The diseases of children, medical and surgical / by Henry Ashby and G.A. Wright.

  • Henry Ashby
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of children, medical and surgical / by Henry Ashby and G.A. Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    infancy. The Romans used the word infans in its widest sense, and though, as its derivation implies, it was originally applied to those who could not speak, it came to be employed by them for children of much older years. The term infancy, premiere enfance, or Sduglingsperiode, is most usually applied to the first seven or eight months of life, the time during which the infant is nursed at the breast and before the eruption of the milk-teeth. It is, however, used by some writers to include the whole of the first year. Within the first week or two of life the infant has often to contend with con- ditions which are peculiar to this period, inasmuch as they depend in one way or another on the act of birth. It may be bom asphyxiated in conse- quence of strangulation by the cord, or pressure on the head, or various injuries producing hsematomas may take place ; or there may be septic in- fection in connection with the umbilical cord. The change from placental alimentation to the digestion of food in the infant’s stomach is a time of peculiar danger, especially if artificial food is given, and the mortality of infants is much greater during the first week of life than at any other period. During the first few months of infancy life is not so purely vegetative as it is during the intra-uterine period, yet the mental faculties are in abeyance and the movements mostly involuntary or reflex. One consequence of the undeveloped condition of the higher or inhibitory centres is that the reflex centres are less under control than in later years, so that disorderly reflex movements in the form of convulsions are liable to take place on the slightest provocation. Growth at this period is extremely rapid, the weight more than doubling itself during the first six months of life, and a great strain is thus thrown on the alimentary system ; the lymphatic and blood-forming organs are also exceedingly active. It is not surprising there- fore that the diseases which are most common and fatal at this period are those connected with digestion and absorption. The infant requires much rest, and indeed divides its time for the most part between feeding and sleeping. It is during this period that ‘wasting,’ ‘marasmus,’ or ‘ atrophy’ is so common, a result of chronic catarrh of the intestinal tract and a consequent impairment of the digestive organs. Childhood The eruption of the milk-teeth marks an epoch in early life, the term childhood being applied to the period commencing with the first dentition and ending with the commencement of the second, at the sixth or seventh year. The terms seconde enfance or Kindersalter are used in a similar sense. Growth at this period continues to be active, though not proceeding at the same rate as during infancy, but disturbances of the ali- mentary system are common and the children quickly waste if digestion and absorption are interfered with. The osseous and muscular systems are developing so that by the end of the first year the child can crawl or even walk with help. It is at the com- mencement of this period that rickets, a disease so intimately associated with malnutrition, often makes its appearance. The mental faculties are opening out as the brain develops, and the infant begins to recognise its friends and call them by name. During the period of dentition nervous dis- turbances are common, and the lesions giving rise to infantile paralysis are apt to take place.
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