INDEX.

THE END.

[1]. Shakspeare.

[2]. Martial.

[3]. The Nurse; a Poem. Translated from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo by William Roscoe.

[4]. Good Words, July, 1862.

[5]. Emerson.

[6]. Douglas Jerrold.

[7]. Shakspeare.

[8]. Chesterfield.

[9]. From a notice of this work in The Reader of 14th February 1863.

[10]. “The whole world around us, and the whole world within us, are ruled by law.”—The Duke of Argyle, Good Words, January, 1865.

[11]. The Family Friend, vol. i. London: Houlston & Stoneman.

[12]. “The indulgences and vices of prosperity are far more fatal than the privations entailed by any English form of distress.”—The Times, Feb. 3d, 1868.

[13]. From a notice of this work in The Reader of 14th February 1863.

[14]. Which may be procured of any respectable ironmonger.

[15]. A nursery-basin (Wedgewood’s make is considered the best) holding six or eight quarts of water, according to the size of the patient—whether she be either a little or a large woman. It will only be necessary to fill it about one-third full with water: this, of course, is only for the sitz-bath—the sitting-bath. The same basin for the previous washing ought to have been three parts full of water.

[16]. Rock-salt makes the strongest bath, but is much more difficult to dissolve in the water than either table salt or bay salt—the two latter being so readily dissolved.

[17]. Armstrong.

[18]. There is an admirable review in the Spectator (Feb. 17th, 1866) of a work on The Breakfast Book, in which the reviewer proves the importance of people making good and substantial breakfasts, and in which he indicates the kinds most suitable for the purpose. I have, in the text, availed myself of many of his valuable suggestions.

[19]. For the preservation of the teeth and gums, see Pye Chavasse’s Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children, under the head of “On the Teeth and the Gums.”

[20]. Armstrong.

[21]. Armstrong.

[22]. Milton.

[23]. Longfellow.

[24]. Coleridge.

[25]. Byron.

[26]. Pye Chavasse’s Advice to a Mother, Ninth Edition.

[27]. Ecclesiastes, v. 12.

[28]. Light. By Forbes Winslow, M.D.

[29]. I have entered so fully into the evil effects of tight lacing in my other book, Advice to a Mother, that I consider it quite unnecessary to say more in this place on the subject. Moreover, it is not so necessary now as in the early editions of my two works to dwell upon the subject, as, I am happy to say, the evil effects of tight lacing are at the present time better understood. Stays used to be formidable-looking apparatuses; indeed, they were instruments of torture. Now they are more simple, and therefore more suitable.

[30]. From a notice of this work in The Reader of 14th of February, 1863.

[31]. Cowper.

[32]. From a notice of this work in The Reader of 14th of February, 1868.

[33]. Poems, by the author of The Patience of Hope.

[34]. Longfellow.

[35]. “Hold idleness to be the mother of sin; it both robs thee of the good thou hast and hinders thee of what thou hast not.”—“On some Guesses at Truth,” in Good Words, June, 1862.

[36]. Cowper.

[37]. Tennyson.

[38]. Proverbs, xxxi. 17.

[39]. Dr. Samuel Johnson.

[40]. “A pale, delicate face, and clear eyes, indicative of consumption, are the fashionable desiderata at present for complexion.”—Dublin University Magazine.

[41]. Byron.

[42]. Sir Egerton Brydges.

[43]. Dr. Grosvenor.

[44]. “In the human female, the period of puberty, or of commencing aptitude for procreation, is usually between the thirteenth and sixteenth years. It is generally thought to be somewhat earlier in warm climates than in cold, and in densely populated manufacturing towns than in thinly populated agricultural districts. The mental and bodily habits of the individual have also considerable influence upon the time of its occurrence; girls brought up in the midst of luxury or sensual indulgence undergoing this change earlier than those reared in hardihood and self-denial.”—Dr. Carpenter’s Human Physiology.

[45]. “Some curious facts come to light in the Scotch Registrar-General’s report in reference to prolific mothers. One mother, who was only eighteen, had four children; one, who was twenty-two, had seven children; and of two who were only thirty-four, one had thirteen and the other fourteen children; and, on the other hand, two women became mothers as late in life as at fifty-one, and four at fifty-two; and one mother was registered as having given birth to a child in the fifty-seventh year of her age.”

[46]. British Medical Journal, Nov. 21st, 1863.

[47]. It is very unusual, in this climate, for a girl to become a mother until she be seventeen or eighteen years of age. A case has just occurred, however (1864), where a girl became a mother before she reached her fourteenth year. In his last report to the Registrar-General, the registrar for Park district, Sheffield, says: “I have registered the birth of a child in my district this quarter, the age of the mother being only thirteen years and ten months. She was employed in a cotton mill in the neighborhood of Manchester.”

[48]. De Quincey.

[49]. Exposition of the Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy.

[50]. “The catamenial discharge, as it issues from the uterus [womb], appears to be nearly or quite identical with ordinary blood; but in its passage through the vagina it becomes mixed with the acid mucus exuded from its walls, which usually deprives it of the power of coagulating. If the discharge should be profuse, however, a portion of its fibrin remains unaffected, and clots are formed.”—Dr. Carpenter’s Human Physiology.

[51]. Dr. David D. Davis was physician-accoucheur in attendance at the birth of her present Majesty.

