Class I. 2. 2. 17. OF IRRITATION. 7f< 



near the fwelled part have been found of great fervice, as men- 

 tioned in Species 18 of this Genus. This has induced me to 

 propofe in curvatures of the fpine, to put an iflue on the outfidc 

 of the curve, where it could be certainly afcertained, as the bones 

 on the convex fide of the curve mull be enlarged •, in one cafe I 

 thought this of fcrvice, and recommend the further trial of it. 



In the tendency to curvature of the fpine, whatever itrength- 

 ens the general conftitution is of fervice ; as the ufe of the cold 

 bath in the fummer months. This however requires fome re- 

 flriclion both in refpecl to the degree of coldnels of the bath, 

 the time of continuing in it, and the feafon of the year. Com- 

 mon fprings, which are of forty-eight degrees of heat, are too 

 cold for tender conflitutions, whether of children or adults, and 

 frequently do them great and irreparable injury. The coldnefs 

 of river-water in the fummer months, which is about fixty-eight 

 degrees, or that of Matlock, which is about fixty-eight, or of 

 Buxton, which is eighty-two, are much to be preferred. The 

 time of continuing in the bath mould be but a minute or two> 

 or not fo long as to occalion a trembling of the limbs from cold. 

 In refpecl to the feafon of the year, delicate children mould 

 certainly only bathe in the fummer months ; as the going fre- 

 quently into the cold air in winter will anfwer all the purpoies 

 of the cold bath. 



17. Claudicatio cosearia. Lamenefs of the hip. A nodding 

 of the thigh-bone is faid to be produced in feeble children by the 

 foftnefs of the neck or upper part of that bone beneath the car- 

 tilage ; which is naturally bent, and in this difeafe bends more 

 downwards, or nods, by the preffure of the body ♦, and thus 

 renders one leg apparently fhorter than the other. In other 

 cafes the end of the bone is protruded out of its focket, by in- 

 flammation or enlargement of the cartilages or ligaments of the 

 joint, fo that it reds on fome part of the edgQ of the acetabu- 

 lum, which in time becomes tilled up. When the legs arc 

 ftraight, as in (landing erecl, there is no verticillary motion in 

 the knee-joint ; all the motion then in turning out the toes fur- 

 ther than nature deilgned, mult be obtained by draining in fome 

 degree this head of the thigh-bone, or the acetabulum, or cavi- 

 ty, in which it moves. This has induced me to believe, that this 

 misfortune of the nodding of the head of the bone, or partial 

 dislocation of it, by which one leg becomes lhorter than the other, 

 is fometimes occalioned by making very young children Hand in 

 what are called ftocks ; that is with their heels together, and 

 their toes quite out. Whence the focket of the thigh-bone be T 

 comes inflamed and painful, or the neck of the bone is bent 

 downward and outwards. 



In 



