The treatment of diseases of the digestive system / by Robert Saundby.

  • Robert Saundby
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of diseases of the digestive system / by Robert Saundby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    47/222 (page 33)
    The Influence of the General Mode of Life and of Diet upon the Digestive Organs. Unquestionably the vast majority of diseases of the digestive organs are induced by faulty habits or improper diet, and we may take it that children are born into this world in most instances with healthy digestive organs. It is, therefore, of great importance for the future well¬ being of the individual that during infancy there should be no digestive troubles, such as so often occur in artifici¬ ally-fed infants, probably laying the foundation of life¬ long illness. Wherever possible infants should be fed upon their mother's milk, and the medical profession should do its utmost to discourage artificial feeding. It is to be feared that the establishment by municipalities of departments to supply sterilised milk will tend rather to discourage maternal nursing among the poor by offering a false security from the danger of less carefully prepared artificial foods. During childhood and throughout the school age there should be abundance of fresh air and exercise, and the care of the skin by frequent baths and of the teeth by the daily use of the tooth-brush should be taught not only in the family but in the school. In Sweden and Norway there are baths attached to all the public ele¬ mentary schools, where the children are made to wash their bodies at least once a week. The brain must not be overtaxed at school, and parents need reminding that they favour this result by expecting too much in too short a time. A boy who is going into a profession should be left at school until he is eighteen, and his parents ought to be satisfied if at the end of that time he has acquired suf¬ ficient general knowledge to pass the entrance examination. His mind is then more mature and he will reap more 3