[52]. With regard to the origin of the word enceinte, Dr. Montgomery, in his valuable Exposition of the Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy, observes: “Many a one who confesses, with a smile or a blush, that she is enceinte, would do well to remember the origin of the word she uses. It was the habit of the Roman ladies to wear a tight girdle or cincture round their waists; but when pregnancy occurred, they were required by law—at least that of opinion—to remove this restraint; and hence a woman so situated was said to be incincta, or unbound, and hence also the adoption of the term enceinte to signify a state of pregnancy.”

[53]. “William Hunter had such faith in this sign that he always asserted he could judge by it alone whether or not a woman was pregnant.”—Signs and Diseases of Pregnancy. (Dr. Tanner.)

[54]. Dr. Denman.

[55]. This work is exclusively intended for the perusal of wives; I beg, however, to observe that there is one sign of pregnancy which I have not pointed out, but which to a medical man is very conclusive; I mean the sounds of the fœtal heart, indicated by the stethoscope. Moreover, there are other means besides the stethoscope known to a doctor, by which he can with certainty tell whether a woman be pregnant or otherwise, but which would be quite out of place to describe in a popular work of this kind.

[56]. The bidet may be procured of a cabinet-maker, the sitz-bath of a furnishing ironmonger.

[57]. Burton.

[58]. Abernethy.

[59]. Popular Science Review.

[60]. These pills and all medicines prescribed in this book ought to be prepared by a chemist.

[61]. The hot-water bag, or bottle as it is sometimes called, is composed of vulcanized india-rubber, and is made purposely to hold very hot water. The bag ought not to be more than half filled with water, as it will then better adapt itself to the shape of the bowels. The water must be hot, but not boiling hot; if it should be very hot, the bag ought to be wrapped in flannel.

[62]. Take four poppy-heads and four ounces of chamomile blows, and boil them in four pints of water for half an hour, to make the fomentation, which should then be strained, and made quite hot in a saucepan when required.

[63]. Waring’s Manual of Therapeutics.

[64]. Let the ointments be made by a druggist.

[65]. Which may be procured either of a medical man or of any respectable surgical-instrument-maker.

[66]. Domette is a mixture of flannel and cotton. One of good quality should be used for the purpose.

[67]. Ten grains of powdered alum to half an ounce of chloroform.

[68]. Camphor julep may be made by putting a few lumps of camphor in a wide-mouthed bottle of cold water; cork it up, and let it stand for a few days; then strain it, sweeten it with lump sugar, and it will be fit for use.

[69]. A hot-water bag is composed of vulcanized india-rubber, and is made purposely to hold very hot water—boiling water. It ought only to be half filled with water, in order that it may adapt itself to the surface of the stomach. The temperature of the water need only be hot, and not boiling hot. It is a most delightful stomach warmer and comforter, and should be in every house where there is a family. One great advantage of it is, that it is, in a few minutes, ready for use. It may be procured at any respectable india-rubber warehouse.

[70]. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of powdered alum in a quarter of a pint of tepid water, to make the injection.

[71]. Which may be procured either of a surgical-instrument-maker or of an india-rubber manufacturer. The best kind of india-rubber vaginal syringe is the one purposely made for the patient to use herself.

[72]. See pages [43], [124], and [172].

[73]. See page [166].

[74]. Which sitz-bath may be procured of any respectable tinman or furnishing ironmonger.

[75]. Tanner, On Signs and Diseases of Pregnancy.

[76]. I say usually, for the duration of gestation is very uncertain. Dr. Reid gives (in The Lancet of July 20th, 1850) an interesting table of the duration of pregnancy. The table comprises 500 cases; out of which numbers, nearly the half terminated in labor in the fortieth and forty-first weeks. The following is the order in which they occurred:

23casesin the37thweek.
48„„38th„
81„„39th„
131„„40th„
112„„41st„
63„„42d„
28„„43d„
8„„44th„
6„„45th„

The above is merely a summary of Dr. Reid’s valuable table.

[77]. We are informed by Jourdan and other French writers that Fernel acted on the knowledge of this fact when consulted by Henry II. of France as to the best means of rendering his queen, Catherine de Medicis, fruitful. He advised the king to visit her only immediately after the cessation of the menstrual discharge, the adoption of which advice was attended with success, and the queen, after years of disappointment, gave birth to a son.—Dr. Montgomery.

[78]. On the Signs and Diseases of Pregnancy.

[79]. Braithwaite’s Retrospect. A Synopsis of Dr. Packman’s Paper on Impregnation, in The Lancet, July 18th, 1863.

[80]. Belforest. A Tale of English Country Life. By the author of Mary Powell. London: Richard Bentley.

[81]. Not Proven. London: Hurst & Blackett.

[82]. “He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets.”—Prov. xx 19.

[83]. The Rev. J. G. Wood’s Duties of the Hospital Chaplain, in the Churchman’s Family Magazine.

[84]. Higginson’s syringe may be procured either of Weiss & Son, Strand, London, or of any other respectable surgical-instrument-maker. There are other india-rubber apparatuses besides Higginson’s which will answer a similar purpose. Sometimes they are made with two separate and distinct india-rubber pipes, the one of which is to be used in the administration of an enema, and the other either for giving an injection up the vagina, or for washing out the vagina with warm water. The best quality of apparatus ought always to be chosen. It might be procured either of a surgical-instrument-maker or at an india-rubber warehouse. C. Mackintosh & Co.’s Patent Vaginal Syringe (No. 2 size) is a capital vaginal syringe; but it will only act as a vaginal, while Higginson’s and some others will act a double purpose—as an enema and as a vaginal syringe.

