THE FAMILY DOCTOR: A COUNSELLOR IN SICKNESS, PAIN AND DISTRESS, FOR CHILDHOOD, MANHOOD AND OLD AGE : Containing in plain language, free from Medical terms, The Causes, Symptoms, and Cure of Disease in every Form, With importan' Rules for Preserving the Health, and directions for the Sick Chamber, and the proper treatment of the Sick; the whole drawn from extensive observation and practice, and Illustrator Mt\ ItoOT $nplrinp OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AND HERBS. "All men ought to be acquainted with the medical art. A knowl- edge of medicine is the sister and companion of wisdom." Hippocrates. PHILADELPHIA: Published by John E. Potter, No. 617 SANSOM STREET. 1857. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by JOHN E. POTTER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA: BTEREOTTPED BT GEORGE CHARLES, 607 SANSOM STREET. PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD, 607 SANSOM STREET. (f'J^* CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY WORDS. PAGE Regard to health........................................ 9 Dieting,................................................ 11 Hardening the constitution,............................... 12 Cheerfulness,............................................ 13 Early rising,............................................. 13 Exercise,............................................... 16 Drinks,........,........................................ 18 Bathing................................................. 19 Tobacco,................................................ 24 Snuff,.................................................. 25 Important paragraphs,................................... 25 Quaint old song,......................................... 28 THE SICK ROOM. Ventilation and cleanliness,............................... 29 Temperature and light,................................... 30 Cautions against infection,................................ 31 Proper conduct to the sick,............................... 32 Strong feelings,.......................................... 33 Cookery for the sick,..................................... 35 Drinks.................................................... 38 Poultices,............................................... 39 (3) 4 CONTENTS. DISEASES OP CHILDREN. PAGB Introductory remarks and directions,....................... 42 Common fits or convulsions,............................... 50 Whooping cough,,....................................... 51 Croup,.................................................. 53 Teething,.............................................. 56 Thrush,................................................. 58 Cholera infantum,........................................ 59 Colic,................................................... 61 Hiccough, or hiccup,........................................ 63 Diarrhoea,............................................... 64 Costiveuess, or constipation................................ 68 Vomiting,.............................................. 69 Worms,............."................................... 70 Ricketts,............................................... 73 Scalled head,........................................... 74 Ringworm,.............................................. 79 Chilblains,.............................................. 81 Chapped hands,......................................... 82 Itch,................................................... 83 Rose rash,.............................................. 85 The gum,............................................... 86 Nettle rash,............................................. 88 Chicken pox,............................................ 89 Measles,................................................ 89 Small pox,.............................................. 92 Vaccination and cow-pox,................................ 94 St. Vitus' dance,......................................... 97 Watery head, or dropsy of the brain,...................... 93 Abscess within the ear,................................... 101 CONTENTS. 5 DISEASES OP MEN AND WOMEN. PAGE Colds and coughs,....................................... 104 Influenza, or catarrh,..................................... 107 Consumption,............................................... 108 Asthma,................................................115 Dropsy,..........................................^...... 118 Gout,................................................... 121 Rheumatism,............................................ 123 Lumbago,............................................... 126 Erysipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire,.........................127 Cramp,................................................. 129 Cholera morbus,.......................................... 130 Malignant cholera,....................................... 132 Diarrhoea,............................................... 136 Dysentery,.............................................. 139 Diseases of the bladder,.................................. 142 Dyspepsia, or indigestion,................................. 147 Diseases of the liver,..................................... 151 Pleurisy,............................................... 157 Inflammation of the bowels,.............................. 159 Fevers,.................................................. 161 Yellow fever,............................................ 164 Typhus fever.............................................. 168 Scarlet fever, or scarlatina,................................ 171 Fever and ague,......................................... 173 Bilious fever,............................................ 177 Diseases of the throat,................................... 178 Mumps,................................................ 184 Diseases of the teeth..................................... 185 Headache,.............................................. 187 Diseases of the ear,...................................... 189 6 CONTENTS. PAcra Diseases of the eye,....................................... 192 Neuralgia,............................................... 195 Apoplexy,.............................................. 198 Insanity,................................................ 201 Hypochondria,.......................................... 206 Hysterical affections,.................................... 209 Paralysis, or palsy,....................................- -. 211 Epilepsy,................................................ 216 Rjipture, or hernia,....................................... 217 Palpitation of the heart,.................................. 219 Nightmare,............................................. 221 Heartburn............................................... 222 Jaundice,............................................... 223 Vomiting,.............................................. 225 Hemorrhage,............................................ 227 Piles,................................................... 228 Stitch, or pain in the side,................................ 230 Mortification,........................................... 231 Hydrophobia,............................................. 233 Venereal diseases,....................................... 235 WOUNDS, ACCIDENTS, AND MINOR DISEASES. General treatment of wounds,............................. 244 Gun-shot wounds,........................................ 246 Fever-sore,.............................................. 246 White-swelling,........................................... 247 Ulcers................................................... 249 Wens and fistulas,....................................... 250 Whitlow, or felon,....................................... 251 Warts.................................................. 252 Corns, ................................................. 253 CONTENTS. 7 PAGE Scrofula, or king's evil,.................................... 254 Scurvy,................................................. 257 Scalds and burns,....................................... 258 Sprains, ............................................'... 260 Boils................................................... 261 Bruises,................................................ 262 Broken bones and dislocations............................. 263 Falls,................................................... 264 Locked jaw,............................................. 2€5 Recovery of the drowned,................................. 266 Recovery of persons struck by lightning,................... 268 Choking,............................................... 268 Inversion of a toe-nail,................................... 270 Sun-stroke,............................................. 271 Accidents from taking poisons,............................ 271 Bites and stings of animals,................................273 DISEASES OF WOMEN. General hints,............................................. 276 Menstruation,............................................ 279 The whites,..............................................284 Diseases of married life,.................................. 286 Diseases of childbirth,...........................;........ 295 Hints on weaning,....................................... 301 Barrenness,............................................. 303 Miscellaneous,......................................... 305 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Ornamental heading...................................... ° Skunk cabbage,.......................................... 52 Catnip.................................................. 57 Spearmint,............................................. "6 Tansy,...................................•.............. 71 Poke, skoke, garget, or coakum,........................... 78 Snake root,............................................. 84 Saffron................................................. 91 Hoarhound,............................................. 106 Elecampane,............................................ 115 Seneca snake-root,....................................... 116 Burdock,........................••........................ 120 Indian Turnip,........................................... 127 Pennyroyal,............................................. 137 Bayberry, or Wax myrtle,................................ 144 Wild carrot,.................................,.......... 145 Blood, or Puccoon root, ................................. 153 Dandelion,.............................................. 155 Lobelia, or Indian tobacco,............................... 169 Boneset, or Thoroughwort,................................ 178 Wild Indigo,............................................ 184 Golden seal.............................................. 213 Solomon's seal,.......................................... 229 Mandrake............................................... 241 Plantain,............................................... 274 Comfrey,............................................... 285 We need not spend many words, friendly reader, in introducing our subject. As you have kindly solicited our counsel, we will meet you with a sympathizing spirit, and in kind language. We have about us neither mystery nor concealment; but are desirous only to understand your sufferings, and in the most simple and direct manner to minister the best remedies. We have no special object to pursue beyond what we avow; we have no par- ticular system to advance; and we have no wish to make (9) 10 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. our volume an advertisement of any nostrums of our own. Our plan is with all honesty, simplicity, and common sense, to guard our friends against what is prejudicial to health, and then to tell them what to do when disease visits them. We have realized much affliction, and know how to feel for those who suffer in like manner. And we earnestly request that the moment you think we do not understand your case, and feel that we do not render you the service you need, you will at once call in the living physician in whom you place most confidence. Our desire is to keep disease out of the world ; but if it really succeeds in coming in, as soon as possible to drive it away. We hold that every man should desire to present before God and man a sound mind in a sound body. We are sure that without health we can neither enjoy happiness nor discharge the duties which devolve upon us; and we know also that, if we would enjoy a healthy old age, we must exercise the care and prudence of the old while we are yet young. We are ambitious to benefit our fellow- men, believing as we do, with the world-renowned John Wesley, that " the best physician is not he who talks best, or who writes best, but who performs the most cures." We believe that the conditions of perfect health, either public or personal, are seldom or never attained, though attainable; that the average length of human life may be very much extended, and its physical power greatly augmented • that INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 11 in every year thousands of lives are lost which might have been saved; that tens of thousands of cases of sickness occur which might have been prevented; that a vast amount of unnecessarily impaired health and physical debility exists among those not actually confined by sickness; that these preventable evils require an enormous expenditure and loss of money, and impose upon the people unnumbered and immeasurable calamities, pecuniary, social, physical, mental, and moral, which might be avoided; that means exist, within our reach, for their miti- gation or removal; and that measures for prevention will effect infinitely more than remedies for the cure of disease. " A man," says ' HalVs Journal of Health? "may diet as well as physic himself to death. Some time since a young man called to see me, thin, pah, despondent, and with a great variety of symptoms. On inquiry, I found he had been reading about diet, vegetable food, and other similar sub- jects, and concluding that many persons owed their ill- health to over-eating, he would eat very little of any thing, discarded meat of all kinds, and considered tea and coffee as decidedly poisonous in their ultimate effects. By this means, provisions