INFANTS. 



thrye, or four ftools, according to tlic circumftances of the 

 calc, the larger number in the more acute forms of the 

 dil'-afe. When the fever is attended with a loofenefs, Dr. 

 Butter interdicts the ufe of the neutral falts, and prefcrihcs 

 the extraft of hemlock [Conium, Linn.) ; the quantity of five 

 grains to be taken in the courfe of 24 hours, fufpended in 

 r water with ahttle fugar. It relieves every fymptom of the 

 fever, he fays, and at the fame time gradually carries off l!ie 

 loofenefs. Under fimilar circumftances, we have feen ed'cntial 

 fervice from fmall dofes of fome mercurial, combined with 

 abforbents, as the Hydrar^yrus eum.Creta, of the London 

 Pharmacopoeia ; or a grain of calomel united, by rubbing, 

 with a little foda and teflaceous powder. While the conium 

 is given as above-mentioned, as much rhubarb may be ad- 

 minillered as will keep the body gently open, where the fever 

 is not very acute. 



AVhcn there is great reftleffnefs and vociferation, the belly 

 "Ihould be fomented with flannel cloths, wrung out of a de- 

 coftion of chamomile, and applied agreeably warm, for 

 twenty minutes or half an hour at a time, as occafion may 

 require ; and this operation (houid be repeated as often as 

 the fymptoms return. As the difeafe declines, the child 

 may be allowed to return gradually to his ufual diet and way 

 of life ; but fome care will be requifile, that he may not have 

 his free liberty as to eating, drinking, and exercife, until 

 he has recovered his full flelh and ftrength ; and the medi- 

 cines above recommended muft be continued till the fever is 

 quite gone. 



Catarrhal fiver is not a very frequent difeafe during in- 

 fancy, and when it does occur, feldom requires any other 

 treatment, than an emetic at the beginning, an open ftate of 

 the bowels, and the warm bath every night while it continues. 

 When it extends to the degree of pulmonary inflammation, 

 bliftering the chert is often an effedlual remedy, or, in ftrong 

 children, the application of leeches to the cheit may be re- 

 forted to. The principle of treatment, indeed, is the fame 

 in thefe complaints, whether they occur in the early or later 

 periods of life ; e.xcept that the infantile conlHtution is more 

 eafily acled upon by remedies, and therefore that a laxative 

 ' and a blifler will often accomplilh a degree of alleviation of 

 fever, which more active meafures will be required to pro- 

 duce in adults. See Catarrh and Peripneumony. 



Among the fevers incident to children, the acute hydroce- 

 phalus, or water in the head, fliould be defcribed ; but we 

 have already given the hiitory of that important difeafe in its 

 place. (Sje Hydrocepii.\lu.s.) It remains for us to fay a 

 few words on the fubjedt of convulfions. 



§ 6. Convulftvs Difeafis. — The fubjcft of convulfions, in 

 general, has been treated under its proper head, (fee Cox- 

 TULSioxs,) as well as the moil fevere modifications of con- 

 vulfive difeafe, the epilepfy and St. Vitus's dance. (See 

 Epilep.sy and Chorea.) It will, therefore, be fufficient to 

 ttate here fome circamilances relative to the convulfions of 

 infants in particular. And firft it muft be obfervcd, that, 

 in confequence of the peculiar fufceptibility of impreffion 

 in the nervous fyftem of infants, many circumftances excite 

 convulfions at that early age, which have no fuch efFeft at a 

 fubfequent period of life. Accordingly it is well known, 

 that in general the younger the infant is, the more readily do 

 fits occur, and that fome families are more liable than others 

 to the ciil'cafe, apparently from a weak ftate of the nervous 

 or vafcular fyftem being communicated from the parents. 

 The obvious exciting caufes are dentition, mechanical in- 

 juries, acute difeafes, impurities of the air, paflions of the 

 mind, indigeftible or poifonous fubftances in the ilomach or 

 bowels, ovcr-diftention of thofe organs, irritations in them 

 from acrid matter or worms, the ftate of the fyftem previous 



to the appearance of. fmall-pox, meafles, &c. All tliefc ad 

 by difturbing the nervous fyllcin, ajid altering or deranging 

 the actions of the veflels. 