[85]. Pye Chavasse’s Advice to a Mother. Ninth edition.

[86]. A System of Midwifery. By E. Rigby, M.D.

[87]. “Adam’s children must work, Eve’s children must suffer.”—“On some Guesses at Truth,” in Good Words, June, 1862. Young, in his Night Thoughts, beautifully expresses the common lot of woman to suffer:

“’Tis the common lot;

In this shape, or in that, has fate entailed

The mother’s throes on all of woman born,

Not more the children than sure heirs of pain.”

[88]. “Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb; my praise shall be always of thee.”—The Psalms of David, lxxi. 5.

[89]. Dr. David D. Davis used, in his valuable lectures, strongly to reprobate meddlesome midwifery: he justly observed that “accoucheurs were only life-guardsmen to women.” A life-guardsman, while on duty at the palace, does not interfere with every passer-by, but only removes those who obstruct the way.

[90]. Dr. George Smith, of Madras, communicated an interesting case of the kind to the Edinburgh Medical Journal (November, 1862).

[91]. “Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs.”—Isa. xxvi. 17.

[92]. A two-ounce pot of unsalted or prepared lard, as it is usually called, should, previously to the labor, be procured from a chemist.

[93]. And may be procured at any india-rubber warehouse or at a baby-linen establishment.

[94]. Dryden.

[95]. St. John, xvi. 21.

[96]. Dr. Kidd on Chloroform, in the Medical Press and Circular, March 14th, 1866.

[97]. Dr. Kidd, in Dublin Quarterly. Dr. Kidd is an authority on chloroform.

[98]. The Theory and Practice of Midwifery. By Fleetwood Churchill, M.D.

[99]. “Dr. Vose (of Liverpool) said, that once, when in the remote valleys of Westmoreland and Cumberland, he used to ask the people how they got on without medical aid, particularly in regard to midwifery cases. People wondered that he should ask. He found that they had no midwives even; when a woman begins her troubles, they told him, they give her warm beer; if she is worse, more warm beer; but if that fails, then ‘she maun dee.’ So they give stimulants from the first. One word in the paper read seemed to contain the gist of the matter; we must treat the patients according to ‘common sense.’”—Diet Suitable after Childbirth. British Medical Journal, December 12th, 1863.

[100]. As a rule, the “waters break” just before the head is born, then there is no fear of a membrane covering the mouth, as the head passes through the ruptured membrane. “In other instances, the membrane does not burst before the expulsion of the head of the fœtus [child] externally, which it covers, and in such cases the infant is said by nurses to be born with a caul, and this is advertised in the London newspapers in our day, and sold at a high price by midwives, as it is superstitiously supposed to prevent shipwreck.”—Ryan’s Manual of Midwifery.

[101]. Shakspeare.

[102]. See page [232], paragraph 554.

[103]. The female slipper may be procured either at any respectable earthenware warehouse, or of a surgical-instrument-maker.

[104]. “The female slipper,” and the French bed-pan and the bed-pan of the Liverpool Northern Hospital, may be procured either at any respectable earthenware warehouse or of a surgical-instrument-maker.

[105]. Boil two handfuls of marshmallows and two handfuls of chamomile blows in two quarts of water for a quarter of an hour, and strain.

[106]. Which may be obtained either of a surgical-instrument-maker or at an india-rubber warehouse.

[107]. There are few persons who know how to make beef-tea: let me tell you of a good way. Let the cook mince very fine—as fine as sausage-meat—one pound of the shoulder blade of beef, taking care that every particle of fat be removed; then let her put the meat either into a saucepan or into a digester with three pepper corns and a pint and a half of cold water; let it be put on the fire to boil; let it slowly boil for an hour, and then let it be strained; and you will have most delicious beef-tea, light and nourishing, grateful to the stomach and palate. When cold, carefully skim any remaining fat (if there be any) from it, and warm it up when wanted. It is always well, when practicable, to make beef-tea the day before it is wanted, in order to be able to skim it when quite cold. It may be served up with a finger or two of dry toast, and with salt to suit the taste. Sometimes a patient prefers the beef-tea without the pepper corns; when such be the case, let the pepper corns be omitted.

If you wish your beef-tea to be particularly strong and nourishing, and if you have any beef bones in the house, let them be broken up and slowly boiled in a digester for a couple of hours, or even longer, with the finely minced-up beef.

[108]. A knuckle of veal boiled in new milk makes a light and nourishing food for a delicate lying-in woman. Milk is an admirable article of food for the lying-in room.

[109]. Letter from Edward Crossman, Esq., in British Medical Journal, Nov. 19th, 1864.

[110]. Barley-water and new milk, in equal proportions, was Dr. Gooch’s favorite beverage for a lying-in woman. “After the fifth day,” he says, “the patient should be quite well, and your visits are merely for the purpose of watching her. Women now generally wish for wine or porter. I usually mix good barley-water with milk (equal parts), making barley gruel; and, presenting this beverage, I tell them, this is your wine and your porter too; it will relieve your thirst and sinking at the stomach, and will manufacture milk better than anything else.”

