progresses there are usually sympathetic or reflex symptoms. These are heat and pain in the top of the head, aching, sore pain at the base of the brain, a pain and burning between the shoulders, which may extend up and down the spine, and to the arms. Physician and patient both are often deceived, and diagnose this last symptom as neuralgia or spinal complaint. The patient may have stricture and pain in the throat, with a dry, nervous cough. She also is liable to severe attacks of headache, suffers from dyspepsia, and indeed her symptoms are apt to assume the form of, or resemble any disease.
Her mental sufferings are even worse than her physical. She has loss of memory, is fretful and irritable. Carried to the extreme, her mind becomes unbalanced and insanity results. Statistics show that uterine disease is a very common cause of insanity in women.
Ulceration is usually found upon the mouth of the womb, or occasionally on the lining membrane. The raspberry ulceration is the most common form. This appears like granulation on the eyelids, and is always preceded and accompanied by inflammation. The surface becomes red, swollen and then abraded, resulting in ulcers. This is accompanied by a thick, purulent, yellow discharge, which, as the disease advances, becomes thin and bloody, with an offensive odor. The pain and reflex symptoms are much the same as in inflammation.
Induration, or thickening and hardening of the cervix is a frequent sequel of inflammation, especially where caustic treatment has been used.
Violations of physical laws cause the occurrence of the above named diseases.
Women take it as a matter of course that the organs of generation should be diseased, without one thought of their responsibility in the matter. Physicians, too, as specialists, treat woman much as though she were a machine to be adjusted at will.
Errors in dress, in diet, want of exercise and the abuse of the sexual relation are the principal causes of these ailments. The frequent use of drugs that act directly upon the generative organs induce and enhance these affections.
There is no doubt that the customary dress of woman, causing such deformity, and such perversion of all her powers, is the prime factor in producing ailments peculiar to her sex.
Being unequal in distribution, it leaves the extremities unprotected; by pressure it restricts digestion, respiration and circulation, while by its weight it burdens the weakened muscles.
Who has the power to save women from this one sin? Who has the pen or voice to present the claims of unborn generations? Many women who have suffered years from uterine diseases have finally recovered by simply adopting a hygienic dress. One thing is certain; it matters not what treatment one takes for these ailments, she can not hope to get well and keep well if she does not remove the restraints of clothing. (See Chap. VII.)
In diet, highly seasoned food, rich pastries, and indeed all food containing in excess the carbonaceous elements, especially the fats and sweets, will produce an inflammatory condition. Some irritating cause locates the affection in certain organs. Constipation also will induce and aggravate any uterine affection.
The treatment of these disorders should be less local than constitutional. The whole system must have the best conditions for health, giving nature a chance to restore harmony in organic powers.
The tepid sitz-bath will be found invaluable in both inflammation and ulceration of the womb. It should be taken in most cases as often as every other day, preceded by exercise, and followed by friction and rest. Half the value of this bath is lost if one fails to lie down after it. The best time for the bath is in the forenoon, but if, on account of daily duties, this time is unavailable, there is no special objection to taking it just before retiring. It is very quieting, and prevents sleeplessness.
The thermal bath ([page 118]) is especially desirable if the circulation seems sluggish, the skin inert, and the patient sensitive to cold. Take it twice a week.
Hot vaginal injections are found invaluable for these affections. They should be taken with a fountain syringe, using a large quantity of water as hot as can be borne. If practicable the patient may recline over a bed pan. Not having this, she should stand over a vessel, elevated upon a chair. If the discharge from the womb is offensive, use carbolic soap in the water.
Glycerine diluted one-third with water and applied by inserting absorbent cotton or oakum, is excellent to reduce inflammation and induration. This at first increases the discharge. In severe cases it can be applied daily, but ordinarily every other day is sufficient. Some mild remedies like hydrastis or calendula are useful in stimulating healthy action, and can be used under the direction of the physician.
Exercise is one of the most valuable therapeutic measures for uterine affections. If one is quite feeble, applied motion in the form of Swedish movements, massage or muscle-beating is most desirable. Women suffering from uterine diseases are unable to take needful exercise in an erect position. Walking, riding, housework, etc., aggravate the symptoms, increasing the local irritation and inflammation.
