INFANCY. 



ture should be allowed to finish her own 

 work. 



Urticaria, or nettle-rash, is a papulous 

 disease, which generally occurs to chil- 

 dren under two years of age. In its ap- 

 pearance it is always sudden, and is often 

 very troublesome. The child generally 

 begins to scream before the cause of its 

 illness is known, and, on examining its 

 body and limbs, a resemblance so like 

 the stinging of nettles is every where 

 conspicuous, from which the disease has 

 its name. 



This complaint is generally preceded 

 by a slight fever ; some degree of sick- 

 ness and pain in the head are also felt, 

 particularly if the child have been ex- 

 posed to cold. 



The nettle-rash of children may be 

 considered as a very simple disease, com- 

 pared with that of adults. Its disappear- 

 ance being often as sudden as its attack, 

 it does not require that serious treatment 

 necessary to more advanced age. When 

 it seems obstinate, a few grains of the 

 compound powder of contreyerva, or 

 ipecacuanha, may be administered two or 

 three times a day, with the addition of 

 two or three drops of compound spirit of 

 ammonia. In the mean time, the state of 

 the bowels, as in other papulae, will re- 

 quire proper attt*-.tion. 



But if the eruption be very general, 

 and the weather somewhat cold, it may 

 not be an improper precaution to confine 

 the child a day or two to bed, so that 

 there may be no danger of the rash being 

 repelled. 



The last variety of infantile rash we 

 shall mention is, a phlyctenous or watery 

 eruption, consisting of blisters of differ- 

 ent sizes, somewhat like scalds or burns, 

 which continue out several days, and at- 

 tend both bowel-complaints and toothing. 

 It seems of a beneficial nature. It is 

 chiefly conspicuous on the belly, ribs and 

 thighs. The vesicle or bag contains a 

 sharp acrid liquor, which, where the bag 

 is large, should be discharged by the 

 puncture of a needle. 



Little is here necessary in the way of 

 treatment. The state of the bowels will 

 entirely regulate what is to be done. If 

 the child be costive, the laxatives already 

 prescribed will answer every purpose, 

 with the addition of the testaceous pow- 

 ders : and if the belly be loose, and the 

 infant low and debilitated, then the light 

 cordials, previously recommended, will 

 be necessary. 



One of the most critical periods of in- 

 fancy, and to which the greatest attention 



VOL. VI. 



ought to be paid, is that of toothing, or 

 dentition. A continued irritation is kept 

 up on the constitution, for a great length 

 of time, whereby the latent seeds of dis- 

 ease of an hereditary nature are often un- 

 folded, which might otherwise have lain 

 dormant, and done, perhaps, no injury to 

 the general health. Hence, cough, fever, 

 rickets, and various forms of scrophula, 

 may be traced, in their first appearance, 

 from this period. 



It has been observed, in judging of the 

 ease or difficulty of dentition, that weakly 

 and rickety children cut their teeth most 

 readily. Many circumstances have an in- 

 fluence in this respect, as the number of 

 teeth that protrude themselves at once, 

 and the particular sort. Thus, where two 

 or three teeth germinate at a time, the 

 irritation on the gums must be much more 

 considerable, than where there is only 

 one ; and there will be more difficulty in 

 the protrusion of the large back-teeth 

 than in the fore or eye-teeth, the surface 

 or points of which are better armed for 

 cutting. 



It has also been observed, that infants 

 cut their teeth more readily in winter than 

 in summer j and that all children, who 

 possess, naturally, a loose belly, suffer 

 least from the complaints of this period. 



The time of toothing generally com- 

 mences between *the fifth and tenth 

 months, and the process of the first tooth- 

 ing continues till about eighteen or twenty 

 months after birth. The usual number 

 of the teeth at this time cut is sixteen. 

 The process begins in the lower jaw, two 

 of the front or middle teeth are usually 

 first cut, which are followed by the two 

 corresponding ones in the upper jaw ; 

 next, after some intermission, come the 

 four adjoining teeth ; then follow the two 

 double-teeth, or grinders, at an interval of 

 some weeks ; then the teeth in the lower 

 jaw, called canine or dog teeth; and 

 lastly, the two corresponding ones in the 

 upper jaw, called the eye-teeth. About 

 the seventh year appears a new set of 

 teeth, and about the twentieth, the two 

 inner grinders, or wisdom-teeth, unless 

 these, as sometimes happens, are pro- 

 truded at the first toothing. 



That the teeth of the lower jaw are 

 most forward may be naturally expected, 

 from their being less deep in the sockets, 

 and their points thinner and sharper than 

 the others. 



Though this be the usual progress of 

 protrusion in strong healthy children, yet 

 in those more debilitated the progress is 

 both slower and more irregular. Thus 



M m 