[111]. Erasmus Darwin.

[112]. The Nurse: a Poem.

[113]. Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children; the ninth edition. By Pye Henry Chavasse F.R.C.S.

[114]. From an admirable paper on Health of Body and Mind, in Good Words, Jan. 1st, 1866.

[115]. Good Words, October, 1861.

[116]. Wordsworth.

[117]. Prior.

[118]. Milton.

[119]. Fenton.

[120]. Burton.

[121]. Carlyle’s Inaugural Address at his installation as Rector of the University of Edinburgh.

[122]. Either of which may be procured of any respectable surgical-instrument-maker.

[123]. For much valuable information on this subject, see A New and Rational Explanation of the Diseases peculiar to Infants and Mothers. By Thomas Ballard, M.D.

[124]. Two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, two tablespoonfuls of table salt, and a pint of warm oatmeal gruel.

[125]. Dr. William Parr On the Mortality of Children.

[126]. Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children; the ninth edition. By Pye Henry Chavasse, F.R.C.S.

[127]. Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children the ninth edition. By Pye Henry Chavasse, F.R.C.S.

[128]. Pye Chavasse’s Advice to a Mother.

[129]. Romeo and Juliet.

[130]. Good Words, Dr. W. Lindsay Alexander, March, 1861.

[131]. Woman’s Mission.

[132]. Tupper.

[133]. A nursery-basin (Wedgwood’s make is considered the best) holding either six or eight quarts of water, and which will be sufficiently large to hold the whole body of the child. The basin is generally fitted into a wooden frame, which will raise it to a convenient height for the washing of the baby.

[134]. Sir Charles Locock strongly recommends that an infant should be washed in a tub from the very commencement. He says: “All those that I superintend begin with a tub.”—Letter to the Author.

[135]. Mrs. Baines (who has written so much and so well on the Management of Children), in a Letter to the Author, recommends flannel to be used in the first washing of an infant, which flannel ought afterward to be burned; and that the sponge should be only used to complete the process, to clear off what the flannel had already loosened. She also recommends that every child should have his own sponge, each of which should have a particular distinguishing mark upon it, as she considers the promiscuous use of the same sponge to be a frequent cause of ophthalmia (inflammation of the eyes). The sponges cannot be kept too clean.

[136]. In one case related by Koop (Journ. de Pharm., xx. 603), a child was destroyed by it.

[137]. 2 Kings, v. 13, 14.

[138]. Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the Author.

[139]. “The Princess of Wales might have been seen on Thursday taking an airing, in a brougham in Hyde Park, with her baby—the future King of England—on her lap, without a nurse, and accompanied only by Mrs. Bruce. The Princess seems a very pattern of mothers, and it is whispered among the ladies of the Court that every evening the mother of this young gentleman may be seen in a flannel dress, in order that she may properly wash and put on baby’s night-clothes and see him safely in bed. It is a pretty subject for a picture.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

[140]. Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the Author.

[141]. “Tous-les-mois” is the starch obtained from the tuberous roots of various species of canna; and is imported from the West Indies. It is very similar to arrow-root. I suppose it is called “tous-les-mois,” as it is good to be eaten all the year round.

[142]. If there is any difficulty in obtaining prepared oatmeal, Robertson’s Patent Groats will answer equally as well.

[143]. British Medical Journal, Dec. 18, 1858.

[144]. The Cook’s Guide. By C. E. Francatelli.

[145]. I consider it to be of immense importance to the infant, that the milk be had from ONE cow. A writer in the Medical Times and Gazette, speaking on this subject, makes the following sensible remarks: “I do not know if a practice common among French ladies, when they do not nurse, has obtained the attention among ourselves which it seems to me to deserve. When the infant is to be fed with cow milk, that from various cows is submitted to examination by the medical man, and if possible, tried on some child, and when the milk of any cow has been chosen, no other milk is ever suffered to enter the child’s lips, for a French lady would as soon offer to her infant’s mouth the breasts of half a dozen wet-nurses in the day, as mix together the milk of various cows, which must differ even as the animals themselves, in its constituent qualities. Great attention is also paid to the pasture, or other food of the cow thus appropriated.”—December 29, 1860.

[146]. For further reasons why artificial food is not desirable at an early period of infancy, see answer to 35th question, p. [1043].

[147]. The Nurse, a Poem. Translated from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo. By William Roscoe.

[148]. Liebig, the great chemist, asserts that a small quantity of table salt to the food is essential to the health of children.

[149]. It now and then happens that if the milk be not boiled, the motions of an infant are offensive; when such is the case let the milk be boiled, but not otherwise.

[150]. “It should be thin, and of a bluish-white color, sweet to the taste, and when allowed to stand should throw up a considerable quantity of cream.”—Maunsell and Evenson on the Diseases of Children.

[151]. Sir Charles Locock considers that a woman who menstruates during lactation is objectionable as a wet-nurse, and “that as a mother with her first child is more liable to that objection, that a second or third child’s mother is more eligible than a first.”—Letter to the Author.

[152]. “The child is poisoned.”

“Poisoned! by whom?”

“By you. You have been fretting.”

“Nay, indeed, mother. How can I help fretting?”

“Don’t tell me, Margaret. A nursing mother has no business to fret. She must turn her mind away from her grief to the comfort that lies in her lap. Know you not that the child pines if the mother vexes herself?”—The Cloister and the Hearth. By Charles Reade.