In most women the muscles of the trunk or the abdomen, and the involuntary muscles of respiration, from lack of proper use, are weak and atrophied. “They have not been trained to life’s occasions.” The following exercises, taken in a reclining posture, will serve the purpose of producing attrition and vigor of muscles, accelerating the circulation of the blood, and developing the involuntary muscles used in respiration; at the same time they increase the action of all the digestive organs, and by a derivative effect remove local inflammation, besides mechanically correcting mal-positions:
1. Reclining on back, holding knees and shoulders firm, move hips from side to side ten times.
2. Same position, on spring bed, move hips up and down fifteen times. This exercise can be taken by one that is weak, as the springs aid the motion.
3. Flex knees, same as [No. 1], twenty times.
4. Flex knees, same as [No. 2], twenty times.
5. Flex the knees and sway them from side to side twenty times.
6. Flex the knees and elevate the hips, resting the body on shoulders and feet. Move slowly up and down ten times, holding to count ten.
7. Elbows flexed to the sides, hands grasped by an assistant and slowly brought to a horizontal position parallel with the head, patient resisting. Bring them back to the sides, assistant resisting, ten times.
8. Same, only bring arms to a perpendicular position.
9. Reclining, face downward, flex knees and sway feet from right to left fifteen times.
10. With the help of an assistant, flex and extend the limbs, using resistance as in [No. 7].
11. Rest on elbows, and sway shoulders from right to left ten times.
12. Elevate the body slowly five times, resting only on toes and elbows. Hold to count ten.
13. Recline on back and make hand thrusts, with or without weights, upward, outward, forward and downward.
14. Same position, flex and thrust the limbs downward alternately.
15. Kneel face downward, gradually raise the hips until the whole weight rests upon the shoulders. Remain in this position for five minutes. This is invaluable for prolapsus and retroversion, and should be resorted to several times a day. One may get the position more readily by sliding off from a bed or lounge head first; relatively, standing on one’s head.
16. Lie face downward on two stools, 18 to 24 inches apart, resting the knees upon one and the shoulders upon the other, five minutes.
17. Same position; have an assistant knead the bowels by gentle pressure with clenched fists five minutes.
18. Same position, elevating hips five times.
The last three are quite severe, but if there is strength to adopt them, they are valuable in retroversion of the womb.
If there is no pelvic inflammation, and it is required to aid digestion and develop the muscles of trunk, the following are invaluable:
19. Sit upon a stool, feet firmly upon the floor, hands upon sides, hips firm; sway body from side to side as far as possible.
20. Same position, hands clasped over the head; sway body backward and forward.
21. Same position; combine Nos. [19] and [20] in a twisting motion of the body. The effect of the three last can be varied by holding one or both hands perpendicularly over the head.
22, 23, 24. Same as [19], [20] and [21], only standing position.
The beneficial effects are increased in the six last by inflating the lungs.
The severe caustic treatment that has been so universal in these affections is greatly to be deprecated. There are fashions in medicines as in other things, and the one fashion the last twenty-five years has been local treatment for diseases of women. In no department of medical practice has the physician’s prerogative been more abused. For the slightest ailments the severest applications are often employed. Nitrate of silver, sulphate of zinc, corrosive sublimate, tannic acid, nitric acid, all violent in their action, are in common use. Physicians are known to resort frequently to the application of a probe, heated to a white heat, and, what is just as bad, to wet a swab in fuming nitric acid, and introduce it into the womb. The delicate mucus membrane is burned and scarified, the patient tortured, and the nerves receive a severe shock. Patients able to be about are often laid up for several days by one of these treatments.
One day I met a lady upon the street who had been confined to the house for two years. I expressed pleasure at seeing her out. She told me that she could get out because her doctor was absent and her local treatment suspended. She said: “That always makes me sick in bed three or four days.”
“What! do you permit such treatment?”
“The doctor says I cannot get well without it.”
She, like many other poor suffering women, was persuaded that all this torture was necessary to her final recovery.
Physicians are known to keep women under treatment two or three years, yet frequently, instead of improvement, there is only a constant decline in health and strength.
The tide is now turning, and both physicians and patients begin to see that a great wrong has been done. So high an authority as Dr. Gaillard Thomas says: “Every one who has had experience in the treatment of these disorders must have been impressed with the wonderful improvement in cases which have long resisted local treatment, resulting from a sea voyage, a visit to a watering place, a course of sea bathing, or a few months spent in the country.”
