P A R T U 
fymptoms are fhortly fucceeded by tumour, heat, rednefs, 
pain in Tome part, very commonly the upper and outer, 
of the bread aftedied, together with fymptomatic fever. 
Slight fhiverings now quickly fupervene, and the fuppu- 
•rative procefs is edablilhed. The abfcefs, if not inter¬ 
fered with by the officious furgeon, burds fpontaneoully, 
ufually between the ninth and fourteenth days ; the mat¬ 
ter then eicapes, and all the fymptoms, local and confli- 
tutional, are alleviated. 
The treatment of milk-abfcefs is very dmple; the lefs, 
indeed, is done the better. Emollient fomentations with 
fcalded plant-leaves fuffice for the inflammatory dage, 
and oatmeal or linfeed poultice for the fuppurative. The 
fame kind of poultice fhould alfo be continued after the 
burding of the abfcefs, and until it be perfectly healed, be 
the length of time what it may. Unguents and greafy dref- 
fings do not fufficiently encourage difcharge ; whence it 
happens that, where they are employed, inflammation and 
fuppuration again take place, and thefe occafionally more 
than once; whereas, if the poultice be uninterruptedly con¬ 
tinued,all does well. Theindifpofition of the milk-abfcefs 
to heal may poffibly be owing to the great determination 
to the breads during the fird months of fuckling ; and, 
indeed, it is not unreafonable to fuppofe that nature keeps 
this as it were natural iflue open, to counterbalance the 
dangerous plethora that might otherwife happen from the 
fupprefl'ed fecretion of milk. 
Such is the courfe, and fuch the treatment, of milk- 
abfcefs; but the point of the greated moment, and to 
which we are anxious to draw the attention of the pro- 
feffion, is the prevention both of abfcefs and of inflamma¬ 
tion. The frequency of milk-abfcefs in the human fpe- 
cies, and the rarenefs of it in the brute creation, cannot 
fail to drike the obfervant mind. The jud-yeaned lamb 
empties without difficulty the loaded dug of its parent 
ewe, and the frelh-dropped colt the didended udder of its 
dam; but the new-born infant, although healthful and 
firong, often drives in vain to draw' milk from the gorged 
bofom of its mother. The attentive nurfe applies it again 
and again, but without avail; the milk accumulates 
more and more, and inflammation and abfcefs fucceed. 
The caufe of failure is not with the infant, for it fucks 
well; the impediment, therefore, mud exid on the part of 
the mother, and examination of the bread immediately 
difcovers this to be the cafe; for the nipple is invariably 
found to be fo flat, and imperfedtly formed, as not to af¬ 
ford hold for the child. There is no reafon, in nature, 
why the nipple in the human fpecies Ihould be fo very 
often incompletely developed, while the teats of animals 
are, without exception, as far as we know, prominent and 
perfedf. The only caufe to which the defedt can be at¬ 
tributed is the continued preflure, which, from the pecu¬ 
liarity of the female drefs, (and of one part of it in par¬ 
ticular, the days,) the bofom isfubjedled to from child¬ 
hood ; and it is this preflure, without doubt, which pre¬ 
vents the full development of the nipple. 
The hnperfedt nipple is the exciting, and didention of 
the lactiferous duds the proximate, caufe of milk-ab¬ 
fcefs : it is therefore manifed, that, if a proper nipple 
can be formed fo as to admit of the milk being abflradted, 
abfcefs will be prevented. Now the formation of a good 
nipple is by no means difficult: fo far, indeed, from this 
being the cafe, that we believe it is always pradticable ; 
and the means by which it can be accompliffied is by the 
glafs fhield, or breafl-pump. In a few hours after deli¬ 
very, it is incumbent on the accoucheur to examine the 
patient’s breads, to afcertain whether or not the nipples 
are fufficiently prominent; and, if one or both prove 
otherwife, he ffiould immediately fet about to remedy 
the defedf, for, by the early and repeated ufe of the 
pump, the nipple may be well drawn out before the fe¬ 
cretion of milk takes place. The pump Ihould be ap- 
. plied over the flat nipple, and the degree of exhaudion' 
of the air from the glafs fhould be regulated by the feel¬ 
ings of the patient: the nipple will protrude into the 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1276. 