[153]. The previous boiling of the milk will prevent the warmth of the bed turning the milk sour, which it would otherwise do.

[154]. For the first three or four months never, if you can possibly avoid it, give artificial food to an infant who is sucking. There is nothing, in the generality of cases, that agrees, for the first few months, like the mother’s milk alone.

[155]. Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the author.

[156]. Dendy. Lancet, October 25, 1851.

[157]. Dr. George Gregory.

[158]. Sir Charles Locock, in a Letter to the Author.

[159]. For the precautions to be used in putting a child into a warm bath, see the answer to question on “Warm Baths.”

[160]. No family, where there are young children, should be without Fahrenheit’s thermometer.

[161]. Ingoldsby Legends.

[162]. The young of animals seldom suffer from cutting their teeth—and what is the reason? Because they live in the open air and take plenty of exercise, while children are frequently cooped up in close rooms and are not allowed the free use of their limbs. The value of fresh air is well exemplified in the Registrar-General’s Report for 1843: he says that in 1,000,000 deaths from all diseases, 616 occur in the town from teething, while 120 only take place in the country from the same cause.

[163]. See answer to Question 63.

[164]. “‘Soothing Syrup.’ Some of them probably contain opiates, but a perfectly safe and useful one is a little nitrate of potassa in syrup of roses—one scruple to half an ounce.”—Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the Author.

[165]. “I should put this in capitals, it is so important and so often mistaken.”—C. Locock.

[166]. I have somewhere read that if a cage, containing a canary, be suspended at night within a bed where a person is sleeping, and the curtains be drawn closely around, that the bird will, in the morning, in all probability be found dead!

[167]. The Nurse, a Poem.

[168]. It may be interesting to a mother to know the average weight of new-born infants. There is a paper on the subject in the Medical Circular (April 10, 1861), and which has been abridged in Braithwaite’s Retrospect of Medicine (July and December, 1861). The following are extracts: “Dr. E. von Siebold presents a table of the weights of 3000 infants (1586 male and 1414 female), weighed immediately after birth. From this table (for which we have not space) it results that by far the greater number of the children (2215) weighed between 6 and 8 lbs. From 5¾ to 6 lbs. the number rose from 99 to 268; and from 8 to 8¼ lbs. they fell from 226 to 67, and never rose again at any weight to 100. From 8¾ to 9½ lbs. they sank from 61 to 8, rising, however, at 9½ lbs to 21. Only six weighed 10 lbs., one 10¾ lbs., and two 11 lbs. The author has never but once met with a child weighing 11¾ lbs. The most frequent weight in the 3000 was 7 lbs., numbering 426. It is a remarkable fact, that until the weight of 7 lbs. the female infants exceeded the males in number, the latter thenceforward predominating.... From these statements, and those of various other authors here quoted, the conclusion may be drawn that the normal weight of a mature new-born infant is not less than 6 nor more than 8 lbs., the average weight being 6½ or 7 lbs., the smaller number referring to female and the higher to male infants.”

[169]. Hints on Household Management. By Mrs. C. L. Balfour Partridge, London.

[170]. In a Letter to the Author.

[171]. Letter to the Author.

[172].

Take of—Tincture of aloes, half an ounce;

Soap liniment, one ounce:

Make a liniment.

[173]. Sir Charles Locock, in a Letter to the Author.

[174].

Take of—Powdered Turkey Rhubarb, half a scruple;

Carbonate of Magnesia, one scruple;

Simple Syrup, three drachms;

Dill Water, eight drachms:

Make a Mixture. One or two teaspoonfuls (according to the age of the child) to be taken every four hours, until relief be obtained—first shaking the bottle.

[175]. See Symptoms and Treatment of Dysentery.

[176]. For a rhubarb and magnesia mixture prescription, see page [1099] (note).

[177]. Let the mixture be made by a chemist.

[178]. Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the Author.

[179]. Let this mixture, or any other medicine I may prescribe, be always made by a respectable chemist.

[180]. My friend, the late Dr. Baly, who had made dysentery his particular study, considered the combination of opium and castor oil very valuable in dysentery.

[181]. See the Treatment of Dysentery.

[182]. Tennyson.

[183]. Sir Charles Locock, in a Letter to the Author.

[184]. See Infancy—Ablution, page [1016].

[185]. The Lancet, April 25, 1857.

[186]. The Foot and its Covering. By James Dowie. London, 1861.

[187]. The Psalms of David, cxliv. 12.

[188]. How is milk, in the making of cheese, converted into curds? By rennet. What is rennet? The juice of a calf’s maw or stomach. The moment the milk enters the human maw or stomach, the juice of the stomach converts it into curds—into solid food, just as readily as when it enters a calf’s maw or stomach, and much more readily than by rennet, as the fresh juice is stronger than the stale. An ignorant mother often complains that because, when her child is sick, the milk curdles, that it is a proof that it does not agree with him! If, at those times, it did not curdle, it would, indeed, prove that his stomach was in a wretchedly weak state; she would, then, have abundant cause to be anxious.

[189]. The Times, September 19, 1864.

[190]. The Lancet, December 18, 1858.

[191]. Ibid.

[192]. Although caraway seeds whole are unwholesome, yet caraway-tea, made as recommended at page [1097], is an excellent remedy to disperse wind.