Dr. George T. Elliott says:—“In cases of uterine diseases, the best success will be attained by securing for patients a life of muscular activity, so equalizing the circulation. And that thus the local treatment, now so much in vogue, might commonly be dispensed with.”
“It is easy for a sensitive woman to persuade herself that her afflictions from the toothache downward, are due to diseases of the womb. Here comes in the charlatan, to exaggerate the disease, if any, and to beguile the patient with promises of cure. The speculum, the caustic and the knife look like work, and she feels that something is being done for her.
“By and by the bubble bursts, and for all the good that this torture has accomplished, the poor woman might as well have adopted the scientific treatment of La-potai, namely, the application of a blister to the top of the head, to raise the fallen womb.”
Dr. E. R. Peaslee says of local treatments: “They have thus far produced, on the whole, more evil than good.”
Dr. Taylor, in his valuable little volume, “Health for Women,” assures us “that by using mere local treatment, the essential disease itself is left neglected, untouched, and even unsought; that symptoms only command the attention, and they will subside and become of trifling account whenever the essential malady is recognized and provided for.”
Such words as these, from men high in the profession, give hope of a tendency to a reaction from the prevalent dependence on local treatment. When such men take the back course, and condemn their own uterine surgery, hope may arise for long-suffering woman. This local treatment should be protested against by women. It is a relic of the past, and is contrary to science and common sense.
Within the memory of many now living, every patient under treatment for acute or chronic diseases was bled. He was also tortured by blisters, leeches and setons. Had he fever, he was denied water to quench his thirst. How the mother’s heart has been wrung with anguish when her darling babe, lying sick in her arms, has pleaded again and again for water? Who has not heard “Drink! mamma, drink!” and turned to hide the sympathetic tear, for, by the doctor’s orders, the little one must be denied!
To-day, where is the physician who bleeds his patient, and applies the blister? Many young doctors have never even seen a leech. Who would think of denying the fever patient water, and all that he desires? What has wrought this change? Mainly the protest of the people. Reforms in medical practice have come because the people have demanded them.
Severe local treatment should be classed with the bleeding and blistering, and, with them, be relegated to the past. Women must protest positively and persistently against the burning, probing and scarifying of the womb. As you value health and life, seek such measures for restoration as are more in accordance with nature. With these diseases as with others the simplest measures are the most effective.
Leucorrhea is not a disease, it is only a symptom of uterine derangement, as a cough is of a lung or throat affection. It is an increase of the normal mucus secretion, being an effort of nature to throw off inflammation. As a symptom it need cause no uneasiness, and should not be interfered with, unless by an occasional warm vaginal bath to insure cleanliness. The conditions which cause the discharge being removed, it will give no farther annoyance.
At all events styptics and astringents should not be resorted to. They only arrest the discharge temporarily, and do not remove the cause. The general and local treatment for inflammation is usually sufficient. Remember that as long as the uterine irritation exists one is better to have this discharge than to have it suppressed.
The displacements of the uterus most frequently found are prolapsus, retroversion and anteversion. Very much the same causes induce these different deviations. The supporting muscles in the perineum become weakened, it may be from a lack of exercise, or from the constant pressure of hardened feces, consequent upon constipation, or sometimes as the result of long continued inflammation.
The viscera are pressed down from above by the stricture and weight of clothing. The mobility of the organ renders it susceptible to change of position under these circumstances.
These conditions must be overcome, or treatment will prove futile. In most cases the uterus can be readily restored to its natural position. First remove the pressure from above, and then take the exercises prescribed on [page 267]. This will give room for the pelvic viscera, and strengthen the supporting muscles. Nature’s recuperative powers are never more remarkably demonstrated.
The prevailing custom of introducing pessaries of rubber, glass, etc., is to be deprecated. While they may give temporary relief, they increase the relaxation of the vagina and muscles, besides constantly drawing the attention of the patient to her ailment.
The connection of mind and thought with pelvic disorders is close, and is susceptible of becoming permanently fixed upon any organ. The effect is highly injurious. It must result in increasing this kind of morbid action, thus fixing and perpetuating the disease. This should most carefully be guarded against. In every way divert her mind from the subject. Let her but forget that she has a womb, and she will have found the best remedy for her affection.
Hysteria is only a culmination or exaggeration of the reflex or nervous symptoms in diseases of the uterus. It is simply temporary insanity, and should be treated as such. The patient loses self-control, and gives way to violent paroxysms of laughing or crying, possibly fainting fits and convulsions.
