The history of paediatrics : the progress of the study of diseases of children up to the end of the XVIIIth century / by George Frederic Still.

  • Still, G. Frederic (George Frederic), Sir, 1868-1941.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of paediatrics : the progress of the study of diseases of children up to the end of the XVIIIth century / by George Frederic Still. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    55/602 (page 27)
    When and how the baby should be freed [from its swaddling bands]. How to practise it in sitting and walking. When and how to wean the baby. On teething. On aphthae. On rashes and itchings. On wheezing and cough. On seiriasis. On flux of the belly. Soranus is essentially practical, his account of the diseases of children consists at most of a brief note of the more obvious symptoms, followed by a fuller account of the treatment. He is the first medical writer to mention the salting of the new-born infant. Lib. i, cap. 13 (irepl cbWpuov) describes this part of the toilet. On Salting. The approved way of salting. Powdered soda-ash either of the fine or coarse sort is to be taken and sprinkled on the baby, avoiding the eyes and the mouth, for any that happens to fall on these parts produces ulceration and inflammation and choking. And do not sprinkle with too much salt, for through the excessive acridness, the skin, having an (absorptive) quality just like seaweed and being very delicate, is eroded; but do not do it with too little, otherwise the surface is not sufficiently hardened. It is agreed that if the infant is a weakling the salt should be broken up with honey or oil or with decoction of barley or fenugrec or mallow. After wiping away the salt the body should be washed with warm water and all the adhering salt washed off. Then do the same a second time; sprinkle the salt on, but wash it off with warmer water and with the finger press out the glairy material which is in the nostrils, and clean out the mouth and the meatus of the ears, and drop some oil into the eyes, for it is good to wipe away with this the very thick moisture which is in them, and if this is not done it happens commonly that the children become blind. Have the nail of the little finger previously pared, insert the little finger and divide the fine web-like material which has often formed about it [the anus] with a view to the easy passage of the excrement; forthwith there is passed what it is customary to call meconium. On the navel put a little pad steeped in oil, or some wool, and one must ask for some cumin as an astringent. The tied-up portion of