[193]. Christian’s Mistake. By the author of “John Halifax Gentlemen.”

[194]. “Pure air and water are practically the two great elements of health.”—The Times.

[195]. The Times.

[196]. “Two little girls died in London last week from sucking some lucifer matches.”—The Birmingham Daily Gazette, June 21, 1864.

[197]. The Times, October 5, 1863.

[198]. Shakspeare.

[199]. A Woman’s Thoughts about Women.

[200]. Tales of a Wayside Inn. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

[201]. Douglas Jerrold

[202]. Tennyson.

[203]. Sir Walter Scott.

[204]. “But we were gentle among you, even as a woman cherisheth her children.”—I. Thess. ii. 7.

[205]. Household Verses on Health and Happiness. London: Jarrold & Sons. I should advise every mother to purchase a copy of this delightful little book. Unlike a great deal of poetry, it is both useful and truthful.

[206]. Life’s Problems. London: Bell & Dalby.

[207]. The Leadbeater Papers. London: Bell & Dalby.

[208]. Romans, xii. 10.

[209]. A Woman’s Thoughts about Women.

[210]. The Protoplast.

[211]. Wordsworth.

[212]. Goldsmith.

[213]. From an excellent article About Toys, by J. Hamilton Fyfe, in Good Words for December, 1862, which I should strongly advise a mother to read.

[214]. The Saturday Review, December 13, 1862.

[215]. “According to Aristotle, more care should be taken of the body than of the mind for the first seven years; strict attention to diet be enforced, etc.... The eye and ear of the child be most watchfully and severely guarded against contamination of every kind, and unrestrained communication with servants be strictly prevented. Even his amusements should be under due regulation, and rendered as interesting and intellectual as possible.”—The Rev. John Williams, in his Life and Actions of Alexander the Great.

[216]. Tennyson.

[217]. Sir Charles Locock in a Letter to the Author.

[218]. Geo. M’Donald, M.A.

[219]. Medical Times and Gazette.

[220]. In case of a sudden attack of croup, instantly give a teaspoonful of ipecacuanha wine, and repeat it every five minutes until free vomiting be excited.

[221]. See “Warm baths”—directions and precautions to be observed.

[222]. Essays and Notes. Churchill.

[223]. If you put your finger into the mouth of a child laboring under inflammation of the lungs, it is like putting your finger into a hot apple-pie, the heat is so great.

[224]. See page [1210].

[225]. Diphtheria: by Ernest Hart. A valuable pamphlet on the subject. Dr. Wade, of Birmingham, has also written an interesting and useful monograph on diphtheria. I am indebted to the above authors for much valuable information.

[226]. “Now all my carefully conducted inquiries induce me to believe that the disease comes from drain-poison. All the cases into which I could fully inquire have brought conviction to my mind that there is a direct law of sequence in some peculiar conditions of atmosphere between diphtheria and bad drainage; and if this be proved by subsequent investigations, we may be able to prevent a disease which, in too many cases, our known remedies cannot cure.”—W. Carr, Esq., Blackheath. British Medical Journal, Dec. 7, 1861.

[227]. Let the infusion of roses be made merely with the rose-leaves and boiling water.

[228]. See page [1221].

[229]. See page [1210].

[230]. Edinburgh Medical Journal.

[231]. On the 4th of March, 1856, I had the honor to read a Paper on the Treatment of Scarlet Fever before the members of Queen’s College Medico-Chirurgical Society, Birmingham,—which Paper was afterward published in the Association Journal (March 15, 1856); and in Braithwaite’s Retrospect of Medicine (January-June, 1856); and in Ranking’s Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences (July-December, 1856); besides in other publications. Moreover, the Paper was translated into German, and published in Canstatt’s Jahresbericht, iv. 456, 1859.

[232]. In the Times of September 4, 1863, is the following, copied from the Bridgewater Mercury:

“Gross Superstition.—In one of the streets of Taunton there resides a man and his wife who have the care of a child. This child was attacked with scarlatina, and to all appearance death was inevitable. A jury of matrons was, as it were, impaneled, and, to prevent the child ‘dying hard,’ all the doors in the house, all the drawers, all the boxes, all the cupboards were thrown wide open, the keys taken out, and the body of the child placed under a beam, whereby a sure, certain, and easy passage into eternity could be secured. Watchers held their vigils throughout the weary night, and in the morning the child, to the surprise of all, did not die, and is now gradually recovering.”

These old women—this jury of matrons—stumbled on the right remedy, “all the doors in the house ... were thrown wide open,” and thus they thoroughly ventilated the apartment. What was the consequence? The child who, just before the opening of the doors, had all the appearances “that death was inevitable,” as soon as fresh air was let in, showed symptoms of recovery, “and in the morning the child, to the surprise of all, did not die, and is now gradually recovering.” There is nothing wonderful—there is nothing surprising to my mind—in all this. Ventilation—thorough ventilation—is the grand remedy for scarlatina! Oh, that there were in scarlet fever cases a good many such old women’s—such a “jury of matrons”—remedies! We should not then be horrified, as we now are, at the fearful records of death, which the Returns of the Registrar-General disclose!

[233]. For the prescription of the acidulated infusion of roses with syrup, see page [1221].

[234]. On the importance, the vital importance, of the wearing of flannel next to the skin, see Flannel Waistcoats.

