The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly.
- Date:
- 1848
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
754/828 (page 752)
![quate exercise. If any become suspended, or de- cline beneath the activity necessary for the due performance of their respective functions, the or- gans shrink, and more or less impression on the general health ensues, according to the importance of the parts consigned to quiescence. If there lie total suspension, the organ then undergoes changes wholly subversive of its character and functions. A vessel which ceases to convey its proper fluid becomes soon changed into a solid cord. Muscu- lar fibres, if consigned to inactivity, waste pro- gressively, with proportional loss of power, until at length they approach the state of simple mem- brane. The laws of muscular action require that the muscle, in order to retain even its natural structure, must be continued in the adequate ex- ercise of its natural functions, else it declines both in volume and power, and all the functions to which its actions are subservient, become impeded in consequence. The foregoing sketch, though brief and imper- fect, may suflice to show what is meant by re- ferring to the natural laws. The subject, how- ever, is not yet sufficiently matured for an ele- mentary exposition of the whole of them, and at all events the writer of the present article is unprepared to attempt it. Whatever remain, therefore, applicable to the present purpose, must be left for the occasions which in the course of this essay may call for their introduction. In pursuing the subject of jihysical education, the period of life to which it applies may be divided into the consecutive stages of Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, and Pul>erty. The dis- tinctions are sufficiently intelligible without as- signing exact limits to each. 'J'o do so by a divi- sion of years would conduce but little to preci- sion, for individuals differ so much, that similar ages do not necessarily indicate corresponding stages of development either in bodily or mental povv'ers. IxFAxcT. — The management of infants has been much improved in modern times, and many hurtful prejudices have been utterly extinguished. None, at least in this country, even of the most ignorant, deem it necessary at the present day to swathe the infant's body so as to deprive its limbs and head of all free motion, as was long the uni- versal practice, and in some countries, even of Europe, continues to be so. The infant is now suffered to enjoy the unrestrained exercise of its muscular energies so far as its limited powers of exerting them permit. This was a great eman- cipation, and conducive not only to physical but also to moral improvement. The exercise of every natural power is accompanied with pleasu- rable feeling, and, without resorting to metaphy- sical refinements, it may, from a close analogy, he averred that the infant is sensible of pleasure from the free exercise of its motive powers, and suffers pain from their restriction. These sensa- tions excite moral emotions, and without anv great stretch of imagination, it is possible to detect the pawning of an irritable temper at a period of life when a moral feeling is scarcely supposed to exist, and to trace its development to irritations which enlightened caution might prevent. Even at this early period the iiior^d laws are not to be disregarded. These luws pronounce that moral feelings no less than the jibj-sical powers acquire force by exercise, and that the surest way of weakening those which, when tending to excess, lead to evil, is to consign them as much as possi- ble to quiescence. Great care is therefore neces- sary not to arouse angry passions, and especially in infancy, when the other moral feelings, and the intellectual powers by which they are in later years controllable, are too imperfectly developed to be of avail. The principle is applicable to every period of life, and the interesting stage now under discussion should have the full benefit of it. The present occasion does not call for minute details of the management of infants, which are so familiarly known and so much under the guid- ance of competent advisers, being for the most part regulated by enlightened medical attendants, that a few general remarks may here suffice. They may be comprised under the heads of cloth- ing, food, state of bowels, air, temperature, clean- liness, exercise, moral discipline, and habits. ClofUing.—The clothing of infants should be soft in texture, so as not to irritate their tender skin. It should be made so as to give free play to all the limbs, no part being subjected to con- striction or undue pressure, and should also be so simple as to admit of being quickly adjusted. The process of being dressed is irksome to most in- fants, causing them to cry, and exciting as much mental irritation as they are capable of feeling. It should, therefore, be rendered as brief as is com- patible with the ablutions required, and with the necessary adaptation of the garments to their several purposes. By a very little ingenuity they may be so constructed as to be put on and re- moved with little delay. It would be well if pins could be wholly dispensed with, their use being hazardous through the carelessness and stupidity of nurses, and even through the ordinary move- ments of the infant itself. Soft tapes, loops, and buttons, hooks and eyes, or other such fastenings, might he beneficially substituted. Food.—T'hat the infant should derive its ear- liest sustenance from the mother's breast was so obviously designed by nature, that the abstract propriety of mothers suckling their oflspring ad- mits of no dispute. The question, however, whe- ther all mothers should discharge this duty is not thus determined, the condition of the mother and her capability of performing it requiring to be taken into account, as well as the wants of the child. When a mother is young, healthy, and sufficiently robust, it is her bounden duty, as it ought to be her dearest pleasure, to foster in her bosom the being which she has brought into ex- istence, and to nourish it with the food expressly provided by nature for its use. Every considera- tion, both pliysical and moral, pleads for this exer- cise of maternal function. By it the bodily health of both mother and child is ])ro)noted, while it ex- cites in both the purest emotions of the heart. All mothers, however, are not capable of per- forming this duty ; and, unfortunately, among the higher and middle classes of society, a considera- ble portion, through errors of physical education, and the dehilitating effects of various pernicious practices proceeding from fashion, luxury, and dissipation, are incapacitated for undertaking it. Thus error perpetuates itself, and in its natural](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21197040_0754.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