Some quiet, decisive means will restore her. Inhalation of ammonia, cold water on the head, a hot foot bath, a full bath, or even a decided word from a friend readily establishes her balance. The spoken word must not be given in a combative spirit, but simply with cheerfulness and decision. Banish fear from your own heart, and agitation from your manner, and then say to the patient, “Why, you are all right! Listen to me a moment.” Get her attention, then with tact relate some incident, or make some startling statement that will change the current of her thought. To prevent the attacks, treat the uterine affection from which they arise.
The mind can rise superior to the body in uterine affections, as in all other bodily ailments, and thus aid in establishing harmony. One can, by persistent argument with himself, conquer or dispel the thought of pain or disease. Also, by engaging in some work which calls forth the highest impulses.
By seeking to ennoble and enrich the lives of others, by ignoring personal sense and pleasure, the soul, the ego, becomes in harmony with the spirit of the universe, and this harmony should give health of body, as well as peace of mind.
The body is only a reflection of the spirit, is constantly and entirely subject to it, and if the spirit rises above error, discord and sin, dwelling in the realm of truth and love, disease and infirmity of the flesh cannot exist.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHANGE OF LIFE.
Change of life is one of the scape-goats of physicians and bugbears of patients. If any lady from thirty-five to fifty-five years of age is afflicted with dyspepsia, neuralgia, rheumatism, consumption or any other ailment, the doctor, not being able to cure her, pronounces it the meno-pause, or “change of life,” and that time alone can bring relief. Most women plan and expect to give up from eight to ten years of the best part of their lives to this climacteric period. They consider themselves of little account for business or social duties. They must be petted and nursed, and have every passing whim gratified.
The meno-pause is simply a cessation of ovulation. It is the exhaustion of the germ-making power. If a woman menstruates because of the monthly ovulation and deposit, she will cease to menstruate because ovulation has ceased to be a physiological operation.
At puberty the ovaries enlarge. When fully developed they begin casting off each month perfected ovula, which are taken up by the fimbriated extremities of the oviducts and conveyed to the uterus. This function of the uterus continues on an average thirty-two years. After the meno-pause begins the ovaries become small and shriveled, resembling a peach stone in shape and appearance.
“At the same time that the ovaries are undergoing this remarkable degenerative change, a similar change is taking place in the other organs of generation. The uterus diminishes in size, as does also the vagina. The mouth of the womb becomes contracted and after a time entirely closed. The upper part of the vagina is often contracted to such a degree as to produce folds closely resembling those which result from serious inflammation about the uterus. The breasts usually diminish in size. These changes indicate unmistakably the decline of the function of reproduction, preparatory to its entire suspension.
“As a rule, the capability of procreation ceases with the cessation of menstruation; but this is not universally the case. Instances are on record in which pregnancy has occurred before the appearance of menstruation. This seeming anomaly is due to the fact that ovulation and menstruation are really two distinct acts, although usually coincident.”
Although menstruation usually ceases from the forty-fifth to the fiftieth year, cases are on record in which “change of life” occurred at much earlier, as well as later periods. Dr. T. J. Patchen relates a remarkable case where a girl ceased menstruation at twenty-two, accompanied by all the physical changes of the organism as well as attended by the usual symptoms of that period. Cases are recorded where menstruation continued with regularity until the seventieth year, and the reproductive function remained unimpaired.
In a state of health the meno-pause should be attended by no unpleasant symptom, by no change from the normal condition. Ordinarily all the sufferings and ailments incident to this period can be accounted for from some ovarian or uterine disease, dyspepsia, or other deviation from health. Irritation or congestion in the ovaries, more than any other cause, decides the numerous symptoms of the climacteric. Uterine inflammation or derangement also causes many of the distressing ailments of the meno-pause.
Irregularity in menstruation may be looked for about the forty-fourth year in temperate climates. In the torrid zone, where girls menstruate as early as the tenth or twelfth year, it may occur much earlier. But in this country it is often delayed even far beyond the fiftieth year.
There may be occasional absence of the menses, or it may first be indicated by frequent and profuse menstruation. In rare cases the menses cease suddenly, without any warning or any special derangement. Women often feel alarmed at the sudden suspension of this discharge, but their fears are groundless if all other functions are normal. With some women the flow is alternately scanty and profuse for months.
