The two former authors merely testify to the fact of diseases being produced by the milk, while the latter more explicitly mentions the cause from which they proceed.
Debility, Tabes Mesenterica, and Scrofula, may also be traced to the same origin, as every practitioner of experience must have repeatedly observed: so may that intractable disease, termed Rickets; and it is worthy of notice, that among the worst instances of this malady I have seen, were two sisters, who had been suckled for a very unusual period. Neither do I doubt the probability of Epilepsy being similarly occasioned; and although, I must candidly own, I cannot produce numerous cases in proof of the correctness of such hypothesis, yet I recollect that of a girl affected with this complaint, respecting whom the mother stated (and I recorded the fact at the time) that she had been 'suckled for two years;' and, to use her own expression, had 'never been well since.'[O]
Convulsions arising from protracted suckling, or simply from the nurse's milk becoming deteriorated at any period, are very common, and I have kept notes of many such cases that have occurred in the course of my own practice; which, however, I abstain from here inserting, being anxious to prevent the present publication from swelling into a volume. Indeed, the occurrence of convulsions from this cause (diseased milk) has been mentioned by several of the best authors. Mr. North, in particular, (whose excellent work on Convulsions should be in the hands of every practitioner) observes—'It cannot be doubted that children suffer, that their health is destroyed, and the foundation laid for convulsive diseases, by sucking unhealthy nurses.' 'A predisposition to convulsive affections in children may be originally produced in consequence of their being suckled by a nurse addicted to the frequent use of spirituous liquors. In several instances I have known children rapidly recover their health when the nurse was changed, who had exhibited most of the premonitory symptoms of convulsions while they were suckled by a woman who indulged in the common vice of gin-drinking.' And Mr. Burns also makes the following remark—'Violent passions of the mind affect the milk still more;—it often becomes thin and yellowish, and causes colic, or even fits.' It is needless, however, to say more on this topic, since it is one which no longer admits of discussion.
The reader may now, perhaps, expect that I shall introduce a series of practical deductions from the foregoing facts and observations; but such is not my object upon the present occasion. I merely wish to call the attention of practitioners and the public to the subject of these pages, and shall thus discharge, as I conceive, an imperative duty to society. Having mentioned what I am induced to consider a frequent cause of inflammation of the investing membranes of the brain in children, my undertaking is completed. The Profession does not require, and the public would not be benefited, by the addition of lengthened therapeutical rules; for I am convinced, there is not a greater imposition to be found than the doctrine that non-medical persons can treat diseases with success by means of popular systems of medicine, 'practical' treatises, &c. Such books have often done irreparable mischief—certainly much more harm than good; and so far from injuring the profits of medical practitioners (as some appear to suppose), have greatly added to the number of their patients.
I avail myself also of this opportunity to enter my protest against the ill-judged and mischievous practice of those patients who confide upon many occasions in the opinion of their nurse, rather than that of their medical attendant, and who, in consequence, often injure themselves essentially by deceiving the latter. With respect to this mistaken preference, Dr. Dewes has well observed—'Let it not be hastily assumed that there is more safety in following the directions of a nurse than those of the physician, because she may have had some experience; for it must be quickly perceived that the calculation is much in favour of the latter, since the nurse can attend but twelve patients per annum, while the physician may visit many hundreds in the same period—besides, his knowledge of the laws of the human system gives him a very decided superiority.'
In conclusion, it is right to observe, that protracted suckling being a custom much more prevalent among females of the lower orders than those of a superior rank, it must follow as a necessary consequence, that Meningitis, and other disorders resulting from this cause, are proportionably less frequent in private than in public practice. This remark, it is evident, should be remembered, in order to obviate apparent discrepancies which otherwise might appear irreconcilable with the opinions I have expressed. In the truth of those opinions I feel the most perfect confidence, and cannot but hope that their promulgation will hereafter prove extensively beneficial, since precautionary, and even therapeutical measures may be founded upon them, which, if uniformly adopted, will not only prevent much ill-health and suffering to mothers, but will also afford the means of saving many children from perishing by one of the most painful and fatal diseases to which they are subject.
POSTSCRIPT.
Being anxious to obtain additional evidence with respect to the production of Meningitis in children by protracted suckling, rather from the experience of others than my own, I shall feel greatly obliged to any practitioners who will favour me (free of postage) with either facts or cases tending to corroborate the truth of the doctrine contained in the preceding pages; and should I be enabled publicly to avail myself of such communications, it is, perhaps, unnecessary to say, I shall not neglect the opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments to their respective authors. The intelligence and liberality characterising the members of the medical profession generally, preclude all apprehension on my part that the above appeal will be made in vain.