INFANCY, 
ministered two or three times a day, with 
the addition of two or three drops of com- 
pound spirit of ammonia. In the mean 
time, the state of the bowels, as in other 
papulae, will require proper attention. 
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 erup- 
tion, Consisting of blisters of different sizes, 
somewhat like scalds or burns, which con- 
tinue out several days, and attend both 
bowel-complaints and toothing. It seems 
of a beneficial nature. It is chiefly conspi- 
cuous on the belly, ribs, and thighs. The 
vesicle or bag contains a sharp acrid liquor, 
which, where the bag is large, should be dis- 
charged 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 pre- 
scribed will answer every purpose, with the 
addition of the testaceous powders : and, 
if the belly be loose, and the infant low and 
debilitated, then the light cordials previ- 
ously recommended, will be necessary. 
One of the most critical periods of infan- 
cy, and to which the greatest attention 
ought to be paid, is that of toothing, or den- 
tition. . A continued irritation is kept upon 
the constitution, for a great length of time, 
whereby the latent seeds of disease of an 
hereditary nature are often unfolded, 
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 influ- 
ence in this respect, as the number of teeth 
that protude themselves at once, and the 
particular sort Thus, where two or three 
teeth germinate at a time, the irritation bn 
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 pos- 
sess, 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 toothing con- 
tinues 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 inter- 
mission, come the four adjoining teeth ; 
then follow the two double-teeth, or grin- 
ders, at an interval of some weeks ; then 
the teeth in the lower jaw called canine, or 
dog-teeth ; and, lastly, the two correspond- 
ing 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 pro- 
trusion in strong healthy children, yet in 
those more debilitated, the progress is both 
slower and more irregular. Thus the teeth 
are in many first cut in the upper jaw, nor 
do the contiguous ones appear always at the 
same time. Wherever there is much pain 
and irritation at first, the same may be ex- 
pected to recur, or continue, during the 
whole period of toothing. 
The morbid symptoms that attend den- 
tition are very numerous; they may be 
arranged as simply affecting the part, or as 
connected with the system in general. 
Of the former, the usual appearances are 
an increase of saliva discharged in the form 
of slaver. The gums are swelled, tense, 
and hot, while the cheeks display a circum- 
scribed redness. Of the latter, or general 
symptoms, the most common are, cutaneous 
eruptions, particularly on the face and 
scalp ; the state of the belly is irregular, 
though most commonly a looseness attends 
it, with stools of various colour and con- 
sistence. Considerable watchfulness pre- 
vails, and when the child procures sleep, it 
is interrupted by startings and spasms. The 
secretion of the urine is attended with the 
same irregularity ; sometimes it is unduly 
increased, at other times diminished, and 
the appearance is equally varied, being 
