A practical treatise on the diseases of children / by J. Forsyth Meigs and William Pepper.

  • J. Forsyth Meigs
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on the diseases of children / by J. Forsyth Meigs and William Pepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    of the circulation for now-born children (one to ten days old), for the period from four months to six years, for that from six to nine years, and for those from nine to twelve, and from twelve to fifteen years of age. The average rate of the circulation in very young infants, is from one hundred and one to one hundred and two in tlie minute, the former being the result obtained by M. Billard in children fi-om one to ten daj's old, as nearly as it can be gained from liis statements, and the latter the one obtained by M. Roger, in infants from one to seven daj'S old {De la Temperature chez les Enfants, Paris, 1844). The physician ought, how- ever, to be aware of the fact that, though the above is the average rate of the circulation at the age mentioned, the pulse may i-ange very much above or below that average, without necessarily indicating a morbid state of the health. Thus, though the avei-age frequency in ibrtj' chil- dren, from one to ten days old, observed by M. Billard, was one hun- dred and one, it was less than eighty in eighteen, whilst in fourteen it was between one hundred and one hundred and twentj'-five, and in six between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and eighty. All these children, he assures us, presented every mark of good health. The average frequency of the pulse during the first year may be stated at about one hundred and fifteen ; at least such is the result obtained by us from an examination of seven observations by M. Roger of chil- dren from four to nine months old. This result, it will be observed, shows that the pulse is not so frequent during the first few days after birih, as it becomes at a somewhat later peiiod, which, moreover, agrees with a previous statement to the same effect made bj' M. Valleix. This latter author is of the o])inion that at seven months of age the pulse is much more frequent than some days after birth, and that it after- wards falls gradually as the child advances in years. We are not acquainted with any observations upon the rate of the circulation during the second year of life, except those of M. Trous- seau, who, according to M. Bouchut {Manuel Prat, des Mai. des JSouv.- Nes, p. 133, Paris, 1845), gives as the average between one year and twenty-one months, one hundi-ed and eighteen. M. Becquerel {Traile Theorique et Prat, des Mai. des Enfants, Paris, 1842), gives us the result of his observations upon tliirty children, be- tween two and six years of age, during sleep and jn the waking state. During sleep the average was seventy-six; in the waking state it was ninety-two. Between six and nine years of ago, the same observer found the average during sleep to be from seventy-three to seventy-four, whilst in the waking state it was ninety. Between nine and twelve years, the average was, during sleep, sevonlj'-two, in the waking state, eighty. Between twelve and fifteen years the rate was scventj- whilst the children were asleep, and seventy-two when awake. Roger gives seventy-seven as tlie average between six and fourteen years. One very striking fact attracts our attention in the above statements: the much greater dirt'erence between the rate of the circulation during sleep and during the waking state, in very young cliildreii, than in those