The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother

by George H. Napheys

The treatment in these cases consists in quieting the alarm of the child if it be frightened, and in applying cold water or pounded ice to the nose and forehead and to the back of the neck. It is because of its coldness that the key placed down the back, as so commonly advised in domestic practice, does good.

An exaggerated idea of the amount of blood lost is often a cause of distress to parents. They forget that the child has been bleeding in a vessel of water, and that a very little blood darkly colors a large quantity of water.

Bleeding from the nose is sometimes a favorable symptom, as when it occurs during a fever, or when in girls approaching womanhood it precedes the expected signs of puberty. It is an unfavorable symptom, however, in scrofulous children and in girls affected with green-sickness, as in these instances it aggravates the existing disorders.

In those rare cases of protracted bleeding which resist the remedies we have mentioned, it may be necessary for the surgeon to plug the nostrils, both in front and at their opening into the throat.

This extreme measure is fortunately scarcely ever called for, and can only be carried out by the physician.

WORMS.

Children are often thought to have worms when entirely free from them. There is hardly a symptom of any disease which has not been supposed by some to be a sign of the presence of worms. A child suffering from some other complaint is, therefore, not unfrequently dosed with vermifuges to its injury. We can give the mother one symptom of worms which is infallible. It is the only one upon which she can rely, namely, the detection of worms in the stools of the child. Until these expelled intruders are actually found she should be slow to believe that the child is thus affected, and still slower to give worm medicine. Before beginning treatment, let the mother wait until the need of it is made out by the result of the examination we have mentioned.

The treatment of the ordinary worms to which children are subject is simple and usually speedily efficacious. Commence with a dose of Epsom salts, of magnesia, or of cream of tartar, as may be preferred. The next day administer a vermifuge, of which the best and pleasantest is santonine. Obtain from the druggist three or four three-grain powders of this medicine. Give the half or the whole of one of these powders, according to the age of the child, at bed-time. The next morning administer a purgative dose of oil or salts. Repeat this treatment every other day until three doses of santonine have been taken. Or, from two to six grains, according to the age of the patient, may be dissolved in two table-spoonsful of castor-oil, and a tea-spoonful given every hour until it operates.

An excellent domestic remedy for worms, one which was a great favorite with the celebrated Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, is common salt. For a child two or three years old, the proper dose is a tea-spoonful mixed in a wine-glassful of water. When the child can be got to take it in sufficient quantity, this remedy is a very efficient one.

Most cases of supposed worms in children are best treated by regulating the diet, by attention to the air and exercise of the child, by warm baths, and by endeavoring to improve the appetite, the digestion, and the strength. The food should be plain and unirritating (bread, milk, rice, arrowroot, chicken, lamb or mutton broth, beef-tea, mutton chop, young chicken); the meals should be taken in smaller quantities than usual, and at regular intervals. Sweets and confectionery should be forbidden, and but few vegetables permitted for awhile. A perseverance in this regimen for a short time will usually cure the little patient without the necessity of resorting to any vermifuge.