Treatise on the physiological and moral management of infancy ... / [Andrew Combe].

  • Andrew Combe
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Treatise on the physiological and moral management of infancy ... / [Andrew Combe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/184
    of-frequently referring to its pages for information when wanted, they fancied they had fulfilled their part by merely once reading it through ; and on this assumption they proceeded thenceforth to act on their own vague recollections of what it contained, as if these had been true and accurate transcripts of the book itself. Xo fancy, however, could be more erroneous or delusive than this. The subjects treated of embrace so many important facts and principles of action, which are compara- tively new to the general reader, that it is only by their careful and repeated study, and, in time of need, turning again and again to the pages in which they are explained, that a mother can expect to become really familiar with them, or able to apply them with ease and judgment to the many purposes for which they are adapted. It is only, indeed, by pursuing a similar course, that professional men themselves acquire that ready command of their knowledge which, enables them at once to de- cide what ought to be done in any emergency, but without which they would be as apt to err as any ignorant parent; and surely the interest of a mother in her own offspring, ought to be as strong an incentive to her to qualify herself for her arduous task, as experience proves a love of science or a sense of duty to be in the case of the practitioner. As already remarked in the preface to my work on Diet, to read merely as one reads a novel or a newspaper, can be productive of but little solid or permanent advantage; and therefore, while I value highly the grateful tribute implied in endeavouring to act (it may be, in silence) upon the principles I have unfolded, I feel indifferent to even the most eloquent and laboured eulogium, when it is not accompanied by those practical results which are the best guarantees of its sincerity. I am the more anxious to enforce this view, because manv will, I believe, read with increased interest and advantage, after their attention has i been thus directed in the very outset to the true aim and character of ■ the work. Here I cannot resist the opportunity of expressing m}r grateful ac- knowledgments to Dr John Bell of Philadelphia, for the time and 1 trouble which, amidst many pressing avocations, lie so kindly and disin- terestedly bestowed, not merely in superintending the re-publication of this work in the United States, but in enriching it with many valu- able notes, for the purpose of adapting it more completely to the domestic habits and wants of the Transatlantic public. To Dr Blicker of Copenhagen I am also indebted for its appearance in a Danish trans- lation. Edinburgh, June 1847. NOTE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. As Editor of the Posthumous Editions of Dr Combe's works, I find that, in consequence of the thorougn revisal which the last edition ot this treatise ie- ceived from the Author himself shortly before his death, no alteration or en- largement of it is at present necessary. This seventh edition is therefore an exact reprint of the sixth. James Coxe, M.D. Edinburgh, April 1850.
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image