being high, he concluded he would save money and health too. He had, for some time, been living on bread and potatoes, a small daily allowance, with as much cold water as he could possibly swallow, the object of 12 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. that being to keep himself washed out clean No wonder that such a man was an invalid—mind and body full of symptoms." Dieting is not starvation. It is living on substantial, nourishing food, in amount sufficient to satisfy the wants of the system. A man is in little dan- ger of eating too much, if he confine himself to two or three plain articles of diet at any one meal; this is a secret which every man and woman in the land ought to know. Living exclusively on cold food will soon engender disease, especially in cold weather. And as certainly will a scanty diet do the same if persevered in. Men also talk about ' hardening the constitution? and with that view, expose themselves to summer's sun and winter's wind, to strains and over efforts, and many unneces- sary hardships. To the same end, ill informed mothers dip their little infants in cold water day by day; their skin, and flesh, and bodies, as steadily growing rougher, and thinner, and weaker, until slow fever, water on the brain, or consumption of the bowels, carries them to the grave; and then they administer to themselves the semi- comfort and rather questionable consolation, of its being a mysterious dispensation of Providence, when in fact the fault is their own. Providence works no miracle to counteract human follies. The best way we know of hardening the constitution, is to take good care of it; for it is no more improved by INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 13 harsh treatment than a fine garment or a new hat is made better by being banged about. The old people used to tell us that the best physicians were Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman, and no man can dispute that cheerfulness wonderfully contributes to health. " Laugh and grow fat," is a sound philosophical adage. Sterne tells us that every time a man laughs he adds something to his life. And Solomon, under the guidance of inspiration itself, says, " A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." An eccentric philosopher of the last century used to say that he liked not only to laugh him- self, but to see laughter and hear laughter. Laughter is good for health; it is a provocative to the appetite, and a friend to digestion. Dr. Sydenham said a merry-maker in town was more beneficial to the health of the inhabit- ants than twenty asses loaded with medicine. Even a grave and learned physician has before now been disposed to minister to the cheerfulness of his patient. The re- nowned Dr. Jenner, who first discovered vaccination, once sent the following epigram, with a couple of ducks, to a patient— "I've dispatched, my dear Madam, this scrap of a letter, To say that Miss B------is very much better; A regular doctor no longer she lacks, And therefore I've sent her a couple of quacks." Early rising is a subject which has occupied thousands 2 14 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. of pens, and to omit a reference to which in a volume on health and sickness would be almost unpardonable. It is true the climate of some parts of the south and west of our country does not present very powerful arguments in favor of early exercise in the open air; but happily, time and cultivation are every year making even those far more healthy, while all the densely populated parts of the United States encourage the industry of early day. But we regret to say that even there early rising has generally been extolled in vain, for most people think that an ad- ditional hour's sleep is very comfortable, and can make but very little difference after all. Let such persons re- * member that the difference between rising at six and rising at eight, in the course of forty years, supposing a person to go to bed at the same time he otherwise would, amounts to 29,000 hours, or three years, one hundred and twenty-one days and fifteen hours; which willfafford eight hours a day for exactly ten years; which is in fact the same as if ten years were added to the period of our lives, in which we might command eight hours every day for the cultivation of our minds and the dispatch of business. Those who remember that our country and the world are now calling on our young men both to acquire and impart knowledge, will see the propriety of our saying that to the student early rising is of special importance; for while the physician teaches that one hour's sleep before INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 15 midnight is worth two after, so the scholar will testify that in most parts of our country an hour's exercise and study in the morning is worth two at night. Many of the best books now in use have been written by busy men who have given two of their earliest hours every day to their production. All such men who value their health, will gratefully accept the advice of the eminent Professor Whitaker, of Cambridge, England, in the days of James the First, to John Boyse, one of the translators of the English Bible. 1. Study chiefly standing or walking. 2. Never study at a window. 3. Never go to bed with cold feet. We are anxious to say a few words more on the second of these rules. As you value your. health, your eye- sight, or your usefulness to society, we entreat you never to use a writing-desk or table with your face toward a window. In such case, the rays of light come directly upon the pupil of the eyes, and, causing an unnatural and forced contraction thereof, soon permanently injure the sight. Next, when your table or desk is near a win- dow, sit so that your face turns from, not toward, the window while you are writing. If your face is toward the window, the oblique rays strike the eye and injure it nearly as much as the direct rays when you sit in front of the window. It is best always to sit or stand while reading or writing with the window behind you; and 16 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. next to that with the light coming over your left side ; then the light illumines the paper or book, and does not shine abruptly upon the eye-ball. The same remarks are applicable to artificial light. We are often asked what is the best light—gas, candles, oil, or camphene? Our answer is, it is immaterial which, provided the light of either be strong enough and does not flicker. A gas fish-tail burner should never be used for reading or writing, because there is a constant oscillation or flickering of the flame. Candles, unless they have self-consuming wicks, which do not require snuffing, should not be used. We need scarcely say that oil wicks, which crust over and thus diminish the light, are good for nothing; and the same is true of compounds of the nature of camphene, unless the wicks are properly di- vested of all their gummy deposit after standing twenty- four hours. But, whatever the artificial light used, let it strike the paper or book which you are using, whenever you can, from over the left shoulder. This can always be done with gas, for that light is strong enough, and so is the light from camphene, oil, etc., provided it comes through a circular burner like the argand. But the light, what- ever it be, .should always be protected from the air in the room by a glass chimney, so that the light may be steady. INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 17 Scarcely less necessary is it, to impress on the minds of all, especially of the studious, the vast importance of exercise, especially that taken in the open air. We know the difficulty of leaving the interesting volume or the fascinating sheet which invites us to place on it our best thoughts, to walk two or three miles without, as it appears at the moment, an object worthy of our pursuit. We knew, some forty years ago, an inveterate student, who suffered extremely from dyspepsia and from obesity on this very account, and at length convinced himself as to the duty of every day walking out three miles to drive a nail into a particular post, and then return to his studies. He did this for many years, as is attested by thousands of nails yet remaining in the post, which is now often visited as a curiosity. We have before us an extract of a humorous letter, written by a friend to a man who neglected such exercise:—" No wonder you grow fat: it is often the case with lazy people. Do something—if it is nothing more than rolling snow—and you will feel happier and breathe more freely. Now—so horrid fat— what on earth are you good for ? You have filled the stage and the pew, and taken up the room of some three or four. Just work a little—exert yourself—and you will soon cease to be one «Of those hale, hearty fellows,' who,— ' Too lazy to respire themselves, Breathe through a pair of bellows !'" 2* B 18 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. To say all in a word, no remedy known to men has such a powerful and permanent influence in maintaining or regaining health as the judicious employment of cheer- ful exercise in the open air ; and, if properly attended to in a timely manner, it will cure a large majority of cura- ble diseases, and will sometimes succeed when medicines have lost their power. Too much caution cannot be employed as to the drinks we use, as at least ninety-five per cent, of every thing stronger than tea or coffee are decidedly injurious. From all quarters where correct information is possessed, we learn the extreme difficulty of obtaining pure spirits, and are disposed to think that even stimulants are best in the form of medicine. Some very important facts have recently been presented to the public by Dr. Hiram Cox, chemical inspector of alcoholic liquors in Cincinnati. He says, that during two years, he has made two hundred and forty-nine inspections of various kinds of liquors, and has found more than nine-tenths of them imitations, and a great portion of them poisonous concoctions. Of brandy, he does not believe there is one gallon of pure in a hundred gallons, the imitations having corn whisky for a basis, and various poisonous acids for the condi- ments. Of wines, not a gallon in a thousand, purporting to be sherry, port or sweet Malaga, is pure, but they are made of water, sulphuric acid, alum, Guinea pepper, INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 19 horse-radish, and many of them without a single drop of alcoholic spirit. Dr. Cox warrants there are not ten gallons of genuine port wine in Cincinnati. In his in- spections of whisky, he has found only from seventeen to twenty per cent, of alcoholic spirit, when it should have from forty-five to fifty ; and some of it contains sulphuric acid enough in a quart to eat a hole through a man's stomach. As whisky is now the favorite beverage, these facts are worth consideration. An ingenious author asserts that the length of a man's life may be estimated by the number of pulsations he has strength to perform. Thus, allowing seventy years for the common age of man, and sixty in a minute for the common measure of pulses, in a temperate person, the number of pulsations in his whole life would amount to 2,207,520,000 ; but, if by intemperance, he forces his blood into a more rapid motion, so as to give seventy- five pulses in a minute, the same number of pulses would be completed in fifty-six years, consequently his life would be reduced by fourteen years. In every civilized country, and in every age, bathing has been regarded as a fountain of life. The author of " The Modern Syrians," when speaking of that country, tells us: "Once on a time, a French doctor came to Da- mascus to seek his fortune. When he saw the luxurious vegetation, he said, 'This is the place for me—plenty 20 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. of fever.' And then, on seeing the abundance of water, he said, 'More fever—no place like Damascus.' When he entered the town, he asked the people, 'What is this building ?' 'A bath.' 'And what is that building ?' 'A bath.' 'And that other building?' 'A bath.' 'Plague on these baths, they take the bread out of my mouth,' * said the doctor; ' I must seek fever-practice elsewhere.' So he turned his back, went out of the gate again, and hasted elsewhere." Many physicians very strenuously contend, that at all times and under all circumstances, a bath entirely cold is to be preferred; and certainly, some of the most healthy people we know, have long been in the habit of using the cold bath, both in summer and in winter, twice a day —that is, morning and night. We are acquainted with a somewhat aged physician, who, a few years since, looked prematurely old, and was tormented almost to death with rheumatism; he took, several years since, to cold bathing, and now looks hale and hearty, and assures us that he never feels even a twitch of the old enemy. In the case of many aged persons, and some others, the tepid bath, that is, one neither hot nor cold, but which the patient feels is just about the heat of his blood, is to be preferred. After excessive labor, a fa- tiguing journey, or exposure to the sun ; or indeed, after excitement of any kind, we know of no greater luxury, or any thing more decidedly'contributing to health, than INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 21 the tepid bath. It cools the whole animal system; and we are persuaded that if it were used to the extent it ought to be, we should have fewer fevers than are now preva- lent. In cases of hysterics, paralysis and insanity, and eruptions and sores, the value of the warm bath is beyond all estimate. The beautiful skins of the French ladies, very generally arise from their constancy of this prac- tice. The warm bath should be used two or three times a week for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time, always, however, before meals, and not after them. A little sulphur may sometimes, in cases of eruptions, be taken with advantage, in connection with the bath. Hot baths are of three kinds:— 1. The general-hot bath, in which the body of the pa- tient is immersed as high as the chin. 2. The hot salt-water bath, is used in the same manner. 