The length of time in which these symptoms occur is extremely variable. It may be only a few months or it may be several years. In extreme cases the symptoms have continued nearly twenty years. The average period, however, is about three years.
These changes are accompanied by various pathological symptoms. Hot flashes or “flushings” are especially peculiar to this period. First one feels a decided glow or heat, as if suddenly transported to a hot room; this is soon followed by a perspiration which may terminate in a chill. They are often accompanied with a sense of suffocation or violent throbbing. The phenomenon is precisely the same as blushing, and indeed this may be said to be a sort of pathological blushing.
With some the chill is the precursor of the “hot spell.” The flashes occur at all times of day, and often one awakens with them in the night. They may occur but two or three times a day or every ten or fifteen minutes, making one wretched by their frequency. They are often the result of some sudden emotion as fright, anger, grief or anxiety. They are wonderfully the product of thought. By observation the patient will notice that they are also more frequent after drinking wine, tea and coffee, or partaking of stimulating food. Sometimes nausea and vomiting accompany flushings, as well as a feeling of weakness and malaise.
Profuse perspiration, sometimes so copious as to saturate the bed clothing, is also a common symptom of this period. This may follow the hot flushes or occur independently, but occurs more usually during sleep. It may accompany mental excitement of any kind.
Uterine Hemorrhage, common to the “change of life,” is the only peculiar symptom which really need cause any special anxiety. This may occur once a month or at longer intervals, or may be almost constant. It may become so profuse as to endanger the life of the patient. Indeed, one is often surprised that life can be sustained under the great loss of blood that some experience.
The appetite is sometimes capricious and fitful, as during pregnancy, or at the beginning of menstruation. Frequent derangements of stomach, liver and kidneys occur.
Skin diseases, often accompanying this period, are especially distressing from being attended with great itching. One also may have constipation, or diarrhea, swelled limbs or joints, swelled breasts, headaches, with heat and burning in top of the head or a sore pain at base of the brain; dizziness, dimness of vision with floating specks before the eyes, loss of voice and aching at the base of the tongue, insomnia, strange cravings, difficult breathing, neuralgia, hysteria, etc.
Tumors, cancers, polypi, etc., are more frequent during the meno-pause than at any other time of life. If the neck of the womb has been injured by attempts at abortion or indurations caused by frequent applications of caustics, conditions are produced that are liable to result in cancer.
“The mental symptoms are quite as marked and prominent in most cases as are those which relate to any part of the system. Loss of memory to a greater or less extent is apt to be first and most noticeable. Frequently there is an entire and most remarkable change in disposition. A kind, patient mother, or forbearing, confiding, exemplary wife, becomes irritable, unreasonable and suspicious.
“Her natural modesty may even give place to wantonness in extreme cases, and the mother instincts may become so thoroughly obliterated as to cause an almost uncontrollable desire to take the lives of her little ones. The once happy woman becomes despondent, moody and taciturn. She avoids company, has no taste for amusements, and spends her time in watching the varying symptoms, and bewailing her real and imaginary woes. In many cases, actual insanity, usually of a temporary character, is the result of the profound disturbance which the system undergoes at this time.”
Constipation is not unfrequently attendant upon, and the cause of, many symptoms of the meno-pause.
General Treatment.—First: Convince yourself that there is no actual need of any indisposition connected with the “change of life.” Forget all the traditions and teachings upon this subject, and learn that nature creates no pathological conditions, and that if you live according to her laws you can by no possible means experience suffering.
You have no use for these ailments. If you are possessed of any stubbornness in your nature, bring it into requisition at this time. Plant your foot down with emphasis, and say, with one of old, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
It is thoroughly proven that mind can control even malignant diseases, and a woman that has lived until she is forty-five should know enough, and be strong enough in her mental organization to say to these symptoms, “I will not be your slave, you cannot dominate my life and chain my energies.” Do not wait for some doctor to cure you with bread-pills or placebo powders.
The physical should be subjective to the mental, and can be if one learns the law. The world is only beginning to know how much can be accomplished for physical health by the controlling power of the mind.
The charge must be laid to physicians that women have made such a mountain of the meno-pause, and they must undo their work by teaching that this is only a natural change, and removing it from the category of diseases.
Before and during this period observe all conditions of hygiene. Perfect health and vigor is more frequently attainable than women are apt to believe. The maintaining of a hygienic life by proper dress, diet, etc., will go far toward causing the “change of life” as a deranged condition to be unknown.
