A practical treatise on the management and diseases of children / by R.T. Evanson and H. Maunsell.

  • Evanson, Richard Tonson, 1799?-
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on the management and diseases of children / by R.T. Evanson and H. Maunsell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    The length of the body varies from about one foot and a half to a little less than two feet. Baudelocque states sixteen inches,, and twenty-two (or at most twenty-three) inches, as the extreme limits. The average weight is about six to seven pounds and a half; more has been assigned, but is not common; six pounds is by far the most common weight, according to Camus^s Tables. The skin is thin, tender, and of a reddish hue; but covered at birth with a whitish unctuous matter, called vernix ca^eosa. There is some hair upon the scalp, and the nails reach to the ends of the fingers: the articulations are commoidy flexed, the limbs round, and the body plump. The relative dimensions of various parts differ materially from those observed in after life. The lower extremities are less deve- loped than the upper; the median point,—that lying midway be- tween the two extremes of tlie body—being found at the navel, or a line or two below it. The pelvis in the infant is small and con- tracted, being less developed in proportion than the chest, wdiich is flattened at the sides, but prominent in front; while the abdomen and head present dimensions, not only very large in comparison with the other cavities, but also as compared with their own dimen- sions in after life. The newly ])orn infant possesses little power of motion; none of independent support. Sensation and perception are dull or absent. Its cries and movements may be looked on as involuntary—its search for food is instinctive. One third of its time is chiefly oc- cupied in taking nourishment, the remainder is passed in sleep. Peculiarities not less striking or important, arrest our attention, on turning to the consideration of the internal organs; and these we shall briefly notice in succession, commencing with those of organic life, as being first called into action; and of these the diges- tive organs naturally claim precedence, and will be found in a high state of development. II. DIGESTIVE ORGANS. The mouth of the infant is fully formed, and in certain respects particularly adapted to the performance of its proper office of suc- tion, as wc see in the disjiosition of the pahite and lips, and the obli- quity of the posterior nares; yet ap]iearing to l)e imperfect from tlie 3
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