3. The partial hot-water bath, or foot-bath, in which the feet and legs only are immersed. While a patient is being bathed in a hot-bath, no draught of air should be permitted to blow; and a fire should be lighted, especially in winter, or in variable weather; the nurse should also have in readiness, a warm flannel and sheet, and a large kettle full of hot water. The water of the various hot-baths should be heated to 100° or 105° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, or should be as warm as can be conveniently borne by the nurse's hand. 22 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. In making use of hot baths, take care to leave suffi- cient room in the vessel for the continual addition of hot water, which must be cautiously poured in from the ket- tle, so as to maintain as nearly as possible the same de- gree of heat during the whole time. The hot-bath frequently operates like a soothing charm, particularly in the diseases of children dependent on irritation of the bowels. Often whilst immersed in the water the child will cease to moan, and gently over- powered by the delicious sleep succeeding pain, smile as it slumbers on its mother's arm. The hot-bath, however, is not always advisable, even when recommended by learned authorities; when there exists great determina- tion of blood to the head, with a disposition to fits, the foot-bath is to be preferred; neither should the use of the hot-bath be persevered in when it causes excessive agi- tation. Any large vessel, such as a washing-tub, that will con- tain a sufficient quantity of water to cover every part of the body excepting the head, will serve the purpose of a bath. The patient should be immersed as high as the chin, and be kept in ten or fifteen minutes by the clock, not by calculation. When taken out, the patient should be immediately wrapped up in the warm sheet, and wiped rapidly, for it is of more importance to dry quickly than completely. The patient should then be wrapped up in the warm flannel, and be put to bed, the quantity INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 23 of the coverings being gradually diminished as the pa- tient becomes hot, restless, and uncomfortable. Sometimes, it is extremely difficult to allay the agita- tion which children show in coming in contact with water, but patience, guided by good sense, will usually suc- ceed. It may be advisable in such cases at first only to immerse the legs, allowing the hot water gradually to cover the body, as the child becomes familiarised to it. A playful cheerful manner, on th& part of the mother or nurse, will often prevail when all other methods fail. The hot salt-water bath, is often highly serviceable in exciting a healthful and uniform warmth of the skin. In many dangerous bowel diseases, in rickets, and in dis- eases attended by extreme emaciation, the skin of the whole body, but more particularly of the feet and legs, becomes cold almost as marble; but if warmth can be re- stored, the patient will frequently recover. One or two pounds of salt may be mixed with each gallon of water, the patient being immersed as high as the chin. Being generally much debilitated, they should not remain in the water longer than four or five min- utes by the clock, and must then be treated as after making use of the ordinary hot-bath. The foot-bath is useful in a variety of cases, especially when the legs are cold, the head hot, and the patient dis- posed to convulsions; a common pail will hold a suffi- cient quantity of water. The legs should be immersed 24 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. nearly as high as the knees, room being left for the continual addition of hot water. • Should the feet continue cold after the use of the foot- bath, it may be proper to repeat it, adding to the hot water a quantity of salt, as in preparing the hot salt- water bath. Should the feet still continue cold, add also some flour of mustard, in the proportion of two or three tablespoonsful to a gallon, in order to render the hot water more permanently stimulating. We regard Tobacco as one of the greatest enemies of the human family, and indeed of all life; hence no animal but man will touch it. Dr. Dixon very properly maintains that the use of tobacco, in any shape, is pro- ductive of the most fearful physical results. He at- tributes, in fact, most of the distressing maladies we are subject to, as well as the gaunt, sallow countenances of too many Americans, to the nicotin, or oil of tobacco, infused into the system by the general habit of smoking or chewing. "Nicotin," remarks this able physician, "was the awful agent chosen by Bocarme for poisonino- his brother-in-law, because it killed and left no sign whereby to convict him." He adds, that "five drops of the oil of tobacco will kill a large dog." We may add here that a distinguished college of phy- sicians, have decided that not less than twenty thousand persons die annually, in the United States, from the use of this poison, which is almost infinitely more injurious to INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 25 those who use it than the most pernicious alcohol. A German periodical tells us that half the young men who die from twenty to twenty-five years of age, are destroyed by the use of tobacco. We are equally opposed to the use of Snuff. Scholars, orators, and soldiers have pursued this habit of snuff-taking till their brains have become seri- ously diseased, their strength has declined, and they have sunk prematurely into the grave. A gentleman once asked the celebrated Abernethy if he thought the moderate use of snuff would injure the brain ? " No, sir," was Abernethy's prompt reply, " for no man with a single ounce of brains would ever think of taking snuff I" The eminent Dr. Eush says, in his manuscript lectures, "I once attended a gentleman who had been for some- time troubled with pains in his stomach, accompanied with loss of appetite and considerable emaciation. Ob- serving that he frequently practiced the taking of snuff, to which I attributed his complaints, I advised him to suspend the use of it. This he accordingly did, and soon began to mend very fast. I was informed by him a few weeks after, that he had gained thirty pounds in flesh, and was at that period in the enjoyment of perfect health." We will close this section by condensing into a few sentences the result of much thought:— 3 26 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. A healthy stock makes a strong and healthy race; as you could not select your parents, get health yourself, that you may give it to those who follow you. Good morals preserve good health. Divellings on high ground in a dry situation and away from the town, are more healthful than those on low ground in damp situations and in close streets. Good ventilation and good drainage are of the first importance to health. Prevent bad smells, which are unpleasant and dangerous to life. Temperature from 60° to 66° is most healthful. Exercise is necessary to the health, both of body and mind, and both should be actively employed; if your business confines you to the house, endeavor to obtain exercise in the open air, either before your labors begin or when they have ended; gardening combines profit with exercise ; cricket and manly games exhilarate and strengthen the mind as well as the body. Air is to the lungs what food is to the body; therefore, breathe all the fresh air you can. Rise early and retire early to rest; let your bed-room be as clean as possible, and free from boxes, curtains, and furniture. It is most healthful to imitate the birds, they roost above the reach of the vapors of the ground. Wash well; let your first waking act be to wash your INTRODUCTORY WORDS. 27 body, teeth, face, hands, and feet; use plenty of soap, rub it on your skin with your hands or a piece of flan- nel, then rinse it off well with fresh water, and dry the skin well with a clean cloth; if your occupations are dusty or dirty, wash before you sleep. Be regular with your meals, and eat them slowly; three meals are enough for any one—breakfast, dinner and supper; the tea, as a separate meal, is bad : tea and supper should be one. Eat and drink moderately; to be light and bright at your work, carry a light load. Take nothing between meals ; if you are thirsty, drink water. Ardent spirits are wholly unnecessary; the Indians call them fire-water, for they burn up the vital organs. Clothing should be clean and sweet; woolen in winter cotton in summer. To keep your head cool and your feet warm, is a wise maxim. The chest should not be exposed to damp and cold, for in it are the lungs and the heart. For the same reason the chest should have free play, and the clothes should be hung from the shoulders and not from the waist. Pressure round the waist of any kind is hurtful and dangerous to life; this custom is as injurious to women as tobacco is to men. Laugh and grow fat is a good adage; cheerfulness begets health, and health begets cheerfulness ; and both, thankfulness for God's mercies. 28 INTRODUCTORY WORDS. To be angry is to be contemptible; it destroys self-re- spect and digestion. Occupations that compel close confinement, stooping, leaning, etc., and those that injure the breathing, or ex- pose to unhealthy influences, must be counteracted by a strict observance of the rules of health. A quaint old song says:— Ye who would save your features florid, Lithe limbs, bright eyes, unwrinkled forehead, From Age's devastation horrid, Adopt this plan; 'Twill make, in climate cold or torrid, A hale old man. Avoid in youth luxurious diet, Restrain the passion's lawless riot, Devoted to domestic quiet, Be wisely gay; So shall ye, spite old Age's fiat, Resist decay. Seek not, in Mammon's worship, pleasure- But find your richest, purest treasure, In books, friends, music, polished leisure— The mind, not cents, Make the sole scale by which to measure Opulence. This is the solace, this the science, Life's purest, sweetest, best appliance, That disappoints not man's reliance, Whate'er his state— But challenges, with calm defiance, Time, fortune, fate. THE SICK EOOM. HIS should be in the upper part of the house—diseases proving more fatal in the lower or lowest apartments, as in parlors, kitch- or cellars. It should be contin- ually and thoroughly ventilated by day and by night: the window or door should be frequently left open, the patient being screened from immediate contact with the draught: the fewer persons in the room the better ; one more than the necessary attendant is one too many ; the air of the apartment being rendered injurious by those who breathe it. Many diseases, especially those which are preceded by languor, lassitude, and drowsiness, are produced by a foul atmosphere, and by the effluvia from drains and sewers : the recovery of the patient will often entirely depend upon a removal to a pure air. The utmost possible cleanliness' should be observed, and the room be entirely freed from unpleasant smells. A few drops of the oil of sandal-wood, which, though not in general use, may be easily obtained, when dropped on a hot shovel, will diffuse a most agreeable balsamic 3* (29) 30 THE SICK ROOM. perfume throughout the atmosphere; or, a small piece of resin dipped in hot water, will add a peculiar prop- erty to the room, which will give relief to persons trou- bled with a cough. The heat of the water is sufficient to throw off the aroma of the resin, and give the same relief as is afforded by its combustion. It is prefera- ble to the combustion, because the evaporation is more durable. The same resin may be used for weeks. The temperature of the room should be as uniform as possible; and as a general rule, we may say, that about sixty degrees of Fahrenheit will be found most agreeable to the feelings, as well as most favorable to the return of health. So far as the patient can comfortably bear it, it should also be light. A multitude of facts testify to its import- ance. Sir Andrew Wylie, who was for a long time at the head of the medical staff in the Eussian army, stated that the cases of disease on the dark side of an extensive barrack at St. Petersburg, have been uniformly, for many years, in the proportion of three to one of those on the side exposed to strong light. In one of the London Hospitals with a long range of frontage looking nearly due north and south, it has been observed that the pa- tients more rapidly recover on the sunny than on the shady side of the building. Scrofula is well known to THE SICK ROOM. 31 be more prevalent in dark and narrow streets, than in those which are broad and well ventilated. Any tax upon daylight, therefore, as Dr. Carpenter has well ob- served, is a direct tax upon Public Health and National Prosperity. Of course, light is injurious in cases of vio- lent fever. Nor is it less important that, as far as may be, every thing about the room should wear a cheerful aspect. It is a characteristic of music-loving Bohemia, that in a Lunatic Asylum of its capital, music should be considered one of the chief instruments for improvement of the patients. In addition to the garden concerts, in which all assist who can, there are quartets every even- ing in the wards, and a director is appointed, for the express purpose of superintending this part of the arrangements. In sleeping, that posture should be chosen which is promotive of deep and full inspirations, because nature renders the latter deeper when we are asleep than awake, except in action. Hence a high head, by cramping both the windpipe and the blood-vessels, is bad. The head should rest on a line with the body As you value your own health, never place yourself between the patient and the fire, for there is always a current in that direction from all parts of the room; hence the effluvia from the sick man passes by, and is breathed by you. 82 THE SICK ROOM. Never swallow your saliva, nor eat or drink any thing in a sick room. Do not go where the sick are while in a perspiration, nor under any circumstances of exhaustion. But above all things, it is most important, that your conduct while visiting the sick should be wise and pru- dent. We are aware that this