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exercife as well as good feeding, have not been attended to. the abdominal vifcera, connected with tumid abdomen and 

 Damp air, and refidence in a cold and humid fituatiou, have irregularity of bowels, which fo commonly attend that dif- 

 alfo been enumerated among the predifpofing caufes of pofition. For this purpofe the teitaceous powders, com- 



rickets ; and in this refpeft, as well as in the praftice of 

 better modes of management in infancy, the change of cir- 

 cumftances in the prcfent ftate of great towns, and even in 

 the habitations of the peafantry, when compared with thofe 

 of the preceding century, will be deemed fufficieirt at leaft 

 to have greatly diminifhed the general fonrces of infantile 

 difeafe and mortality. See Health. 



Cure of Rickets. — Obfervation of the circumftances under 

 which the rickets occurred, as well as of thofe with which 

 it was accompanied, fuggeited the only means that were 

 reforted to for the cure of this difeafe, until modern che- 

 miftry propofed the adminiftration of a fubllitute for the 

 deficient oilific matter ; a propofal, however, which does not 

 appear to have led to the advantages which were anticipated. 

 The method fuggefted from obfervation of the circum- 

 ftances juft alluded to, was rather of a preventive than of a 

 curative nature ; and turned upon the plan of invigorating 

 the conftitution of the infant from the period of its birth. 

 This is to be accomphftied by remedies which may improve 

 the tone of the ftomach in particular, and through that 

 medium of the fyftem at large, or by thofe which operate 

 directly upon the latter. Of thefe general tonic remedies, 

 the cold bath feems to have been commonly found to be the 

 mod effeftual, at leaft as a preventive of the difeafe. Since 



bined with fmall dofes of fome mercurial alterative, or with 

 rhubarb, or the latter united with fteel and foda, may be 

 prefcribed with benefit. The ufc of emetics, which was re- 

 forted to by fome praftitioners, appears to be of no bene- 

 ficial tendency, unlefs they may aft on the bowels as laxa- 

 tives ; and a fyftem of aftive purging, which was alfo gene- 

 rally employed, as it contributes to much debility, fhould 

 be avoided. 



It remains onlv to mention the chemical propofal, which 

 M. Bonhomme of Paris propofed, of adminiitering the com- 

 ponent parts of bone in the way of medicine, upon the 

 fuppolition that the difeafe depends upon the mere deficiency 

 of thefe fubftances in the circulating blood. M. Bonhomme 

 therefore fuggeited the adminiftration of phofphate of lime 

 and phofphate of foda in fubftance ; and formed a powder, 

 confiiting of equal parts of thefe lubftances, of which he 

 gave a fci'uple twice a day to infants. He contends that the 

 calcareous phofphate, when taken internally, is really tranf- 

 mitted by the lymphatic veffels, and is applied to the pur- 

 pofes of offification, and that this adminiftration of it power- 

 fully contributes to reitore the natural proportions in the 

 fubftance of the bones, and thus accelerates the cure of 

 rickets. In fupport of thefe opinions, he relates various 

 experiments made on young fowls, to which it was given 



it became a general cuftom in this country, through the mixed with their food, and in which, he maintains, the pro- 



recommendation of medical men, to wa(h young childen 

 with cold or tepid water daily, the rickets feem to have 

 been lefs and lefs prevalent. Indeed Dr. Cullen declared 

 long ago, that he had never met with the rickets where this 

 practice was adopted ; and that where the difeafe had 



grefs of oflification was accelerated, in comparifon with 

 others to which it was not given. (See his Memoir on Ra- 

 chitis ; and Duncan's Annals of Medicine for 1797.) Thefe 

 phyiiological experiments, however, lead to no legitimate 

 deductions as to the operations of diieafe in the human body ; 



already begun, this remedy often checked the progrefs of and, experience in the latter has not apparently fupported 



the difeafe, and fometimes cured it entirely. 



With the fame view internal medicines of a tonic quality 

 have been generally prefcribed, to remove or arrelt the dif- 

 eafe ; and among thefe, the preparations of iron have been 

 moll frequently employed. A preparation of this kind was 

 long ago recommended by Mr. Boyle, and univerfally 



the doftrines of M. Bonhomme. 



Rickets is alfo a difeafe affefting fheep, as well as fome 

 forts of vegetable crops. 



RICKETY Grain, in Agriculture, a fort of vegetable 



diforder that often attacks wheat crops. It is, according 



to Dr. Anderfon, a kind of difeafe which is totally differeit 



adopted, under the appellation of ens veneris, which, not- from that of fmut or ruji. The grain affefted with this dif- 



withstanding its name, was iron. The rult of iror, and 

 other preparations, as well as thofe of zinc, have been alfo 

 ufed for the cure of rickets, in preference to the Peruvian 

 bark, on account of the difficulty of adminiitering this 

 fubftance to infants in any ufeful quantity ; De Haen, how- 

 ever, has borne teftimony to the efficacy of the latter. 



Much is alfo to be done by good nurfing ; that is, by a 

 proper regulation of the exercife, diet, and clothing, by all 

 of which the healthy performance of the functions of an 

 infant is greatly aflifted. Exercife, indeed, even in the 



eafe afTumes a fmall (hrivelled appearance, and irregular 

 form ; its colour is fomewhat darker than good wheat of the 

 fame kind, but is different from that which is affefted with 

 either of the two other difeafes. Water, when poured upon 

 wheat of this kind, foon, he obferves, moiftens it, and brings 

 to life a number of eel-fhaped animals in various ftages of 

 their growth, which had taken up their refidence there 

 while the grain was yet in its fucculent ftate, and thus occa- 

 fioned the difeafe which produced the alteration in its form. 

 As the grain ripens and dries, thefe animalcules are arrefted 



only form in which young children can enjoy it, -viz. that of in their progrefs, their life totally fufpended, and their de- 

 bellation, is one of the moll powerful general tonics ; and ftruftive operations upon the corn of courfe obitrufted, fo 

 even friftion with dry flannels would probably contribute long as it remains in this dry ftate. But no fooner does this 

 to the fame end. The diet of children is now reduced to a grain become foft, in confequence of being moiftencd with 

 much more rational ftandard than during the lalt century, water (whether after being iown in the ground or other- 

 and the proper mode of adminiitering it is now too well wife), than thefe creatures are reftored to life and activity; 

 underitood to require any minute initruftions in this place, they foon begin to feed upon the grain while it is moilt, 



(See Infants.) The fuppofuion of the pernicious acidity, 

 arifin"- from the life of that molt natural food milk, to which 

 Zeviani and fome other writers afcribed the origin of the 

 difeafe, is altogether without foundation. 



It is highly proper, alfo, where there is a ricketty ten- 

 dency prefent, to attend to the fymptoms which accompany 

 its approach, and to correft any influence which thefe iymp- 

 toms may have upon the general health. Above all, it is 



advifable to adminifter remedies againft the derangements of when it is fully ripened. 



and, if not interrupted in their progrefs by another deficca- 

 tion, quickly lay their eggs (for they are oviparous), and go 

 through the ordinary evolutions ol nature. The young, 

 when hatched in the corn that was fowed, after living upon 

 it for fome time, begin, he aflerts, to eat their way up the 

 growing (talk, and eitablilh themfelves at length in the grain 

 ltfelf, while it is advancing towards maturity, where they 

 are arrefted in their progreis in the manner above defcribed 



And 



