Observations on the principal medical institutions and practice of France, Italy, and Germany; with notices of the universities, and cases from hospital practice. To which is added an appendix, on animal magnetism and homoeopathy / [Edwin Lee].

  • Lee, Edwin, -1870
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the principal medical institutions and practice of France, Italy, and Germany; with notices of the universities, and cases from hospital practice. To which is added an appendix, on animal magnetism and homoeopathy / [Edwin Lee]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tion is paid to cleanliness. Notwithstanding these circumstances, and the advantageous situa- tion of the building, three-fourths of the infants received into the infirmary die. A principal cause of this immense mortality is the privation of the breast ; the artificial food, composed of milk more or less diluted, and of light farinaceous substances, disagreeing with the infants, pro- duces gastric irritation and diarrhoea, under which they succumb. It appears to me that the me- dical treatment, consisting for the most part of expectant measures, is not suited to the class of cases, which are mostly of an inflammatory na- ture. The remedies principally consist in baths, emollient enemata, and demulcent drinks. Leeches and counter-irritants are sometimes used, laxatives very seldom. ‘The limited num- ber of nurses, and the manner in which the bodies of the infants are bandaged up, so as to ' prevent free motion of the limbs, have also an influence in increasing the proportion of deaths. Many of the little patients are afflicted with induration of the cellular texture, which exists both as a distinct affection and as a concomitant of other diseases, especially jaundice. It is in some cases general, but more frequently the cheeks, thighs, legs, and back, are separately or simultaneously affected ; it generally comes on a few days after birth, and is immediately recog- nised by the hardness of the affected parts to the touch: the skin retains the red colour of new- B 8