Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

Appendix. M E JD I
pii'eafes of but where it can be done, he affirms that it ought
(jhildren, ncver to be omitted. This, he fays, would prevent the
unnatural cuftom of mothers leaving their own children
to fuckle thofe of others ; on which he paffes a mod:
fevere cenfure, and indeed fcarce any cenfure can be
fevere enough upon fueh inhumanity. Dr Buchan in¬
forms us, “ He is hire he fpeaks within bounds,
when he fays not one in a hundred of thefe children
live who are thus abandoned by their mothers.” For
this reafon he adds, that no mother fkould be allowed
to fuckle another’s child till her own be fit to be
weaned. A regulation of this kind would fare many
lives among the poorer fort, and would do no harm
to the rich ; as moft women who make good nurfes are
able to fuckle two children in fucceffion upon the fame
milk.
2. Another fource of the difeafes of children is the
unhealthinefs of parents : and our author infills that
no perfon who labours under an incurable malady ought
to marry.
3. The manner of clothing children tends to pro¬
duce difeafes. All that is necefiary here, he fays, is
to wrap the child in a foft loofe covering; and the
foftnefs of every part of the infant’s body fufficiently
fhows the injury which mull neceffarily enfue by pur-
fuing a contrary method.
4. A new-born infant, inftead of being treated with
fyrups, oils, &c. ought to be allowed to fuck the mo¬
ther’s milk almoft as foon as it comes into the rvorld.
He condemns the practice of giving v'ines and fpiri-
tuous liquors along with the food foon after birth 5
and fays, that if the mother or nurfe has a fufficient
quantity of milk, the child will need little or no other
food before the third or fourth month. But to this it
may reafonably be objedted, not only that the nurfing
would thus be very fevere on the mother j but if the
child be left thus long without other food, it will not
eafily relifh that food for fome time, and its llomach is
apt to be eafily hurt by a flight change of diet after it
has been long accuftomed to one thing. The human
fpecies are unqueilionably fitted by nature for a mixed
aliment, both from the vegetable and animal kingdom.
And the analogy of other animals belonging to the
clafs of mammalia for whom milk is equally provided
at the earlieft periods of life, would lead us to the con-
clufion, that mixed aliment is well fitted for the human
fpecies even in the earlieft periods of infancy. The
lamb is no fooner dropt than, by natural inftindl, it
crops the grafs as well as it fucks its mother. And the
ftomach in the human fpecies, immediately after birth,
can digeft other food as well as milk. Neither can it
be (hown, that the ftrongeft and moil'healthy infants are
thofe which get no other food but the mother’s milk
during the firft months of their life. In fa£l, chilcnen
are evidently of a wreak and lax habit of body, fo that
many of their difeafes rnuft arife from that caufe 5 all
directions which indiferimmately advife an antiphlo-
giftic regimen for infants as foon as they come into
the world, mull of neceftity be wrong. Many inftances
in fact might be brought to Ihow, that by the prepo-
fterous methc* of ftarving infants, and at the fame
time treating them with vomits and purges, they are
often hurried out of the world. Animal food indeed,
particularly under the form of broths, is exceflively
agreeable to children, and they ought to be indulged
c I N E.
with it in moderation. This will prove a much better
remedy for thofe acidities with which children are of¬
ten troubled, than magnefia alba, crabs eyes, or other
abforbents, which have the moft pernicious clfccls on
the ftomachs of thefe tender creatures, and pall the ap¬
petite to a furprifing degree. The natural appetites of
children are indeed the belt rule by which rve can judge
of what is proper or improper for them. They mull no
doubt be regulated as to the quantity ; but we may be
allured that avhat a child is very fond of will not hurt
it, if taken in moderation. When children are fick»
they refufe every thing but the breaft ; and if their dif-
temper be very fevere, they Avill refufe it alfo, and in
this cafe they ought not to be prefled to take food of
any kind ; but Avhen the ficknefs goes off, their appe¬
tite alfo returns, and they ay ill require the ufual quanti¬
ty of food.
According to Dr Armftrong, inward Jits, as they
arc called, are in general the firft complaint that ap¬
pears in children ) and as far as he has obferved, moft,
if not all infants, during the firft months, are more or
lefs liable to them. The fymptoms are thefe : The
child appears as if it Avas alleep, only the eyelids are
not quite clofed } and if you obferve them narroAvly,
you will fee the eyes frequently twinkle, with the Avhite
of them turned up. There is a kind of tremulous mo¬
tion in the mufcles of the face and lips, Avliich pro¬
duces fomething like a fimper or a fmile, and fometimes
almoft the appearance of a laugh. As the diforder
increafes, the infant’s breath feems norv and then to
ftop for a little ; the nofe becomes pinched 5 there is a
pale circle about the eyes and mouth, Avhich fometimes
changes to livid, and comes and goes by turns ; the
child Harts, efpecially if you attempt to ftir it though
ever fo gently, or if you make any noife near it. Thus
difturbed, it fighs, or breaks Avind, A\diich gives relief
for a little, but prcfently it relapfes into the dozing.
Sometimes it ftruggles hard before it can break Avind,
and feems as if falling into convulfions 5 but a violent
burft of Avind from the ftomach, or Ammiting, or a loud
fit of crying, fets all to rights again. As the child
increafes in ftrength, thefe fits are the more apt to go
off fpontaneouily and by degrees ; but in cafe they do
not, and if there is nothing done to remo\re them, they
either degenerate into an almoft conftant droAvfinefs,
(Avhich is fucceeded by a fever and the thrufn), or elfe
they terminate in vomitings, four, curdled, or green
ftools, the Avatery gripes, and convulfions. The thrufh
indeed very often terminates in thefe laft fymptoms.
As thefe complaints naturally run into one another, or
fucceed one another, they may be confidered, in a man¬
ner, as only different Itages of the fame difeafe, and
which derive their origin from the fame caufe. Thus,
the inAArard fits may be looked upon as the firft ftage of
the diforder 5 the fever, and thrufh (when it happens),
as the fecond ; the vomitings, four, curdled, green
or Avatery ftools, as the third 5 and convodfions, as the
laft.
As to the caufe of thefe complaints, he obferves,
that in infants the glandular fecretions, which are all
more or lefs glutinous, are much more copious than in
adults. During the time of fucking, the glands of the
mouth and fauces being fqueezed by the contraflion
of the mufcles, pour forth their contents plentifully $
which afterwards mixing Avith the mucus of the gullet
3 O 2 and
47s
Difeafes of
Children.