Pediatrics : the hygienic and medical treatment of children / by Thomas Morgan Rotch.

  • Thomas Morgan Rotch
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pediatrics : the hygienic and medical treatment of children / by Thomas Morgan Rotch. 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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    measurements of children, that the change in the first two or three years is very great, and that the pharynx of older children resembles more that of the adult than that of the infant. Indeed, at four weeks we find the tip of the epiglottis on a level with the lower part of the odontoid process, but, of course, by ii]idling the mouth and depressing the soft parts space may be gained. Hard Palate.—In a child of three years or less the line of the hard palate strikes about the middle of the basi-occipital bone. It would hardly be possible, without passing the finger round the soft palate, to feel much higher than the arch of the atlas. The base of the odontoid process would be under the mucous membrane seen at the back of the throat through the open mouth. The tip of the epiglottis is at the junction of the odontoid with the body of the axis. I doubt if more than the very top of the third verte- bra could be satisfactorily explored. At six and at thirteen (Symington's plates) I find that the line of the hard palate has about the adult direction, —that is. it strikes about the top of the atlas or the basilar process near its beginning. In both the finger could probably examine the vertebrae from the first to the fourth in- clusive. The atlas, how- Fig. i6- ever, would be reached ^ with much more difficulty / in the older than in the / younger subject, as the relations of the soft palate are more nearly those of the adult. Mouth.—As the in- fant grows older the mouth becomes an organ more adapted for certain uses beyond that of a mere means of entry for the food to the stomach. M axillary Boxes. —The ossification of the maxillary bones begins early, progresses slowly, and, together with the final formation of the jaw, is completed at puberty. These skulls (Fig. 16), one of an infant born at term, the other of a child three years old, represent the characteristic incomplete development of the ramus of the interior maxillary bone in the early weeks and months of life, and its almost complete development at three years. Skulls showing development of ramus at birth and at three years. Warren Museum, Harvard University.
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