subject is one of great delicacy, but it is one on which some plain hints are called for. We have had much opportunity for obser- vation, and been painfully taught by experience. A sick room is no place for curiosity. Curiosity in a sick and dying chamber! Yes, reader, you have perhaps gazed upon an emaciated and suffering fellow-being, and used up a portion of the vital air needed by a gasping mortal, when nothing but curiosity led you to that scene of suffering. If no good word is to be said, or kind service to be rendered in a sick and dying room, it is the last place to which one should go as a mere spectator. Every new face, the tread of every uncalled-for foot, the demands upon the air for breath, the breathing of such as must be in attendance, is an injury in sickness, and especially when debility is great. And yet the pro- testations of physicians, and the anxiety of family rela- tives, cannot control this evil or cure it. Nine persons out of ten feel as if it were an act of rude neglect, if they are not invited into a sick room, and a direct insult if told that they must not go. We have seen persons THE SICK ROOM. 33 go into such a room, and sit hour after hour, with their eyes fixed on the sick person, occasionally whispering to some equally indiscreet one that may chance to be nigh. This is intolerable. We cannot endure the fixed gaze of half a dozen persons when well, and what must it be to one sinking and dying! Others will hang about the door and peep at the sufferer, as they would steal a look at some show. We have seen this so much, that we can scarcely write and possess our souls in patience. Another practice where the patient is very sick, is that of feeling the pulse, looking at the finger nails, examining the feet, with sundry other acts, all of which are accompanied with a very wise look, a sigh and a whisper. These things are done by persons who very poorly understand their own tests of approaching death, and alike mistake the good and comfort of the dying. Think not that we would have the fact of approaching death kept from any friend or any fellow being; far from this—but let the matter be kindly, wisely and dis- tinctly stated to the patient, and not by such untimely, and, we may say, unkind hints and insinuations. It should never be forgotten, that in almost every case the patient is perfectly aware of all which is going on in the room, whether it may appear so to spectators or not. It is unwise to repress the expression of strong feel- ings on the part of the patient. A lengthy dissertation has lately been published by a physician of France, on C 34 THE SICK ROOM. the beneficial influences of groaning and crying, on the nervous system. He contends that these are the two grand operations by which Nature allays anguish—that he has uniformly observed that those patients who give way to their natural feelings, more speedily recover from accidents and operations, than those who supposed it unworthy a man to betray such symptoms of coward- ice as either to groan or cry. He is always pleased with the crying and violent roaring of a patient during the time he is undergoing a severe surgical operation, be- cause he is satisfied that he will thereby soothe his ner- vous system so as to prevent fever, and insure a favora- ble termination. He relates the case of a man, who, by crying and bawling, reduced his pulse from one hundred and twenty-six to sixty, in the course of two hours. That some patients often have great satisfaction in groan- ing, and that hysterical patients experience great relief from crying, are facts which no person will deny. As to restless and hypochondriacal subjects, or those who are never happy but when they are under some course of medical or dietetic treatment, the French surgeon as- sures them that they can not do better than groan all day and cry all night. It is also sometimes useful to bring bfore the patient a pleasant reminiscence of the past. When the late Dr. Eush was a young man, he escorted a lady, on a holiday, to see an eagle's nest. Many years afterward he was THE SICK ROOM. 35 called to attend her in the acute stage of typhus ; and, on his entrance into her chamber, she instantly screamed out, " Eagle's nest!" and it is said from that moment the fever began to decline. The importance of the subject will justify a few re- marks on Cookery for the sick. Much here depends on the taste, the previous habits, and indeed prejudices of the patient, and it is always pru- dent, except in extreme cases, to make no unnecessary de- parture from the patient's usual diet. Extremes should be avoided both in the use of animal food and of vegetables. A judicious blending of the two we judge to be far the better plan. Very much depends on cooking. All food taken by the sick should be light, easy of digestion, and never taken in large quantities. We have long been of opin- ion that for the sick room Indian corn, in all its variety of cooking, is an unspeakable blessing. We will here throw together a few references to food and its cookery, which may at least furnish hints to good nurses; who, however, know that a choice morsel of food unexpectedly placed before the patient is often the most acceptable and useful. Cut some codfish to bits the size of peas, and boil it a minute in water to freshen it. Pour off all the water, and add some cream and a little pepper. Split and toast a Boston cracker, and put the above 38 THE SICK ROOM. upon it. Milk and a little butter may be used instead of cream. Ham or smoked beef may be prepared in the same way. For a variety, beat up an egg and stir it in, in- stead of cream, or with the cream. Chicken tea is made by boiling any part of the chicken, and using the broth weak with only a little salt. Chicken broth is made by boiling the chicken a good deal, and skimming very thoroughly and seasoning with salt. A little rice or pearl barley improves it, or a little parsley may be used to flavor it. Chicken Panada is made by pounding some of the meat of boiled chicken in a mortar with a little broth and also a little salt and nutmeg. Then pour in a little more broth and boil it five minutes. It should be a thick broth. Calf 's-feet jelly is of great value in cases of sickness or convalescence, while its preparation is very easy. Well clean two calf's-feet, boil them in a gallon of water till it is reduced to a quart. When cold, skim off all the fat, and carefully take up all the jelly quite clean, put it into a saucepan with half a pound of loaf sugar, a pint of sherry wine, and the juice of four lemons. Then take the whites of six eggs, well beaten up, and hav- ing stirred all up well, let it boil for a few minutes, Pour the whole into a large flannel bag, and having put THE SICK ROOM. 37 some thin lemon peel put into a large basin, drain the whole off, and when cold it is fit for use. The lemon peel greatly improves both the color and flavor. Another jelly may be made from Tapioca, or from Sago ; slowly boiled, and , mixed with a little sherry or raisin wine, lemon juice and sugar to suit the taste of the patient. It is, we presume, entirely unnecessary to say a word on the advantages of water-gruel, caudle, mutton-broth, or beef-tea, or of the manner in which they ought to be prepared, as every good housekeeper may be supposed fully to understand these matters. These preparations might be extended to an indefinite length, but we have purposely refrained from this task. While it is sometimes necessary to tempt or stimulate the appetite, it is often quite as important to allow the sick to follow the dictates of Nature, and when they desire it, to abstain both from food and drink. Especially is this true in all cases of fever, where, except in danger of positive exhaustion, the less taken the better. A careful and experienced nurse, or a judicious physician, should always be consulted in cases where diet becomes a very serious question. A fact here may give a useful hint. In the city of Constantinople once lived a physician of great renown ; he was neither a professor of homoeo- pathy nor of animal magnetism, yet the cures he effected were considered as little less than miraculous ; multitudes 4 38 THE SICK ROOM. had been wonderfully relieved or restored by his almost superhuman skill, yet all he administered to each patient were three or four drops of a tasteless liquid, and the advice he gave was the same in all instances. The fame of his marvelous doings penetrated even to the ears of the Sultan; he was summoned to the sublime presence, and commanded to divulge the secret nature of the wonder-working drops. " Light of the Universe," said the trembling doctor, " if once the nature of these drops is known, their efficacy is lost." " Slave," replied the Sultan, winking his sublime eye at a big black fellow called a eunuch, " no hesitation! out with the secret, or prepare for the bowstring." "Three drops of water! three drops of water!" cried the doctor ; " nothing else, by the beard of the Prophet; my wonderful cures have all been effected by diet." The drinks of the patient in the sick-room, are of great importance, especially in cases of fever. A whey may be made, which will be found very useful in low fevers, of an ounce or an ounce and half of mustard, boiled in a pint of milk, and as much water till the curd be entirely separated. It should be strained through a cloth, and a tea-cupful sweetened with sugar given three or four times a day. In diabetes and uterine hemorrhage, boil two drachms of powdered alum in a pint of milk till it is curdled, and THE SICK ROOM. 39 then strain out the whey. Give a wine-glassful, or what the stomach will bear, two or three times a day. In cases of fever, boil two quarts of water with two ounces each of tamarinds, currants, and raisins, till the whole be reduced to three pints. Strain it on a piece of lemon peel, which should be removed before it makes the drink bitter. Scalded currants, cranberries, or sliced or roasted ap- ples, or a few slices of lemon with boiling water, slightly sweetened with sugar, make pleasant and refreshing drinks. As lovers of simple remedies, we are fond of poultices, but to accomplish their purpose they should be carefully made, and we can find no better place than this in which to give a few directions on their preparation. In a bread and water poultice it is important to re- member, that little good can be effected by a slice of bread sopped in hot-water by a nursery sloven, and put like a pancake on the part. Such a poultice should be made of crumbs of stale bread, put into a basin and boil- ing water poured upon them; the whole must then be covered with a plate till the heat has subsided to a com- fortable warmth; then lightly drain off the water, and apply the poultice quite wet to the part affected. A poultice is intended to answer the purpose of a continual fomentation, and must of course be renewed 40 THE SICK ROOM. immediately it becomes, dry. In endeavoring to soothe the irritation of highly inflamed parts, it is necessary to apply one four or five times a day; in every instance, where a poultice can be of any service, it should be re- newed two or three times a day; and over its surface, when put on for the night, may be spread a little lard or sweet oil, to preserve its moisture. Linseed-meal poultices must also be applied quite moist to the part. These, as generally made, more fre- quently irritate than soothe, and can have no other effect than what would be produced by a piece of dry leather. A linseed-meal poultice often proves more efficacious than bread and water in removing incrustation from the head. As an instance of the usefulness of poultices, we may mention that of a poor woman who had received a very dangerous wound in the tendons of her thumb from a rusty nail, which threatened lockjaw. Her physician advised her to apply a large poultice, covering her whole hand, and arm, made of linseed with an ounce of lau- danum spread over it, which he ordered to be renewed twice a day. In three weeks she was entirely cured. A good yeast poultice may be made of a little ale or beer, in which should be boiled as much oatmeal as will make it quite thick, and on this poultice should be spread one or two spoonsful of yeast. Eye-meal poultice is made exactly like mush, except THE SICK ROOM. 41 that extreme care must be taken to make it quite smooth. Charcoal poultice is made in the same way as the one we have just described, with the addition of two table- spoonsful of finely powdered fresh-made charcoal. Carrot poultice is often found useful in ulcers, swellings, and scrofulous sores. It is made simply of bruised car- rots, with a little flour and butter, and as much hot- water as will make it into a pulp. Dr. Bone, of New Jersey, strongly recommends, in cases of inflammation or ulcers, a poultice made of the powder of black willow bark, often called pussy willow, and common cream. It has been found very useful. THE DISEASES OF CHILDEEN. ^ X^O^^TEOM the moment of birth to that ^^&^S&|1: &^ of deatn we are liable t0 disease, 'c7^^-^ ~Jj. JK£>J and indeed are never free from it. "^WMifeS1 And yet with how much unconcern is this fact regarded. We cannot doubt the love of American mothers to their children, but we seriously deprecate the manner in which that love some- times shows itself; and believe there would be far less in- fantile disease and death, if such were properly trained as to their first duties to their offspring. Take, for instance, the recent testimony of a physician as to the improper withholding of air from a child, aid be it remembered, the picture may be multiplied to almost any extent. Our friend remarks, " Children have lungs!" This fact is either not known to the parents, or very little regarded. The first thing a baby wants is fresh air, and plenty of it. From the moment a child is born, it should have air and light; and neither be shut up in a dark room nor have its head covered up in a blanket. The other morning, making my first call on a lady (42) DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 43 with an infant, I saw a heap of blankets lying in a rock- ing-chair beside the bed, but there was no baby in sight. When I inquired for the newly-arrived, the