LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
MDCCCXXXI.
LONDON:
Printed by William Clowes,
Stamford Street.
TO
Sir HENRY HALFORD, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., F.A.S.,
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON,
PHYSICIAN TO THE KING, &c. &c.
THE FOLLOWING PAGES
ARE,
WITH HIS PERMISSION,
AND WITH
A GRATEFUL SENSE OF THE HONOUR THUS CONFERRED UPON THEIR
AUTHOR, MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
Several cases which I witnessed led me to believe, some years ago, that inflammation of the brain, or its membranes, might be produced in children, owing to their being suckled for an undue length of time. Since that period, having enjoyed opportunities of observing infantile diseases on a much more extended scale, and my attention being expressly directed to the point in question, I not only became fully convinced of the correctness of my previous conclusions, but was induced to carry them still farther.
My opinions on this subject were briefly drawn up and published in the Medical and Physical Journal for August 1827, and have not passed altogether unnoticed by my professional brethren[1], some of whom have done me the honour to speak of them in flattering terms, while no one, I believe, has attempted to disprove the existence of the important fact I was the first to announce.