A practical treatise on the management and diseases of children / by Richard T. Evanson and Henry Maunsell.
- Evanson, Richard Tonson, 1800-1871.
- Date:
- 1843
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A practical treatise on the management and diseases of children / by Richard T. Evanson and Henry Maunsell. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![and essential for the preservation of health ; the necessity of remov- hi- from the body of the child, any obstructions to it which might be^'offered by the adhesion of extraneous matters, must be sufficiently obvious. The beneficial action of the physical agents upon the sys- tem (of which we shall again speak), as these agents must act through the medium of the skin, leads us to infer a similar necessity. The accumulation of impurities upon the surface will also be ob- served to produce very distressing excoriations, and even permanent cutaneous diseases, which, when once established, are often with difficulty removed. With these considerations in view, we therefore feel authorised to advance the dogma, that too much attention cannot be paid to the subject of cleanliness, during both periods of child- hood. The infant's body, we have already stated, requires to be carefully washed immediately after birth ; and the same operation should be performed daily, until the child becomes old enough to attend to its own comforts. Washing should at first be performed with warm water and a fine sponge, — taking care, in the early periods, that no exposure be permitted long enough to produce an impression of cold. As the infant grows stronger, and when the weather is warm, we may gradually lessen the temperature of the water, until at length it may be used nearly quite cold. It is better, however, for the rea- sons assigned in p. 32, to be in no hurry about employing a perfectly cold bath; and under any circumstances, we would not recommend water to be used without allowing it to remain in the nursery, during the night, in order that it may so acquire a slight increase of tempera- ture.'^ It is not necessary to use soap, except with parts of the body (as the hands and arms) which are particularly exposed to the re- ception of impurities ; even with these it should only occasionally be employed. Brown soap is better than white, as being less likely to cause cracking of the skin, which is often a source of much annoy- ance to the child. In all cases, great care should be taken to dry the surface well with a soft napkin, especially where there are folds of the skin, as between the nates, on the front of the neck, arm-pits, &c. A neglect of this precaution will be sure to occasion excoriation, and often troublesome sores. To make matters more secure, we shall do well in fat children, after careful drying, to dust the skin, in such situations, with some fine dry powder, as hair powder, or starch ^ [Great caution must be observed in the use of a cold bath for a young child. If the infant be feeble, or from any cause debilitated, a * perfectly cold bath,' or even one ' nearly quite cold,' will be liable to produce decided injury. In young children, even of a perfectly robust constitution, if from any cause the surface of their bodies have become chilled, or they are at the time labouring under the effects of fatigue, immersing them in cold water is rather a dangerous experiment. Of so doubtful propriety, indeed, is the cold bath in cases of children generally, and so many circumstances occur to render its use alto- gether improper, that we should in all cases, especially during in- fancy and early childhood, prefer the tepid or warm bath. — C]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21118346_0050.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