[235]. If any of my medical brethren should do me the honor to read these pages, let me entreat them to try my plan of treating scarlet fever, as my success has been great. I have given full and minute particulars, in order that they and mothers (if mothers cannot obtain medical advice) may give my plan a fair and impartial trial. My only stipulations are that they must begin with my treatment, and not mix any other with it, and carry out my plan to the very letter. I then, with God’s blessing, shall not fear the result; but shall rejoice that I have been of some little service in my generation.

[236]. “It would be well if we were to use whitewash in many cases where great cleanness of surface cannot be obtained. We remove in this way, by an easy method, much of the dullness and still more of the unwholesomeness of dirt.”—Dr. Angus Smith, in Good Words, April, 1861.

[237]. Quarterly Report of the Board of Health upon Sickness in the Metropolis.

[238]. Vesicles. Small elevations of the cuticle, covering a fluid which is generally clear and colorless at first, but becomes afterward whitish and opaque, or pearly.—Watson.

[239]. See page [1221].

[240]. For the prescription of the ipecacuanha wine mixture, see page [1210].

[241]. For the treatment of bronchitis, see page [1214].

[242]. The above extract from Tennyson is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces of poetry in the English language. It is a perfect gem, and a volume in itself, so truthful, so exquisite, so full of the most valuable reflections: for instance—(1) “The little rift within the lute,”—the little tubercle within the lung, “that by-and-by will make the music mute, and ever widening slowly silence all,” and the patient eventually dies of consumption. (2) The little rent—the little rift of a very minute vessel in the brain, produces an attack of apoplexy, and the patient dies. (3) Each and all of us, in one form or another, sooner or later will have “the little rift within the lute.” But why give more illustrations? a little reflection will bring numerous examples to my fair reader’s memory.

[243]. Four poppy-heads and four ounces of chamomile blows to be boiled in four pints of water for half an hour, and then strained to make the decoction.

[244]. Sir Charles Locock, in a Letter to the Author.

[245]. Infusion of senna may be procured of any respectable druggist. It will take about one or two tablespoonfuls, or even more, of the infusion (according to the age of the child and the obstinacy of the bowels), to act as an aperient. Of course you yourself will be able, from time to time, as the need arises, to add the milk and the sugar, and thus to make it palatable. It ought to be given warm, so as the more to resemble tea.

[246]. A Manual of Practical Therapeutics. By Edward John Waring, F.R.C.S. London: John Churchill and Sons.

[247]. One part of bran to three parts of flour, mixed together and made into bread.

[248]. See page [1094].

[249]. An enema apparatus is an important requisite in every nursery; it may be procured of any respectable surgical-instrument-maker. The india-rubber enema bottle is, for a child’s use, a great improvement on the old syringe, as it is not so likely to get out of order, and, moreover, is more easily used.

[250]. Blackwood, December, 1861.

[251]. If any of my medical brethren should perchance read these Conversations, I respectfully and earnestly recommend them to take more pains in making medicines for children pleasant and palatable. I am convinced that, in the generality of instances, provided a little more care and thought were bestowed on the subject, it may be done; and what an amount of both trouble and annoyance it would save! It is really painful to witness the struggles and cries of a child when nauseous medicine is to be given; the passion and the excitement often do more harm than the medicine does good.

[252]. George M‘Donald, M.A.

[253]. Nurses at these times ought to wear slippers, and not shoes.

[254]. Household Verses on Health and Happiness. London: Jarrold & Sons. A most delightful little volume.

[255]. Which fine-tooth comb ought not to be used at any other time except for the purpose of examination, as the constant use of a fine-tooth comb would scratch the scalp, and would encourage a quantity of scurf to accumulate.

[256]. Where milk does not agree, it may generally be made to do so by the addition of one part of lime-water to seven parts of new milk. Moreover, the lime will be of service in hardening his bones; and in these cases, the bones require hardening.

[257]. Which may be procured at any respectable india-rubber warehouse.

[258].

Take of—Spirits of Turpentine, three drachms;

Camphorated Oil, nine drachms:

Mix for a Liniment. For an adult, four drachms of the former, and eight of the latter, may be used. If the child be young, or if the skin be very tender, the camphorated oil may be used without the turpentine.

[259]. Wilson, on Healthy Skin.

[260]. Rain water ought always to be used in the washing of a child; pump-water is likely to chap the skin, and to make it both rough and irritable.

[261]. Sometimes, if the child’s skin be very irritable, the glycerin requires diluting with water—say, two ounces of glycerin to be mixed in a bottle with four ounces of spring water—the bottle to be well shaken just before using it.

[262]. One frequent, if not the most frequent, cause of tape-worm is the eating of pork, more especially if it be underdone. Underdone pork is the most unwholesome food that can be eaten, and is the most frequent cause of tape-worm known. Underdone beef also gives tape-worm; let the meat, therefore, be well and properly cooked. These facts ought to be borne in mind, as prevention is always better than cure.

[263]. The Grocer.

[264]. Shakspeare.

[265]. Tennyson.

[266]. Every house where there are children ought to have one of these india-rubber hot water bottles. It may be procured at any respectable vulcanized india-rubber warehouse.

[267]. South’s Household Surgery.

[268]. “It has been computed that upwards of 1000 children are annually burned to death by accident in England.”

