CHILDREN IX HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



listless, and dull, and fretful, we know that it cannot be well, and that it demands 

 attention. 



Children when asleep should sleep quietly and tranquilly. If they become 

 restless, and throw off their bed-clothes, and kick, and gnash the teeth, tin's may be 

 taken as important evidence of impairment of health. 



Loss of appetite is, with children, as with grown-up persons, a very common sign 

 of disease. 



A child's skin should be clean, clear, and rosy-coloured. If it is muddy-coloured, 

 or blotchy, or if sore places form, or chafing occurs between the folds, or eruptions 

 make their appearance round the mouth, round the bowels, or elsewhere, they may 

 be taken as sure evidence that the child is seriously out of health. 



Vomiting is a very important symptom of disease in young children, and, when 

 persistent, indicates disease of the brain almost as often as it does disease of the 

 stomach. 



We will now proceed to discuss the more common diseases of childhood seriatim, 

 and in order to facilitate reference we shall take them alphabetically. 



Bed-wetting. This is one of the most annoying of the troubles of childhood, and 

 frequently occurs in children who are in all other respects in perfect health. It 

 is not only very unhealthy, both for the child and for those who live with it, but 

 since it either imposes a barrier to education, or causes the school-life of the child 

 to be unhappy instead of pleasant, no effort should be spared to alleviate it. The 

 treatment is very largely guided by common sense. The general health should be 

 attended to, and examination be made for the presence of intestinal worms, and the 

 opinion of a surgeon should be sought, to be sure that no serious disease of the 

 bladder 01; urinary organs is present, such as stone in the bladder and gravel. 

 The trouble usually comes on when the child is seven or eight years old, and it 

 appears to be more common in. boys than girls. Great care should be observed 

 that 110 undue amount of liquid is taken late at night. Children ought never to 

 eat suppers, and those with this weakness should be particularly careful in such 

 matters. When they go to bed, some one should go with them to the bedroom to 

 make sure that the calls of nature are properly attended to before falling asleep, and 

 as the father or mother go to bed they should pay another visit to the child's room, 

 wake it up, and insist on its passing water a second time. These measures alone 

 will often ward off the trouble. The bed-clothes should not be too heavy or too 

 warm, and the child must of course have a bed to itself. It is a good plan to place 

 a ' draw-sheet " under the middle of the child that is, a sheet lined with water- 

 proof, about a yard square. If this be done, and if the upper clothes be raised off 

 the child by a cradle, should an accident occur, it will cause a minimum amount 

 of trouble. The mattress (such children should sleep on mattresses and not on 

 feather beds) should in every case be protected by a sheet of mackintosh placed 

 between it and the under blanket. The woven wire mattress is much to Ije 

 recommended for such cases. We have in belladonna a drug which has been 

 of undoubted service in such cases. It should be given in the form of pills, 

 because it is imadvisable to give more liquid to these children than is absolutely 



