I was very lately called to see an infant which was said to be expiring in convulsion fits. I desired the mother to strip the child, and wrap it in a loose covering. It had no more convulsion fits.
[19]. I have often known people so imposed upon, as to give an infant to a nurse to be suckled who had not one drop of milk in her breast.
[20]. If a mother on visiting her child at nurse find it always asleep, I would advise her to remove it immediately; otherwise it will soon sleep its last.
[21]. Armstrong.
[22]. When persons heated with labour have drank cold liquor, they ought to continue at work for some time after.
[23]. It is indeed to be regretted, that soldiers suffer not less from indolence and intemperance in time of peace, than from hardships in time of war. If men are idle they will be vicious. It would therefore be of great importance, could a scheme be formed for rendering the military, in times of peace, both more healthy and more useful. These desirable objects might, in our opinion, be obtained, by employing them for some hours every day, and advancing their pay accordingly. By this means, idleness, the mother of vice, might be prevented, the price of labour lowered, public works, as harbours, canals, turnpike roads, &c. might be made without hurting manufactures; and soldiers might be enabled to marry, and bring up children. A scheme of this kind might easily be conducted, so as not to depress the martial spirit, provided the men were only to work four or five hours every day, and always to work without doors: no soldier should be suffered to work too long, or to follow any sedentary employment. Sedentary employments render men weak and effeminate, quite unfit for the hardships of war: whereas working for a few hours every day without doors would inure them to the weather, brace their nerves, and increase their strength and courage.
[24]. Our countryman, the celebrated Captain Cook, has shewn how far, by proper care and attention, the diseases formerly so fatal to seamen may be prevented. In a voyage of three years and eighteen days, during which he was exposed to every climate, from the 52° north to the 71° of south latitude, of one hundred and eighteen men composing the ship’s company, he lost only one, who died of a phthisis pulmonalis. The principal means he used were, to preserve a strict attention to cleanliness, to procure abundance of vegetables and fresh provisions, especially good water, and to allow his people sufficient time for rest.
[25]. The appellation of sedentary has generally been given only to the studious; we can see no reason, however, for restricting it to them alone. Many artificers may, with as much propriety, be denominated sedentary as the studious, with this particular disadvantage, that they are often obliged to sit in very awkward postures, which the studious need not do, unless they please.
[26]. A person of observation in that line of life told me, that most taylors die of consumptions; which he attributed chiefly to the unfavourable postures in which they sit, and the unwholesomeness of those places where their business is carried on. If more attention was not paid to profit than to the preservation of human lives, this evil might be easily remedied; but while masters only mind their own interest, nothing will be done for the safety of their servants.
[27]. The poor, indeed, are generally the first who suffer by unsound provisions; but the lives of the labouring poor are of great importance to the state: besides, diseases occasioned by unwholesome food often prove infectious, by which means they reach people in every station. It is therefore the interest of all to take care that no spoilt provisions of any kind be exposed to sale.