Sleep in rooms so thoroughly ventilated that the air will be as pure and sweet as the out-door atmosphere. If women would increase the capacity of their lungs and breathe air abundantly charged with oxygen, four-fifths of their ailments would be prevented. But who has the wisdom to convince them of this?
The dress and exercise that increase ability to breathe with the diaphragm and abdominal muscles do more to prevent and cure diseases of women, if not all diseases, than all other possible preventives or medicines. When a mother thinks her rosy nine-year-old daughter is deformed, and she must begin to put her in stays to change her horrid figure to one that is trim and neat, what can we hope for the daughter when she takes the responsibility of her own garments? If I could do the greatest thing to stay degeneracy and disease of the human race it would be to convince women that lung power more than anything else contributes to health, longevity and power of endurance. To attain this a radical change must be made in clothing.
A sponge bath ([page 112]), upon arising in the morning, taken quickly, three or four times a week, is valuable during change of life. Accompany it by friction from the hand, a Turkish towel or flesh brush. Follow it by a draught of cold or hot water, the latter if there is dyspepsia.
A hot sitz-bath should be taken in case of inflammation of the ovaries or uterus. (See [page 184].) This may be taken every day for a week, and then every other day. In case of hemorrhage this bath is invaluable, and will relieve it when all other means have failed. It can be taken during the hemorrhage or at frequent intervals between times.
Hot or tepid vaginal injections are invaluable for controlling hemorrhage and removing congestion of the uterus. For this it is best to use a fountain syringe, hung very high so as to get good force to the water. This measure alone often removes many of the unpleasant symptoms of the meno-pause.
Hot fomentations may be applied twice a day for pain in the back. The hot water bottle is the best for this. Should be very hot and continued thirty or forty minutes, or even longer. If there is pain at base of the brain or in the pelvic region this same application is invaluable.
The Thermal bath ([page 118]) taken three times a week will be found invaluable in all the ailments of the meno-pause.
Sanguinaria, 2d, will give temporary relief from hot flashes. Dose, six pellets every two hours.
Alcohol and aqua-ammonia, equal parts, heated over steam, as hot as can be borne, and applied with the hand, relieves profuse perspiration. Or rub the entire surface with very hot fine salt. Hot baths will be found useful for this also.
The diet during the change of life should be simple, consisting largely of fruits and grains, moderate in quantity. These can be prepared in many palatable and dainty dishes. (See Dietetics.) If one has been accustomed to high living, to rich and greasy food, composed largely of the carbonaceous starch, sugar and fat, a change to a simple diet will work wonders in a short time.
The habit once established for a diet that furnishes the nutriment demanded for the system, one cannot be induced to return to that which gorges, stimulates and fattens, but does not nourish. The real relish and gustatory pleasure found in a fruit and grain diet can never be appreciated by those who indulge in inconsistent mixtures of stimulants and disease-producing elements. If there is no appetite, wait for its bidding; do not coax it by stimulants and appetizers. Rest of the digestive organs is often the best and surest cure for many diseases.
Let the woman who is a sufferer from hot flushes, dizziness, neuralgia, etc., give up strong tea and coffee, hot bread, pork, and rich pies and cake. Eat only what the appetite demands; and until the severest symptoms are relieved, partake of food not more than twice a day, and possibly only once. In fasting, if the stomach has a feeling of goneness or craving, drink a cup of hot water, hot lemonade or thin gruel, made from wheat, barley or oats. A sense of faintness and the inability to omit or postpone a single meal is almost a sure indication of dyspepsia. In hundreds of cases all the symptoms and diseases of change of life will yield to treatment for this common ailment. (Page 42.)
Look to it that a constipated habit is entirely overcome. Study and follow the hints in Chap. V., and the cases are rare that torpidity of the bowels cannot be removed. For any serious illness accompanying the change of life, a physician should be consulted. In all ordinary cases, however, one can be relieved entirely and that in a short time by religiously following the foregoing advice. Nature is kind and heals all our maladies if we only give her the shadow of an opportunity. In the climacteric period put yourself in harmony with nature’s laws and you will have no occasion for the physician’s potions.
CHAPTER XXIII.
DIETETICS.
In what thou eatest and drinkest, seek from thence
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
So mayest thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
Into thy mother’s lap; or be with ease
Gathered, not harshly plucked; for death mature.
—Milton.