nurse came, and after taking off fold after fold, there at last was the poor little half-smothered babe, gasping for breath. Mother and nurse got a lecture that time. Eeturning in an omnibus, a pretty woman got in, with her baby completely enveloped in its blankets. Per- haps it was none of my business; but I think it was. The baby had as good a right to breathe and have the purest air to be had, as anybody; and as there was no- body else to take its part, I did. "Madam," said I, "you are smothering that child." She smiled and shook her head. She did not believe a word of it. " You are making it breathe its own breath over and over again; and no air is fit to breathe but once. lam a physician, and can't let you make your child sick." She uncovered the baby's head. It took a long breath —and if it had been old enough to talk, and been up in its manners, it undoubtedly would have said, "Thank you, Doctor!" In many cases of incipient disease of the brain, fatally advancing in the atmosphere of cities, the sea air will often act as a saving charm, and prove itself the breath of life. Little, however, will avail the purest breeze of heaven iu invigorating the enfeebled infant, unless it 44 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. enjoy full freedom of respiration. The temporal salva- tion of a sickly child may be entirely dependent upon an increasing expansion of the lungs. That expansion is often completely prevented by the hateful bandages which are laced round the contracted chest in compli- ance with a barbarous fashion. The feeble infant that pines away in dark, damp cham- bers, inhaling the foul effluvia from drains and sewers, may be compared with the faded and blighted plant that shares its confinement. Look on the sickly geranium that is secluded from the sunshine and the air; how soon it ceases to put forth its crimson blossoms, and bows its head, and like a dejected being prepares to die. The earth may be loosened, and watered, and manured; the " sear and yellow leaf," or withered branch, may be daily plucked away, but all in vain; vain are the doc- toring and nursing of the fondest admirer; the slow decay creeps on from leaf to leaf, from branch to branch ; the stem itself assumes the fatal hue. But even then, when life is at its lowest ebb, transport it from the murky town to open plains; let it enjoy the unpolluted air and light of heaven, and the progress of dissolution is at once arrested; leaf after leaf displays its lively green; the little bud peeps forth, slowly and timidly blushing into day; another and another quickly succeeds, till all the blooming tribe start into life and revel in the sun. Air and sun will effect as wonderful a change in the state DISEASES OP CHILDREN. 45 of the infant as in that of the declining plant: when life is almost extinct and hope extinguished, transfer it from its sepulchral chambers to air and light, and at once the vital spark may revive. It scarcely need be said that the health of children is best promoted by exercise and reasonable abstinence; strong children must have strong exercise, or suffer from disease. Let their diet be carefully regulated, and sometimes restricted; animal food must be sparingly administered, and beer, wine and spirits be prohibited as dangerous poisons. Let them enjoy every opportu- nity of active exercise in the open air—in the air of the country if possible. A physician of this country, in paying a visit to Eng- land, discovered what many have known before him, that we have much to learn on the proper treatment of our children. Speaking of that land, he says, " Pretty children are seen in abundance everywhere—and so nicely kept! It seems to us, that nobody knows so well how to care for the physique of children as the English. They feed them with the simplest possible food, and are astonished when they hear that our young folks share the rich, heavy, high-seasoned dishes of their parents. Oatmeal porridge is considered a suitable breakfast for infant royalty itself; and a simple dinner at one o'clock, the proper thing for children whose parents dine sump- 46 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. tuously at seven. Exercise is considered one of the necessaries of life; and a daily walk or ride—not drive —in the fresh air, the proper form of it. It might be superfluous to notice any thing so obvious, if it were not that so many people in good circumstances with us, neglect this, and keep their children immured in nurse- ries, or cooped up in school-rooms, with no thought of exercise in the open air as a daily requisite. We wish nothing so much for these benighted parents, as that they should once become acquainted with the habits and principles of a well-ordered English nursery." A very few general directions may be added here be- fore we treat of the special diseases of childhood. Under ordinary circumstances, let the child drink plentifully, and continually of cold or lukewarm liquids, as most agreeable to its inclination. Many children who have been reduced to mere skeletons by improper food or by perpetual physicking, have recovered, apparently from drinking freely, sometimes almost incessantly, cold water. The most proper liquid, under all circumstan- ces, is the clear water of the spring, flavored or not with toasted bread. When the child is merely thirsty, never give it barley- water, arrow-root and water, linseed tea, or other muci- laginous drinks, or, worse than all, milk, or milk and water. The child requires liquids, not food; it will DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 47 swallow, with eagerness and delight, pure, unadulterated water, but turns away in disgust from all such nourish- ing drinks. In critical cases, barley-water, etc., is ex- tremely injurious, from disordering the stomach and bowels, and subsequently increasing the fever. When a child is in a state of violent fever, let it fast till the violence of the fever subsides: not a particle of food should be administered. When it has no appetite, beware of tempting or teaz- ing it to eat; food should never be given unless there is a craving for it, if not by words, yet by such signs as a mother can understand. All niceties and dainties, such as currant-jelly, cakes, pastry of all kinds, sweetmeats, and raw fruits, are absolute poison to a child whose pow- ers of digestion are for the time completely lost: food, in such instances, is fuel to the flame that feeds on life: to complain that it cannot get well because it cannot take nourishment, is as rational as to complain that we cannot extinguish a fire by pouring on oil. Never be alarmed or impatient because a child refuses for a few days to take any kind of nourishment; children in a state of fever may live without danger three or four weeks, without taking a single grain of substantial food. When it exhibits the symptoms of present or ap- proaching disease, let it be immediately fed for a day or two upon spare diet. A threatening disease will often 48 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. thus be averted, or, if inevitable, will be rendered less violent. By spare diet, we mean such things as are derived from the vegetable kingdom; they are sufficient to sus- tain life, but not to aggravate disease. Arrow-root, sago, or rice, boiled with water, not with milk; captain's bis- cuit ; dry toast in water ; potatoes now and then as a variety, which some children prefer to all other food— as the appetite improves, gradually and cautiously pro- ceeding to light bread puddings; light rice and tapioca puddings made without suet or fat, and boiled or baked apples in small quantities. During the prevalence of fever, we recommend only toast and fresh spring water, with or without a sop of toast in it, or a toasted captain's biscuit; weak tea, of which some children are remarkably fond; apple tea; the juice of oranges or lemons, plentifully diluted with water, and sweetened with a little lump sugar ; cream of tartar dissolved in water till the solution becomes as sour as weak lemonade—to this cream of tartar drink may be added a little lump-sugar and lemon-peel. When the tongue is red and parched, a little bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a large quantity of water, say in the pro- portion of half a tea-spoonful to a pint, is exceedingly useful'in quenching inordinate thirst. Barley water, ar- row-root and water, linseed tea, and milk and water, DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 49 though often recommended, are bad, when the chief ob- ject in giving them is to quench thirst. Never be persuaded to administer stimulants, such as wine, porter or spirits, to children in a state of fever. A teaspoonful of wine will act as fatally in some instan- ces as if it had been a solution of arsenic. The fate of a sick child often depends on the events of a moment; while the uncertain balance of its fate hangs quivering and trembling between Eternity and Time, a drop, a grain, injudiciously administered, may turn the beam. Never be persuaded by the nursery oracle, however venerable, to administer such things to a child as are said to drive out eruptions; as those of the small-pox, measles, or scarlet fever. Saffron, saffron and gin, saf- fron and brandy, are sometimes prescribed, and often with deadly effect. Never administer composing medicines to children, unless from medical advice, whether such medicines be of known or unknown nature. The lightest slumber induced by cordials, stimulants or quack medicines, may prove destructive. How often may be seen the little spark of life still feebly flickering on its mortal shrine, reluctant yet to die; in tremulous brightness still sweetly shining on distracted hope; now dimly visible and scarcely seen, now faintly struggling through retiring darkness, burning still—how often is that unextin- guished spark, that yet might live, quenched in a mo- ment by "that little quantity that can do no harm!" 5 i) COMMON FITS, OE CONVULSIONS. --6pC?pf^k ITS are extremely perilous—the first fit W^,^ ~ - ■], endangers life, the second may destroy it. ^ti$4 ''^wiSh/- /^w When a child, therefore, is ^WJJ^^^y-^ -.pq-, attacked with one, send ^~ the experiment during a hot day, found that his head became far less heated than usual, when protected by two or three grape leaves. Those who are exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, should try this method of protecting themselves. But in the unhappy event of a sun-stroke, give the sufferer stimulants of brandy or ammonia, or the two together, till he revives—apply mustard poultices freely to his chest, abdomen, and extremities, keeping his head well bathed with an abundance of cold water. ACCIDENTS FROM TAKING POISONS. Two or three facts relating to poisons in general ought to be better known than they are, with a view of induc- ing greater caution on the subject. (271) 272 WOUNDS, ACCIDENTS, ETC. The most powerful known poison is prussic acid, formed from iodine, cyanuret, and mercury. A single drop put on the tongue of a large dog, kills it instantly. Many things have hitherto been regarded as innocent, if not useful, which, however, are assuredly poisonous. In the United States, physicians have estimated that twenty thousand persons die every year from the use of tobacco. In Germany, the physicians have calculated that, of all the deaths which occur between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, one half originate in the waste of the constitution by smoking. They say that the article exhausts and deranges the nervous powers, and produces a long train of nervous diseases to which the stomach is liable, and especially those forms that go under the name of dyspepsia. It also exerts a disastrous influence upon the mind. Nor can this be wondered at, when the reader is reminded that a single drop of the essential oil of tobacco will poison a horse. Abstinence from so-called liquors has become a ne- cessity with those who desire to live and enjoy health. The social cup is, indeed, a poisonous cup in these days. With strychnine in the whiskey, and drugs and vitriol in the brandy, to give it " body," " flavor," and " color- ing," the man who drinks much of either must be " made of oak, and copper fastened," to stand it long. No one need to be told that whenever poison has been received into the stomach, it must be instantly ejected, WOUNDS, ACCIDENTS, ETC. 273 or it will prove fatal. If a surgeon is at hand, he should, without the loss of a moment, apply the stomach-pump; but if his services cannot be at once obtained, give the patient two table-spoonsful of common flour of mustard dissolved in warm water, and it will soon act as an emetic; or give a powerful emetic of any other kind. Dr. Shaw, of Texas, states that he has found sweet oil, drank freely, a successful antidote to strychnine in two cases. The oil is to be poured down without any refer- ence to the patient's vomiting. Professor Rochester has reported two cases of poisoning by the same terrible drug, successfully treated by a free use of camphor in- ternally and mustard poultices outside. BITES AND STINGS OF ANIMALS. Every one knows that many animals eject poisons which soon destroy man; and the importance of being prepared with remedies against these dangers must be seen at a glance. We have already treated of hydro- phobia, and will now refer to some other calamities arising from much smaller animals. Bites from the Rattlesnake or from the Red Adder are dangerous. The usual symptoms are nausea, a full and agitated pulse, swelling of the body, and suffusion of the E 274 WOUNDS, ACCIDENTS, ETC. eyes with blood; sometimes blood oozes from the pores iu perspiration, and at other times finds a vent from the nose, eyes, and ears. Not unfrequently the teeth chatter, and half-uttered groans distress the patient and his friends. The treatment of dis- ease in this form should be prompt. If a sur- geon can be obtained, he will cut or burn the wound, or will use the cup vigorously, and ap- ply caustic twice a day. A poultice of quick- lime, with oil and hon- ey, has been used with great advantage; but best of all, is the appli- cation of the Plantain. Make a strong decoc- plantaiw. tion of this common