In fome cafes convulfions come on fuddenly ;. the infjint, 

 from being in the mod perfect health, turns in a monxcnt 

 livid, his eyes and features are contorted, and his. limbs :and 

 whole frame are thrown into violent agitptions. Tfiefc 

 fymptoms are fucceeded by a fufpcnfion of the vital pojvers, 

 as in faintings, which may or may not prove fatal. Some- 

 times the attack is gradual, and the firft fymptoms are not 

 cafily difcerned by the attendants : the infAnt ftiews fome de- 

 gree ot uneafincfs ; he changes ..colour, his lips quiver, his 

 eyes are turned upwards, and he uncxpeftcdly, as it >yere, 

 ftretches himfelf out, or his hands become clenched. 'The 

 lefl"er degrees of thefe are called by the ni:rfes in-wardfils. 

 Convulfions commonly precede the fatal termination of moft 

 of the difeafes of infancy, which explams the reafon of their 

 appearing in the bills of mortality to be of fuch frequent 

 occurrence. _ Accordingly, where they take place after any 

 cop.fidei-able indifpofitior., tliey are to be regarded as tlie har- 

 bingers of death. But even where the infant had been in 

 perfeft health previous to the attack, the event is always to 

 be confidercd as e.'ctremely uncertain, for a fingle fit may kill. 

 In ordinary cafes, the danger is to be eftimated by the de- 

 gree of violence of the fit, "and by the caufe which had pro- 

 duced it. Thus if the caufc be fome irritation, which is 

 naturally of temporary duration, or which can be eafily re- 

 moved, a favourable event may be looked for ; but if it be 

 not obvious, it may be fufpected to be fome flate of the 

 brain, which admits of no remedy. In many inftanccs, 

 where it was impoflible to difcover the caufe of the fits 

 during life, an accumulation of water witliin the ventricles 

 of the brain has been found after death. 



There is no medicine pofTefled of any fpecific power in 

 fupprefling convulfions, although cochineal, niidetoe, mun<, 

 and other fubftances, have been at different times extolled 

 for fuppofed virtues of this nature. One of the moft 

 effeftual means of alienating the fits, is to immerfe the child, 

 during their attack, in a tubful of water, heated to 96 of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer, or to a warmth that the hand can 

 eafily bear. In very young infants opiates are not always 

 fafe, and cannot be trufted in the hands of nurfes or inex- 

 perienced perfons ; but in children upwards of eighteen 

 months, where the warm bath docs not fpeedily facceed in 

 abating the convulfions, from one or two to four or five drops 

 of the tindlure of opium might be adminiftered, according to 

 the feverity of the fits : or a proportionate (juantity of the 

 camphorated tinfture of opium, or of the extract of poppies 

 diff'ufed in a little water. Profeffor Hamilton has recom- 

 mended a fubftitute for opium, which may be given to 

 j'ounger children ; namely, the tinfture of hyoj'cyamus : 

 " twenty drops, evening and morning, have been repeatedly 

 given to infants within fix months of age.'V He remarks 

 that, when the convulfions have been the efteft of hooping- 

 cough, great benefit has been derived from this medicine. 

 Camphor, in the form of glyfter, has fccmed fcrviceahle in 

 fome few cafes, the fame author ftates, but chiefly in children 

 beyond the fccond year. He adds, " when a child fcemii 

 to be fuddenly deprived of life by one or two fits, if he ap- 

 peared previoufly in good health, he ought on no account to 

 be confidercd as irrecoverably loft ; but the common means 

 for reftoring fufpended animntion (hould be carefully em- 

 ployed, as long as his colour is not entirely changed." 

 Hints, &c. 



Some other difeafes, which occur in infancy and childhood, 



might here have been defcribed ; cfpecially the glandular 



affcdions, both internal and external ; the variout dil'order.'s 



M i of 



