Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Let the spine and the chest be well rubbed every night and morning either with Roche's Embrocation, or with the following stimulating liniment (first shaking the bottle):—

Take of—Oil of Cloves, one drachm;
Oil of Amber, two drachms;
Camphorated Oil, nine drachms:

Make a Liniment.

Let him wear a broad band of new flannel, which should extend round from his chest to his back, and which ought to be changed every night and morning, in order that it may be dried before putting on again. To keep it in its place it should be fastened by means of tapes and with shoulder-straps.

The diet ought now to be improved—he should gradually return to his usual food; and, weather permitting, should almost live in the open air—fresh air being, in such a case, one of the finest medicines.

In the third stage, that is to say, when the complaint has lasted a month, if by that time the child is not well, there is nothing like change of air to a high, dry, healthy, country place. Continue the Nitric Acid Mixture, and either the Embrocation or the Liniment to the back and the chest, and let him continue to almost live in the open air, and be sure that he does not discontinue wearing the flannel until he be quite cured, and then let it be left off by degrees.

If the hooping-cough have caused debility, give him Cod-liver Oil—a tea-spoonful twice or three times a day, giving it him on a full stomach, after his meals. But, remember, after the first three or four weeks, change of air, and plenty of it, is for hooping-cough the grand remedy.

What NOT to do.—"Do not apply leeches to the chest, for I would rather put blood into a child labouring under hooping-cough than take it out of him—hooping-cough is quite weakening enough to the system of itself without robbing him of his life's blood; do not, on any account whatever, administer either emetic tartar or antimonial wine; do not give either paregoric or syrup of white poppies; do not drug him either with calomel or with grey-powder; do not dose him with quack medicine; do not give him stimulants, but rather give him plenty of nourishment, such as milk and farinaceous food, but no stimulants; do not be afraid, after the first week or two, of his having fresh air, and plenty of it—for fresh, pure air is the grand remedy, after all that can be said and done, in hooping-cough. Although occasionally we find that, if the child to labouring under hooping-cough, and is breathing a pure country air, and is not getting well so rapidly as we could wish, change of air to a smoky gas-laden town will sometimes quickly effect a cure; indeed, some persons go so far as to say that the best remedy for an obstinate case of hooping-cough is, for the child to live, the great part of every day, in gas-works!"

236. What is to be done during a paroxysm of Hooping-cough?

If the child be old enough, let him stand up; but if he be either too young or too feeble, raise his head, and bend his body a little forward; then support his back with one hand, and the forehead with the other. Let the mucus, the moment it be within reach, be wiped with a soft handkerchief out of his mouth.