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.

    51/504 page 39
    CHAPTER III. MANAGEMENT AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDEEN. In the consideration of tlie subject of this chapter, we shall adopt the division already made, into the two epochs of infancy and cliildhood; and will, therefore, first proceed to consider the management of the infant directly after its birth. I. MANAGEMENT IMMEDIATELY AFTER BIRTH WASHING AND DRESSING. Let US suppose a healthy cliild to be placed in our hands im- mediately after birth ; the duty of the accoucheur having been duly performed, any mucus, or other matter likely to obstruct its breath- ing, has been removed from its mouth, and the cord has been tied and divided at the distance of three or four inches from its navel. The young being will be observed to cry stoutly, and to move its limbs in such a manner as forcibly to convey to us the impression that it is suffering pain, which we can readily account for, when we recollect that it has experienced a sudden transition of temperature, from the heat of the mother^'s body, about 98^, to that of the atmos- phere, which, at the highest, will seldom exceed 70°. The pro- duction of pain, however, is but a necessary consequence of the access of air to the surface of the body; which in itself is highly beneficial, exercising, as we learn from the higenious reseaches of Dr. Edwards,^ a vivifying influence, well calcidated to counteract the greater or lesser degree of insensibility induced by the pressure to wliicli the brain is subjected during birth. The pain, also, by (jxciting the infant to cry, contributes materially to the perfect fiUiiig of the lungs with air; the non-eflecting of which, as we shall sub- sequently find, is not unfre(|uently attended by fatal results. 8uch * Dr. Edwards on the Inliuciiee of Tliysical Agents on Lite-. Translated by ])oet()r,s Ilod^rkin and Kislicr.
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