R I T I O N. 713 
mouth of the glafs, and may be kept there two or three 
minutes ; the pump is then to be taken ofl’, and in the 
fpace of two minutes more to be again applied; and in 
this manner five or fix times fucceffively ; and, on its 
being finally removed, fudtion fhould inflantly be per- ■ 
formed by the nurfe for feveral minutes, for, unlefs it be 
done inflantly, the nipple retires. The application of the 
pump mud be repeated every three or four hours, as long 
as it may be required ; taking care always that the nurfe 
or infant fuck that bread immediately on the removal of 
it. In this way the accoucheur will never fail to procure 
good nipples, and, by fo doing, may preferve his patient 
from all the inconveniences and bufferings attendant on 
milk-abfcefs. It is true that all this gives the practi¬ 
tioner a great deal of trouble; but it is amply recompenfed 
by fecuring to him the good wiffies and intered of his 
patient, and by increafing his reputation. The pump is 
rarely had recourfe to with any other view than to ab- 
ftradt milk from the bread ; but to this end it is quite 
inadequate, which may be the caufe why it is not in more 
general ufe. In ufing the pump, it is advantageous to 
anoint the fore-part of the bread with oil, for this very 
much facilitates the entrance of the nipple into the mouth 
of the glafs, and preferves the fkin from abrafion. London 
Medical Journal, Aug. 1821. 
The Infant. —A medical man ought never to think 
it beneath him to diredt a nurfe or mother on thofe little 
attentions which a new-born infant demands on its being 
ufhered into the world. The temperature which it leaves 
is about 98°; confequently care is required that it be 
not fuddenly expofed to a reduced temperature, or to the 
heat and glare of a fire. 
A receiver of fine flannel* with a fquare of old foft 
linen or calico tacked on its centre, fhould be in readinefs 
for its removal when born. Flannel itfelf is too harfh 
for immediate contadl with the delicate fkin of an infant 
at fird, though well adapted to keep up that degree of 
warmth which it brings with it. 
Cold is very unfriendly to the tender date of an infant; 
and, though a child overheated by an immoderate load of 
clothes buffers from red-gum and other complaints, yet 
for a time warm clothing, with that quantity of animal 
heat which a mother’s bofom communicates, are requi- 
fites for its comfort, and effential to its thriving. The 
modern refinement of cots, and the injurious apprehen- 
fions of children being overlaid, has banifhed many a 
weak and delicate infant from a nurfe’s bofom (its natu¬ 
ral and bed bed) to a crib, where it has paffed night after 
night in cries, from its inability to generate Sufficient 
heat of itfelf for its comfort, and eventually has fallen a 
vidiim to cold and negledf. 
The mucus which covers the body of a child at its 
birth, is bed removed by a foft fponge with warm water 
and foap. A nurfe fhould not be over anxious to remove 
every particle at the fird wafhing, becaufe, by too much 
rubbing, the fkin becomes irritated and inflamed, and, by 
the fecond attempt, the furface of the body may be tho¬ 
roughly freed from this fubflance. This indeed is necef- 
fary, or perfpiration becomes obflrudled, and the fkin lia¬ 
ble to eruptive difeafes. 
Many nurfes never wafli the head of an infant after the 
fird time, except with fpirits. The omiffion of wafhing it 
is unjudifiable on every principle; and the cuflom of 
rubbing the head with fpirits has nothing to recommend 
it, but, on the contrary, is the common caufe of giving 
cold, on account of its fpeedy evaporation, which carries 
ofl’ heat that can never be fpared. Let a mother rub a 
little fpirits between her own hands and the will never 
allow the tender head of her babe to undergo the fame 
operation. 
The navel firing may be wrapped round with a piece 
of foft and well-aired linen, and carefully laid down. 
Burnt rag is very objedfionable : it is in no cafe of any 
ufe, and frequently produces inflammation, and an ulcer 
that heals with difficulty. Should an ulcer remain after 
8 T the 