[269]. The cotton wool here recommended is that purposely made for surgeons, and is of a superior quality to that in general use.

[270]. If there be no other lard in the house but lard with salt, the salt may be readily removed by washing the lard in cold water. Prepared lard—that is to say, lard without salt—can, at any moment, be procured from the nearest druggist in the neighborhood.

[271]. See the Lancet for October 10th, 17th, and 24th, 1840.

[272]. A stick of pointed nitrate of silver, in a case, ready for use, may be procured of any respectable chemist.

[273]. Which may be instantly procured of a druggist, as he always keeps it ready prepared.

[274]. A Bee-master. The Times, July 28, 1864.

[275]. Shaw’s Medical Remembrancer, by Hutchinson.

[276]. A tepid bath from 62 to 96 degrees of Fahrenheit.

[277]. A warm bath from 97 to 100 degrees of Fahrenheit.

[278]. Health. By John Brown, M.D. Edinburgh: Alexander Strahan & Co.

[279]. Several years ago, while prosecuting my anatomical studies in London University College Dissecting-rooms, on opening a young woman, I discovered an immense indentation of the liver large enough to admit a rolling-pin, entirely produced by tight lacing!

[280]. Dryden.

[281]. Sir W. Temple.

[282]. Goldsmith’s Essays.

[283]. Geoffry Hamlyn. By H. Kingsley.

[284]. Proverbs, xx. 29.

[285]. “I would have given him, Captain Fleming, had he been my son,” quoth old Pearson the elder, “such a good sound drubbing as he never would have forgotten—never!”

“Pooh! pooh! my good sir. Don’t tell me. Never saw flogging in the navy do good. Kept down brutes; never made a man yet.”—Dr. Norman Macleod in Good Words, May, 1861.

[286]. The Birmingham Journal.

[287]. A Woman’s Thoughts about Women.

[288]. If a girl has an abundance of good nourishment, the school-mistress must, of course, be remunerated for the necessary and costly expense; and how this can be done on the paltry sum charged at cheap boarding-schools? It is utterly impossible! The school-mistress will live, even if the girls be half-starved. And what are we to expect from poor and insufficient nourishment to a fast-growing girl, and at the time of life, remember, when she requires an extra quantity of good sustaining, supporting food? A poor girl, from such treatment, becomes either consumptive or broken down in constitution, and from which she never recovers, but drags out a miserable existence. A cheap boarding-school is dear at any price.

[289]. A horse-hair mattress should always be preferred to a feather bed. It is not only better for the health, but it improves the figure.

[290]. Spare Hours. By John Brown, M.D., F.R.S.E.

[291]. Household Verses on Health and Happiness. London: Jarrold and Sons.

[292]. Hurdis’s Village Curate.

[293]. Shakspeare.

[294]. Todd’s Student’s Guide.

[295]. Sir Astley Cooper’s Lectures on Scrofula.

[296]. I. Chronicles, xxi. 13.

[297]. A. K. H. B., Fraser’s Magazine, October, 1861.

[298]. Shakspeare.

[299]. The Times, May 16, 1867.

[300]. Winter in the South of Europe. By J. Henry Bennett. Third Edition. London: Churchill and Sons, 1865.

[301]. A wineglassful of barm, a wineglassful of vinegar, and the remaining sage tea, to make a half-pint bottle of gargle.

[302]. December 10, 1864.

[303]. Shakspeare knew the great importance of not crowding around a patient who has fainted. He says:

“So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons;

Come all to help him, and so stop the air

By which he should revive.”

Measure for Measure, Act ii. sc. 4.

[304]. For the best way of stewing prunes, see page [1258].

[305]. Professor Trousseau in Medical Circular, Feb. 5, 1862.

[306]. Exodus, v. 12.

[307]. Wilson on Healthy Skin.

[308]. Four poppy-heads and four ounces of chamomile blows to be boiled in four pints of water for half an hour, and then to be strained to make the fomentation.

[309]. Cut a piece of bread, about the size of the little finger—without breaking it into crumb—pour boiling hot milk upon it, cover it over, and let it stand for five minutes, then apply the soaked bread over the gum-boil, letting it rest between the cheek and the gum.

[310]. As long as fashion, instead of common sense, is followed in the making of both boots and shoes, men and women will as a matter of course suffer from corns.

It has often struck me as singular, when all the professions and trades are so overstocked, that there should be, as there is in every large town, such a want of chiropodists (corn-cutters)—of respectable chiropodists—of men who would charge a fixed sum for every visit the patient may make; for instance, to every working-man a shilling, and to every gentleman half a crown or five shillings for each sitting, and not for each corn (which latter system is a most unsatisfactory way of doing business). I am quite sure that if such a plan were adopted, every town of any size in the kingdom would employ regularly one chiropodist at least. However we might dislike some few of the American customs, we may copy them with advantage in this particular—namely, in having a regular staff of chiropodists both in civil and in military life.

[311]. Youth—Ablution, page [1321].

[312]. A very small quantity of pure nitric acid—just a drain at the bottom of a stoppered bottle—is all that is needed, and which may be procured of a chemist.

[313]. Dublin University Magazine.

[314]. The Round Table.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

  1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
  2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
  3. Reindexed footnotes using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.
  4. Renumbered pages “Advice to a Mother” by adding 1000.