Hydropathic aphorisms : the simple treatment of disease contrasted with medicinal abuses, or, The why and wherefore of the water cure / by John Balbirnie.

  • John Balbirnie
Date:
[1856]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hydropathic aphorisms : the simple treatment of disease contrasted with medicinal abuses, or, The why and wherefore of the water cure / by John Balbirnie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    291/300 (page 279)
    meiit auil steady proseciitiou of strict mental and moral chscipliiie, IS the tbuiulatiou of all future excellence of cha- racter. These priuciples of management apply, mutafis mutandis to the guulauce of the subseciuent periods of childhood and youth. CHILDHOOD. CXI. Its diet must be proportioned to the strength and stature, the amount of exercise, and tlie vigour of the digestive powers. Excess of nourishment is far less baneful tlian defect. Insufficient diet, or a faulty digestion elabo- rating a depraved nourishment from a liberal tUet, lays the loundation of scrofula, cachexia, the leuco-])hlegmatic tem- perament, and the tubercular diathesis. Too much animal food, nor even excessive meals, uo wise ])arent will give. In this way the stomach and bowels are overloaded, the elements ot tever and inflammation are generated, and the foundation laid, if he escapes their attack, for a career of incorrigible gluttony. In a child of sound constitution, and robust health, with active habits, sprightly disposition, and buoyant :^pinfs, the natural dictates of appetite may be consulted, and a mixed diet of animal and vegetable food given - always with a g:-eat preponderance of the latter. If symptoms of repletion or plethora ensue—if there be febrile irritation, furred tongue, irregular bowels-then let the supplies be cut off, and animal food for a time withdrawn. In tender and weakly children, less active exercise can be taken ; and Uie diet that nourished the former would overload the latter. Tlie food, must, therefore, be proportionetl to the constitu- tion, habits, exercise, &c., of the little patient. As the frame acquires strength, the quality of the food must be enriched: a generous diet of animal food is necessary for rapid growth. The Water Cure measures will invigorate the constitution, so as to enable him to digest a sufficient nutriment, and shield liim alike from the baneful consequences of dietetic errors or accidental diseases. CXII. Ch Idren should be constantly in the open aLrinfine jv eather, and their gambols freely encouraged, with sufficient intervals of rest. Long and fatiguing walks are objec- tionable. CXUI. The shoes of children (as of all otiiers, did fashion