and well-known plant, and well bathe the wound with it; keep it wet also with salt and water. After this, mix the decoction of the plan- tain with the slippery elm bark and a good quantity of sweet oil; apply this constantly as long as there is any swelling or inflammation. An ounce of olive oil should WOUNDS, ACCIDENTS, ETC. 275 be taken daily in two doses Gunpowder fired over the wound has been recommended. Bite from a Viper. In addition to most of the symp- toms we have last mentioned, there will in this case be a fixed pain in the breast, frequent convulsions, and a yellow tinge of the skin. The treatment should be as we have already pre- scribed ; in addition to which ten drops of the spirits of hartshorn in a little water may be taken every hour, and frequent small doses of opium, musk, and camphor. Bite of a Spider. Trifling as this may appear, it has been known that a pain has arisen from it which has affected the heart. In such a case a quantity of plan- tain should be bruised, and the juice swallowed. This has often stopped the progress of the poison. The Bee-sting. The pain of a bee-sting may be at once relieved and the subsequent swelling prevented, by wet- ting the part with spirits of hartshorn. The sting is hollow, and there is a little drop of poison at its root that is driven through it by the pressure of its insertion, and deposited in the wound. The poison is said to be of an acid nature, and to be destroyed by this volatile alkali. DISEASES OF WOMEN. EFLECTION for a moment will convince any thoughtful mind that from the peculiar conformation of woman, she must more keenly feel disease and pain than man, and be far more liable to them. In every respect there is more of delicacy and feebleness; yet, owing to the superabundance of the animal spirits in many women, and their disposition to please those around them, every attempt is made to throw off the appearance of suffering. To a certain extent this is wise, for very much in female diseases depends on a strong will; but it may be easily carried to an extreme, and the reader should therefore exercise great prudence alike in the concealment of slight disease, and in a timely yielding to it. It will not be supposed that in the comparatively few pages we can here devote to the subject of female dis- eases, we can do no more than give general information (276) DISEASES OF WOMEN. 277 and prescribe for the principal maladies which women suffer. Nearly the whole of our work may be studied with reference to their advantage. After two or three general counsels, we shall proceed to the specific diseases of females, strongly recommending our lady readers carefully to study their own frames, and by careful ob- servation and thought, to ascertain for themselves what may contribute to their health. We have already said in this volume that cheerful- ness is essential to good health; and the remark is es- pecially applicable to the female sex. Dr. Eay, superin- tendent of the Butler Hospital for the Insane, says : " A hearty laugh is more desirable for mental health than any exercise of the reasoning faculties." Years ago it was fully ascertained that the lives of the body of the people called Friends were reckoned at insurance-offices of much greater value than those of any other class of persons, arising from the great care taken in their education to preserve the equanimity of their minds. Earely indeed, in early life, did we ever see a Quaker friend excited. Where the feelings have been properly trained, even sudden surprise will not agitate the mind or body as in the untutored or untaught young lady. It is curious to observe how in general bad news weakens the action of the heart, oppresses the lungs, destroys the appetite, stops digestion, and par- tially suspends all the functions of the system. An 24 278 DISEASES OF WOMEN. emotion of shame flushes the face; fear blanches it; joy illuminates it; and an instant thrill electrifies a million nerves. Surprise spurs the pulse into a gallop; deli- rium infuses great energy; volition commands, and hun- dreds of muscles spring to execute. Powerful emotion often kills the body at a stroke. Chilo, Diagoras, and Sophocles died of joy at the Grecian games. The door- keeper of Congress expired upon hearing of the surrender of Cornwallis. We may, in passing, again remind our lady readers of the importance of fresh air, and especially of the ne- cessity of well-ventilated bed-rooms. It has been said that a bird suspended near the top of a curtained bed- stead in which people are sleeping, will generally be found dead in the morning from the impure air generated by their respiration. Small, close sleeping-rooms are often as dangerous as the curtained bedstead. In this connection, we have often been struck with the small and confined bed-rooms furnished at our watering-places, often counteracting whatever of benefit may be derived from change of air, or the waves of the ocean. We place the subject of tight- lacing in this department, because, though it annually leads, in thousands of in- stances, to the most dangerous and even fatal diseases, it is not in itself a disease. It is the offspring of great folly and sin; it produces no possible benefit; destroys DISEASES OF WOMEN. 279 alike beauty and health ; opposes all the proportions of nature, lessens comfort, and carries those who practice it rapidly on to the grave. And yet, strange to say, it is a matter of doubt who is the most guilty of this impro- priety,—the mother or the daughter. We are afraid, too, that in defiance of all we can say, young men will continue to marry wives who will always wear corsets and injure their health throughout life; and young ladies will indulge in a practice which impairs the nervous system, obstructs the circulation, contributes to fill our madhouses, induces pulmonary diseases, and leads to a premature grave ! Young ladies, there is no cure here but the total and entire abandonment of the corset. Leave it off* an hour a day for a week, then two, then three; rub the body well with a wet, coarse towel while the muscles regain their strength, taking care every day to make it slacker than ever before; and in six months you may expect to be healthy, rosy, and showing forth the beauty of nature. MENSTEUATION. This is one of the earliest and most important matters specially claiming the attention of young girls, and on which they should ask the advice of their mothers or 280 DISEASES OF WOMEN. judicious female friends. Menstruation means the dis- charge of a bloody fluid, which takes place every month, from the womb of a healthy adult female. It com- mences at the average age of fifteen years, though it has appeared in a few cases as early as nine, and has been delayed as late as twenty, being earliest in the hottest climates; the flow continues from two to eight days, and the quantity discharged varies from four to ten ounces in different persons: women of delicate constitutions discharging more than those who are robust. In a perfectly healthy person this discharge is thrown off without suffering; but in the present artificial state of living, this is seldom the case. Usually, for some days previous to its appearance, the girl has a pain in her head, and general languor and indisposition to exer- cise ; she complains also of pain in the back, loins, and thighs, and sometimes in the throat; has a dark shade over the countenance, and especially under the eyes; the breasts are somewhat enlarged; indigestion is im- paired, and the appetite is variable. For the first two or three times of its appearance, the discharge is apt to be somewhat irregular, both as to its quantity and the time of its return; but after these, it becomes regular in about every twenty-eight days, and the same quantity should be lost at each visitation. It is important, how- ever, to observe that every discharge from the womb which is tinged with blood, is not menstrual. If it DISEASES OF WOMEN. 281 appear in clots, it is only hemorrhage, the menses being like perspiration, always in a fluid state, and have a very different smell from common blood. About the first appearance of this discharge, the girl's constitution undergoes a very considerable change, usually for the better, though sometimes for the worse. Extreme care at this season is necessary, or the health suffers, barrenness ensues, and perhaps death follows. Great caution should be used as to food, clothing, and exercise. Whatever tends to check this natural flow is suicidal. Colds caught at such times are exceedingly dangerous. We have already said enough to show the reader that any irregularity in this matter should be as soon as possible corrected. If, by any means, the regular flow of the menses have been checked, and if the patient would avoid an early death by consumption, let her use the tepid foot-bath, and at the same time sit over a vessel of warm water, in which bitter herbs have been boiled, till she is in a profuse perspiration ; then let her be warmly wrapped in bed, and take a tea-cupful of warm tea made of the root of vervine, every hour or two. If this does not succeed, administer a little pul- verized mandrake root with a little cream of tartar, on an empty stomach; after which motherwort, penny- royal, and other herb teas may be freely drank. Should considerable pain be felt by the patient, let fomentations 24* 282 DISEASES OF WOMEN. of bitter herbs be applied to the region of the womb, or a covered heated brick may be placed on the bowels. Great care should be taken that the food be light and nutritious, and it should not be taken in large quan- tities. Not unfrequently do women suffer from the opposite of this—an excessive flow of the menses. This may arise from too much exercise or too little, strains, in- juries, violent passion, taking warm and enervating drinks, such as tea, coffee, etc. If the disease has in- duced much debility, it is sometimes accompanied, es- pecially toward evening, with dropsical swellings. In these cases, great care is demanded. The patient should assume a recumbent posture, with the hips considerably elevated; she should be exposed to a cool air, and cold applications should be made to the lower parts of the abdomen, such as cloths wrung out of cold water, or cold vinegar, and a very abstemious cool diet will be advisable. From thirty to forty drops of the elixir of vitriol may be taken in a glass of water two or three times a day with advantage; or, from ten to fifteen drops of the tincture of steel may be administered with the same frequency. We need not say that in cases of this kind a physician should be consulted. Where this help cannot be had, an Indian remedy for the disease may be tried. It consists of equal parts of red alder bark, yar- row, mullen, and crowfoot, and half the quantity of beth DISEASES OF WOMEN. 283 root; these should be made into a tea, and when cold, a tea-cupful drank every three or four hours. If the patient feels faint, let her take a few drops of lavender or spirits of hartshorn, occasionally, in a little cold water. We must not omit in this place to say that in many instances there is much pain attendant on menstruation, and that such cases must not be neglected. Nervous females sometimes suffer so acutely from spasms in the womb and stomach, and from violent pains in the loins, that the brain and spinal marrow become greatly dis- ordered, so as to produce violent hysterical fits, and even convulsions. Perhaps this occurs most frequently in the early part of puberty, or when women marry late in life, or in persons of a scrofulous habit. Such women should be particular in keeping the feet warm, should wear flannel next the skin, and should avoid all green and raw vegetables, as well as stimulating food and drinks. When the pains are very violent, bleeding may sometimes be demanded, followed with a warm bath, and a pill of opium and camphor. By all means apply bottles of hot water to the whole surface of the abdomen, and hot bricks to the feet. Dr. Fothergill recommends that a grain of opium be taken in the form of a pill whenever the pain attending the discharge comes on. A warm bath of about ninety degrees about three times a week will be found of advantage, as will 284 DISEASES OF WOMEN. also change of air and scene, a good share of exercise, and a light and nutritious diet. The final cessation of the menses at what is called the turn of life, or the approach of old age, is a season de- manding special attention. The discharge seldom ceases suddenly, but gradually becomes irregular, both as to the period and the quantity. The constitution again undergoes a great change, and not unfrequently obsti- nate and painful diseases then set in. Occur when it may, if the patient be of full habit, the diet should be more spare than usual, regular exercise should be taken, and the state of the bowels be carefully regarded. IT blood flow to the head, or giddiness and pain be felt, bleeding may be advisable. If wounds or ulcers break out on any part of the body at this period, great care should be taken not to heal them too quickly, or the disease of some internal organ may be thus induced. THE WHITES. This disease is an increased secretion or discharge of matter from the womb and its passage. In different women it is white, or of a green or yellow hue, and is attended with a peculiar smell; it frequently occasions itchings or smarting pains, and is generally associated DISEASES OF WOMEN. 