Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

259. My child, in the summer time, is much tormented with fleas: what are the best remedies?

A small muslin bag, filled with camphor, placed in the cot or bed, will drive fleas away. Each flea-bite should, from time to time, be dressed by means of a camel's hair brush, with a drop or two of Spirit of Camphor; an ounce bottle of which ought, for the purpose, to be procured from a chemist. Camphor is also an excellent remedy to prevent bugs from biting. Bugs and fleas have a horror of camphor; and well they might, for it is death to them!

There is a famous remedy for the destruction of fleas manufactured in France, entitled "La Poudre Insecticide," which, although perfectly harmless to the human economy, is utterly destructive to fleas. Bugs are best destroyed either by Creosote or by oil of Turpentine: the places they do love to congregate in should be well saturated by means of a brush, with the creosote or with the oil of turpentine. A few dressings will effectually destroy both them and their young ones.

260. Is not the pulse a great sign either of health or of disease?

It is, and every mother should have a general idea of what the pulse of children of different ages should be both in health and in disease. "Every person should know how to ascertain the state of the pulse in health; then, by comparing it with what it is when he is ailing, he may have some idea of the urgency of his case. Parents should know the healthy pulse of each child, since now and then a person is born with a peculiarly slow or fast pulse, and the very case in hand may be of such peculiarity. An infant's pulse is 140, a child of seven about 80, and from 20 to 60 years it is 70 beats a minute, declining to 60 at fourscore. A healthful grown person beats 70 times in a minute, declining to 60 at fourscore. At 60, if the pulse always exceeds 70, there is a disease; the machine working itself out, there is a fever or inflammation somewhere, and the body is feeding on itself, as in consumption, when the pulse is quick."

261. Suppose a child to have had an attack either of inflammation of the lungs or of bronchitis, and to be much predisposed to a return: what precautions would you take to prevent either the one or the other for the future?

I would recommend him to wear fine flannel instead of lawn shirts; to wear good lamb's-wool stockings above the knees, and good, strong, dry shoes to his feet; to live, weather permitting, a great part of every day in the open air; to strengthen his system by good nourishing food—by an abundance of both milk and meat (the former especially); to send him, in the autumn, for a couple of months, to the sea-side; to administer to him, from time to time, cod-liver oil; in short, to think only of his health, and to let learning, until he be stronger, be left alone. I also advise either table salt or bay salt, or Tidman's Sea Salt, to be added to the water in which the child is washed with in the morning, in a similar manner as recommended in answer to a previous question.

262. Then do you not advise such a child to be confined within doors?

If any inflammation be present, or if he have but just recovered from one, it would be improper to send him into the open air, but not otherwise, as the fresh air would be a likely means of strengthening the lungs, and thereby of preventing an attack of inflammation for the future. Besides, the more a child is coddled within doors, the more likely will he be to catch cold, and to renew the inflammation. If the weather be cold, yet neither wet nor damp, he ought to be sent out, but let him be well clothed; and the nurse should have strict injunctions not to stand about entries or in any draughts—indeed, not to stand about at all, but to keep walking about all the time she is in the open air. Unless you have a trustworthy nurse, it will be well for you either to accompany her in her walk with your child, or merely to allow her to walk with him in the garden, as you can then keep your eye upon both of them.

263. If a child be either chicken-breasted, or if he be narrow-chested, are there any means of expanding and of strengthening his chest?