The Physical Training of Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

A mother or a nurse ought always, before administering a dose of medicine to a child, to read the label on the bottle; by adopting this simple plan many serious accidents and much after-misery might be averted. Again, I say let every lotion, every liniment, and indeed everything for external use, be either locked up or be put out of the way, and far away from all medicine that is given by the mouth. This advice admits of no exception.

If your child has swallowed a portion of a liniment containing opium, instantly send for a medical man. In the mean time, force a strong mustard emetic (composed of two teaspoonfuls of flour of mustard, mixed in half a teacupful of warm water) down his throat. Encourage the vomiting by afterward forcing him to swallow warm water. Tickle the throat either with your finger or with a feather. Souse him alternately in a hot and then in a cold bath. Dash cold water on his head and face. Throw open the windows. Walk him about in the open air. Rouse him by slapping him, by pinching him, and by shouting to him; rouse him, indeed, by every means in your power, for if you allow him to go to sleep, it will, in all probability, be the sleep that knows no waking!

If a child has swallowed “hartshorn and oil,” force him to drink vinegar and water, lemon-juice and water, barley-water, and thin gruel.

If he have swallowed a lead lotion, give him a mustard emetic, and then vinegar and water, sweetened either with honey or with sugar, to drink.

283. Are not Lucifer Matches poisonous?

Certainly, they are very poisonous; it is therefore desirable that they should be put out of the reach of children. A mother ought to be very strict with servants on this head. Moreover, lucifer matches are not only poisonous but dangerous, as a child might set himself on fire with them. A case bearing on the subject has just come under my own observation. A little boy, three years old, was left alone for two or three minutes, during which time he obtained possession of a lucifer match, and struck a light by striking the match against the wall. Instantly there was a blaze. Fortunately for him, in his fright, he threw the match on the floor. His mother, at this moment, entered the room. If his clothes had taken fire, which they might have done, had he not thrown the match away, or if his mother had not been so near at hand, he would, in all probability, have either been severely burned, or have been burned to death.

284. If a child’s clothes take fire, what ought to be done to extinguish them?

Lay him on the floor, then roll him either in the rug or in the carpet, or in the door-mat, or in any thick article of dress you may either have on, or have at hand—if it be woolen, so much the better; or throw him down, and roll him over and over on the floor, as by excluding the atmospheric air, the flame will go out; hence, the importance of a mother cultivating presence of mind. If parents were better prepared for such emergencies, such horrid disfigurations and frightful deaths would be less frequent.

You ought to have a proper fire-guard before the nursery grate, and should be strict in not allowing your child to play with fire. If he still persevere in playing with it when he has been repeatedly cautioned not to do so, he should be punished for his temerity. If anything would justify corporal chastisement, it would surely be such an act of disobedience. There are only two acts of disobedience that I would flog a child for—namely, the playing with fire and the telling of a lie! If after various warnings and wholesome corrections he still persists, it would be well to let him slightly taste the pain of his doing so, either by holding his hand for a moment very near the fire, or by allowing him to slightly touch either the hot bar of the grate or the flame of the candle. Take my word for it, the above plan will effectually cure him—he will never do it again! It would be well for the children of the poor to have pinafores made either of woolen or of stuff materials. The dreadful deaths from burning, which so often occur in winter, too frequently arise from cotton pinafores first taking fire. “It has been computed that upwards of 1000 children are annually burned to death by accident in England.”

If all dresses, after being washed, and just before being dried, were, for a short time, soaked in a solution of tungstate of soda, such clothes, when dried, would be perfectly fire-proof.