285 with an unhealthy countenance, a disordered stomach, a dry, hot skin, and general debility. It sometimes arises from exhaustion, intemperance, and profuse evacuations; but more frequently from injuries inflicted on the parts themselves, from f r e- quent miscarriages, or from difficult labor. Late hours, hot rooms, or much lying in bed will bring it on; and women of all ages are liable to it. In the treatment of this disease, special at- tention must be had to whatever increases the general health. Care must be taken in the application of medicines, lest a too sudden stop- page of the discharge should induce other dis- eases. We would strongly recommend that a handful of the roots of comfrey be boiled in milk, and the decoc- tion given in doses of a tea-cupful three or four times a day. Injections of alum water, or of a decoction of oak bark, have been very useful. A preparation of one 286 DISEASES OF WOMEN. ounce of the tincture of aloes, and two drachms of mu- riated tincture of iron, well mixed, and forty drops of it taken three times a day in a little water, will be found of great advantage. A tea of beth root is also very good. Let the patient be careful of her bowels, avoid strong tea and coffee, take the country air, and bathe in the sea; or as a substitute use a warm bath. DISEASES OF MAEEIED LIFE. It is a fact that all pleasures have their corresponding pains. The state of marriage, contributing as it does to the happiness of the parties interested in it, and to the welfare of society, adds greatly also to the sufferings of woman, and ought, therefore, to be entered upon with great thoughtfulness and caution. It is no part of our plan to discuss the age at which this union should be formed, as the development of strength and form depend on many things greatly differing in different persons, to say nothing of the strength of inclinations and the peculiar circumstances of station which claim to have an influence in the decision of such a matter. Suffice it here to say, that while too early marriages are not desirable, we are inclined to think that where a reason- DISEASES OF WOMEN. 287 able portion of health is enjoyed, and other circumstances favor it, from nineteen to twenty-one is the most desirable age at which a woman should enter on this important relationship. There are certain diseases, or rather a predisposition to them, transmitted from parent to child, which do not always manifest themselves for many years after birth, or till they are called into action by some exciting cause, which should induce great caution in the view of marriage. Many, with hereditary tendencies to disease, enjoy comfortable health, not suspecting the disease lurking in their system, waiting for some exciting cause to hurry them rapidly to their graves, and which de- velops itself as the result of their ignorance which has lulled them into fancied security. Every young lady, therefore, of an enfeebled constitution, predisposed to scrofula, to consumption, to cancer, to insanity, to epi- lepsy, to convulsions, or to any similar affections, should consider it a conscientious duty to refrain from marriage, lest she should be the means of bringing into the world a progeny to linger out a few years in pain or misery. We must add here another paragraph; not allowing undue delicacy to conceal what might possibly destroy the happiness of husband and wife, and add to the misery of the world. If a woman be conscious of a disease in or about the regions of the womb, she ought to consider such a fact an insuperable barrier to her 288 DISEASES OF WOMEN. marriage. A woman, too, who is deformed in body, may purchase the title of a wife at too high a price, by the cost of torture, and perhaps even of life, to say nothing of the effects which such deformity may have on the children to whom she might give birth. In a word, for a woman to have a fair prospect of happiness in the married life, her body should have attained its full development and vigor, should be without deformity, have a sound constitution, and be free from disease or known tendencies to it. Of course, pregnancy in itself is not a disease, though often, especially where there is neglect, leading to it, and it demands, therefore, great watchfulness and care, as well as the indulgence of hope and cheerfulness. It is no uncommon case that this period is the most healthy of a woman's life, few fatal diseases happen during its existence, and scarcely any, except abortion, can be considered dangerous. It is well that the wife should know that when she becomes pregnant, many new feelings and symptoms follow, which she never before experienced. There will be the suppression of the menses, sickness at the stom- ach, especially in the morning, headache, giddiness, heartburn, peculiar longings, and indigestion; there will be an enlargment of the breasts, frequent shooting pains in them, and a circle round the nipples of a dark brown color; the patient often feels feverish, debilitated, DISEASES OF WOMEN. 289 and irritable; vomiting will sometimes attend such a woman for days or weeks, or even during the greater part of the time of her pregnancy; and a considerable change will often take place in her countenance, every feature of it being very much sharpened. Not unfre- quently, too, there will be frequent inclination to void urine, even where it cannot be done; frequent itching will be felt about the external parts of generation; cos- tiveness will exist, and piles will be painful. Two other remarks here are of importance. The first is, that the symptoms of pregnancy are often mistaken. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between this state and the obstruction of the menses by cold or other means; and the other is, that were women to renounce the vagaries of fashion, and to have a proper regard to exercise and diet, they would suffer comparatively little from child-bearing. It is one of the evils attendant on what is called civilization, that the wealthy endure far more when in this condition, than poor women devoted to hard labor. We should be ashamed to suppose that we have a reader so disposed to evil, as to attempt to prevent the proper operations of nature under the circumstances in which pregnancy places her; or who from indolence and the pursuits of fashion, would seek to procure abortion. For such persons we have no prescriptions; they are murderers in the sight of God and man, and let them, 25 S 290 DISEASES OF WOMEN. with the thousands of their sisters in like circumstances, die the death to which their choice leads them. Such women are unfit for this life; alas, that they are still less prepared for a better! For the sickness of the stomach which is so usual in pregnancy, we would recommend the common soda powders to be obtained at the druggists; or a tea may be made of the rose-willow bark, and taken at pleasure. For the heart-burn, the same remedies are often found to succeed; but if they fail, take a tea-spoonful of car- bonate of magnesia night and morning. A preparation of a tea-spoonful of bicarbonate of potash, mixed in half a pint of peppermint or spearmint tea, and a table- spoonful taken occasionally, has also been found of great advantage. For the lethargy and headache attendant on pregnancy, a full dose of aperient medicine should be given to act on the bowels, a warm foot-bath should be used, mustard plasters may be applied to the feet, and the head bathed with salt and water. For costiveness, piles, hysterics, palpitation of the heart, and other ail- ments, the directions given in other parts of our volume should be followed. It is always desirable, where it can be done, to gratify the peculiar longings of pregnant women, as it sometimes prevents a miscarriage; but whether children in the womb have been marked as the result of disappointment in such cases, has been much DISEASES OF WOMEN. 291 disputed, though we confess to believe that such is some- times the fact. There are other diseases attendant on pregnancy, such as hemorrhage, convulsions, and certain feelings at quickening, or feeling the first motions of the child, at the end of about sixteen or seventeen weeks; but as these all vary, we prefer to refer the patient to a judi- cious mother or nurse, or a skillful physician. We have already remarked, that in many cases abor- tion, or the loss of the child during the months of preg- nancy, takes place; and though in thousands of cases this is the result of criminal conduct, in many others it arises from natural causes, and demands our greatest sympathy, while it calls for the utmost skill in saving the valuable life of the mother. Miscarriages are fre- quently the source of intense sorrow, as well as of dan- ger. They may happen at any period of pregnancy, but are most frequent from the second month to the fourth; sometimes, indeed, they are much later. The most common causes are the death of the child, the great weakness of the mother, extreme evacuations, jumping or other violent exercise, raising great weights, excess of blood, violent passions, fevers, or high or very low living. The usual signs of an approaching abortion are great pain in the loins or lower part of the abdomen, a dull, heavy pain within the thighs, palpitation of the heart, 292 DISEASES OF WOMEN. coldness and shivering, and sickness at the stomach; the breasts generally become flat and soft; the womb lowers its position, and discharges blood or watery humor. To escape these evils, women, especially of a weak habit, should take solid food, and drink but little tea and other watery liquors; they should go to bed and rise early, and take gentle exercise in the open air, being careful, however, to avoid fatigue. On the other hand, if the woman be of a full habit, let her diet be spare, let her avoid strong liquors; and a loss of a little blood may perhaps be desirable. In all cases, the ex- pectant mother should be kept cheerful in mind, and her tastes, as far as may be, gratified. On the first indications of abortion, let the patient be laid, with her head low, on a mattrass; let her spirits be kept, as far as possible, cheerful, and let hopefulness pre- vail ; nothing can so much tend to her recovery as this. The heat of the room should be moderated, and nothing hot in food or drink should be permitted. Broth, rice, milk, jellies, and oat-meal gruel, may be taken at the pleasure of the patient, but always cold. The loss of a few ounces of blood from the arm, under good medical direction, is often of advantage; let her drinks be barley water flavored with lemon juice, or water gruel, with a little powdered nitre in it. If the bowels be improperly open, the decoction of calcined harts- horn may be given ; opiates should only be given under DISEASES OF WOMEN. 293 medical direction. The patient should be especially careful not to take much exercise till her strength will well bear it. The falling of the womb is a frequent disease caused by long-continued diseases and profuse discharges, which have diminished the strength of the patient; or, which is a more general cause, the long-continued erect posture of the body at an early period after delivery, and in some cases after miscarriage. Women often complain that their physicians compel them to stay in their beds too long after childbirth; but they are not aware of the danger in which they are probably placed at such a time. At the commencement of this complaint there is great pain in the back and groin, with the sensation of bear- ing down; a great sense of fullness, and a discharge of matter from the passage. This pain, however, is usually relieved by lying down. There is frequent pain- ful strainings to pass urine, and considerable uneasiness in the evacuation of the bowels; the appetite is often ir- regular, and is frequently lost; flatulency takes place, the spirits sink, employment is irksome, and life almost appears a burden. In some cases, the womb merely falls into the cavity of the passage, and in others pro- trudes beyond the external parts; when, from exposure to the air and friction, it becomes sore and inflamed. Every one must see that the care of an experienced 25* 294 DISEASES OF WOMEN. practitioner is demanded in cases of this kind. The womb must be restored to its proper position, and care- fully kept there; the patient should remain in a lying posture, and be especially careful to walk very little for a considerable period. Sea-bathing, when it can be ob- tained, will be beneficial; astringent injections, as a so- lution of alum or white vitriol, should be thrown up the passage with a proper syringe; a bandage ought to be applied round the lower part of the abdomen, both to retain the womb in its proper position, and to strengthen the parts which have been made weak. In the event of pregnancy, this complaint disappears in the fourth month, at least till after delivery. The bowels should be kept carefully open by a dose or two of castor oil; and if there be considerable griping, from five to ten drops of laudanum may be taken two or three times a day in a little sugar and water; the pa- tient should renounce all soft beds, and sleep on a mat- tress or sofa, and the food should always be light and nutritious. There are several other diseases of the womb, which however, are too important to be discussed in a volume like the present, and demand the immediate and careful attention of the physician. DISEASES OF CHILD-BIETH. 0 one will expect us to treat of this sub- ject at length; for happily in this coun- try help is always at hand to meet all the demands of hu- manity. Too much care is the danger, rather than too little; hence poor women generally recover at such periods sooner than the rich. A very few hints only are needed to guide the inexperienced. The symptoms of approaching labor are usually de- cided. Eestlessness, especially atf night, usually pre- cedes the event for days or even weeks; the womb and abdomen often subside; a mucus secretion, often streaked with blood, escapes from the vagina, and there is fre- quently irritability of the bladder. The pains of 'labor, whether distinguished as grinding, or as forcing, need not to be described, or the management of the after-burden or birth, as this becomes the duties of the attendants. During the labor, nothing heating, either in food or drink, should be given, all pretensions to their strength- ening the patient notwithstanding. All these things tend (295) 296 DISEASES OF WOMEN. to inflammation at the time, and produce fevers after- ward. It is of importance to say that above all things after delivery, the most needful is quietude. The patient her- self should aim to check any excitement of joyous feel- ings, and the curious women who always wish to crowd around the bed should be sent away into the next street. The food and drink must be regulated by the circum- stances of each case. Gruel, panada, and a little weak tea, are generally best; but cases sometimes occur when a little chicken and a glass of wine are necessary to sus- tain life. Hemorrhage, or excessive flooding, will sometimes unex- pectedly take place after the medical attendant has retired. In such cases, let the patient be laid with her head low, and kept very cool; apply linen cloths wrung out of equal parts of vinegar and water, or port wine, to the abdomen, the loins and the thighs, changing them as they become dry. A preparation may also be made of two ounces each of pennyroyal water, simple cinnamon water, and syrup of poppies; mix them with a drachm of elixir of vitriol, and take two table-spoonsful every two hours, or oftener if necessary. If violent pains come on after delivery, take a little red pepper and spirits, simmer them together for a few minutes, and foment the abdomen; if this fail, apply a fomentation of bitter herbs, and give two tea-spoonsful DISEASES OF WOMEN. 297 of the tincture of hops in milk or tea. If costiveuess prevails, give an ounce of castor oil, or a little senna and manna; and if fever comes on, send at once for the physician, who is the most proper person to prescribe in the case. It is important that the mother, as soon as possible, should give her young child the food which the God of Nature has provided for it. This is necessary for her own sake, and still more for that of the infant. Its sto- mach and bowels are filled with a blackish matter, called the meconium. This is generally passed soon after the birth, by the mere effort of nature, especially when it is permitted to take the mother's milk as soon as it shows an inclination to do so. This milk at first is of a pur- gative character, and so accomplishes the desired object. But if on any account this natural demand of the child be withheld, and the offensive matter is not yet removed, a careful nurse will administer a little magnesia, or manna; or what may be quite as well, a spoonful of common whey, sweetened with a little honey or sugar, will answer the purpose. Nor is it less important that the nurse does not neg- lect the galling and excoriation so frequently found about the groin and neck of young children. They are gener- ally the result of the want of cleanliness, and should be guarded against by washing the parts with slightly warm water, and keeping the child entirely clean by 298 DISEASES OF WOMEN. frequently changing its linen. When the disease has prevailed over all this, the excoriated parts should be sprinkled over with a powder of burnt chalk or crab's claws; and if the parts affected become very sore, tend- ing to ulceration, it will be proper to add a little sugar of lead to the powder; or we would prefer to anoint the parts with camphorated ointment, which may be easily made by taking half a pint of olive oil, an ounce and a half each of white wax and spermaceti, and one drachm of camphor previously rubbed with a little of the oil; melt them with a gentle heat, and stir them con- stantly and briskly till quite cold, and the ointment is then fit for use. It is very useful in cases where there is great heat and tendency to inflammation. Another matter will demand the attention, of the nurse. The nostrils of new-born infants are often filled with mucus, which prevents their breathing freely, and makes both sucking and swallowing difficult. The best thing usually is to rub the nose at bed-time with a little sweet oil or fresh butter, or even a common tallow can- dle. If the case be very obstinate, Wedellus says, that if two grains of white vitriol, and the same quantity of elaterium be dissolved in half an ounce of marjoram water, and applied to the nose with a linen rag, it will bring away the mucus without sneezing. It sometimes happens that the breasts of a new-born infant are hard with the moisture in them. In such DISEASES OF WOMEN. 299 cases, a soft bread-poultice should be laid on them, and frequently renewed, till the hardness disappears. The effects we every day see which have followed the neglect of the past, should make mothers and nurses the more cautious to guard against the evils of the present. Let then the young mother take care that the nurse brings under the attention of the physician a proper attention as to the adhesion of the labium pudendi of the child. This misfortune, easily guarded against at the time, is more common than may be supposed; and many a lovely girl, as she advanced to womanhood, has had to suffer the pain and mortification of a surgical operation, which might have been easily avoided by her mother or nurse in infancy. The discharge from the vagina of infants is a subject which demands the attention of the mother from infancy and for some years onward. Neglect of this matter has deprived many a fair girl of her rosy cheeks, and in the end led her to the grave. A physician, or what is sometimes better, an intelligent and experienced nurse, should be consulted on this matter. Prevention here is far better than cure; and medicine, if necessary, should be prescribed only by those who best understand the matter. A rupture, which is a protrusion of the bowels beneath the skin at the navel in the groins, or into the scrotum of males, forming an external tumor in these parts, sometimes 300 DISEASES OF WOMEN. exists at birth or occurs soon after. It should never be neglected, as in early life a careful physician can direct measures which may save from suffering and danger for many long years. It should not be forgotten by the nursing mother that the effects which the medicines taken by her will pro- duce in the infant she suckles, impart a credibility to the doctrines of Hahneman, and of those who believe in the efficacy of infinitesimal doses. A minute and scarcely nauseating quantity of tartar emetic taken by the mother, will produce frequent vomiting in the suck- ling ; senna tea will gripe it; and the dose of iodine, which, from its slow and gentle action, the mother will declare to be inoperative upon herself, will, by trans- mission in her milk, excite in her infant the symptoms of severe influenza. Should there be inflammation in the breasts of the mother, attended with redness, hardness, and other symptoms of suppuration, apply a poultice of bread and milk, softened with sweet oil or butter, and renew it twice a day till the tumor be dispersed or brought to suppuration. Be sure, in this case, to avoid whatever may tend to check its progress, as all repellants are dan- gerous. If the nipples become sore, apply a little pow- dered gum arabic to them, or anoint them with a mix- ture of sweet oil and beeswax. In this case, a little aperient medicine should be given. DISEASES OF WOMEN. 301 As soon as the strength of the mother is sufficiently recruited, and the state of the weather will allow, she should take frequent gentle exercise in the open air. Prudence in this case is unspeakably important: but too long confinement to her room is as injurious to the mo- ther as too hastily leaving it. HINTS ON WEANING. A few hints on the subject of weaning a child may be of importance to not a few mothers who honor our volume with a perusal. The period of doing this is of great importance to the health of both mother and child, and whatever tends to its being well done, should there- fore be made known. The time of this separation of the child from its first natural food, should be properly chosen. The principal indications of its being right, are the failure of the mother's health, want of a proper quantity of milk, or a great decline as to its quality; the fact of the mother being again pregnant, or the circumstance of the child having teeth by which to masticate food. More- over, a time should be selected for weaning when the child is in tolerable health; and if possible, the process 26 302 DISEASES OF WOMEN. should commence in the more temperate months of the year, as April, May, October, or November. Of course the mother has, long before the time of weaning, gradually given the child the habit of taking more solid food, and has ascertained what is most ap- propriate to its health and tastes: and while weaning it, will firmly adhere to her purpose, having food prepared for it whenever it may need it. Let her then place on her nipples a solution of aloes, soot tea, or any other bitter substance; this will excite disgust in the child, which may also be done by a piece of court plaster put upon it, or the bosom being filled with wool or cotton, or any thing else to which the child has a dislike. In this manner the food will soon be preferred to the breast. Of course, while this is going on, the mother will not neglect herself. If she has much milk, her breasts should be carefully drawn once or twice a day, for a few days; she should almost entirely live on dry food, and anoint her breasts with the spirits of camphor, or with a liniment composed of equal parts of the spirits of cam- phor, laudanum, and sweet oil. She should carefully keep her bowels moderately open by doses of castor oil, and avoid all fatigue. BAEEENNESS. 'ety and grief has been felt by thousands of husbands and wives on a topic upon which we must be allowed to say a few words before entirely leav- ing subjects connected with child-bearing—we mean sterility, or inability to have children. In all ages and countries this has been a source of unhappiness; though we almost fear that modern fashions are aiming to frus- trate the very laws of nature; as in thousands of cases we have heard of attempts to prevent conception, or to produce abortion; and not a few instances have occurred where children have been led to death by neglect. Barrenness may be placed among diseases, as very few women, married in the younger or the middle stages of life, who have not children, enjoy a good state of gen- eral health; while statistical records, both in this country and in Europe, show that the married, who bear chil- dren, live longer than any other class of women. The causes of the complaint of which we are now writing are said to be various, such as obesity, high living, and indolence. These lead to obstruction or irregularity of (303) J-*?, \jKJii anxi 304 DISEASES OF WOMEN. the menses. It is certain that barrenness exists among the affluent to a far greater extent than among the poor; hence the inhabitants of every country are prolific in proportion to their poverty. We make no pretensions to the possession of any in- fallible elixir for this disease; but we are assured that if the rich could be persuaded to adopt the plain food, the simple habits, and the regular exercise of the poor, very few of them would die childless. In the absence, however, of all quackery, and hoping the reader will turn a deaf ear to all private suggestions and all public advertisements on this head, we recommend those afflicted in this way to take plenty of exercise early in the morning in the open air, to live chiefly on a vege- table and milk diet, to total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, careful attention to the state of the bowels, a cautious use of astringents, such as alum, elixir of vit- riol, the preparation of steel, and Peruvian bark, and, above all, to the practice of sea or cold bathing. By a persevering use of these means, by freedom from strong excitements and anxiety, by the constant indulgence of cheerfulness, and by a short visit to a distant country, we have known many husbands and wives made happy with children who had long feared they should die with- out them. MISCELLANEOUS MATTEES. able to them, but less sombre in their character than much we have already said. Life is made up, to a great degree, of smaller matters; and very many of the dis- eases which trouble us are of no very great importance, but still we wish to get rid of them if we can. One of these is seasickness. Every year increases the number of our ladies who visit Europe or elsewhere, by sea; and all who do so see multitudes of their fellow- voyagers, especially among the ladies, suffer a most un- pleasant degree of giddiness, arising from the motion of the vessel, to which they have not been accustomed. This suffering lasts for an uncertain duration; it is at- tended with nausea, vomiting, and great depression of spirits. But let not the patient despair; no one ever died from this disease; keep up your spirits and be cheerful; do not go to your berth, but romp about the deck of the vessel; crack jokes and sing merry ditties; 26* T (305) 306 DISEASES OF WOMEN. take a little aperient medicine, and swallow a tea-spoon- ful of ether in a glass of water. Take whatever food you can, the more highly seasoned the better, and drink lemonade, or, if you prefer it, a little weak brandy and water; and above all, live on hope, and rely on it that you will soon be better. Not a few of our delicate young ladies, thoughtlessly walking out in hot weather, get sun-burnt. For such a "misfortune," we give them a strongly-recommended remedy. Take two drachms of borax, one drachm of Eoman alum, one drachm of camphor, half an ounce of sugar candy, and a pound of ox-gall. Mix and stir well for ten minutes or so, and repeat this, stirring three or four times a day for a fortnight, till it appears clear and transparent. Strain through blotting paper, and bottle it up for use. A good head of hair has its influence on health as well as on beauty ; but neglect will often bring disease in the roots of the hair, and cause it to fall off. An infusion of tea, when not too strong, is very useful in preventing the hair falling off. The best plan is to pour boiling water on to the leaves after they have been used for a meal. In ten or twelve hours it may be drawn off, and placed in a bottle for use as required. A table-spoonful of any perfumed spirits may be added to every half pint DISEASES OF WOMEN. 307 of the wash. It should be applied to the head with a piece of sponge or a very soft brush. A little glycerine mixed with it answers the purpose of oil; its offensive smell is corrected by the perfumed spirits. We have before us a prescription of another wash for the hair, which has been strongly recommended, and it may be tried if the first fails. Take two ounces each of rosemary, maidenhair, southern-wood, myrtle berries, and hazel bark, and burn them to ashes on a clean hearth, or in an oven. With these ashes make a strong ley, with which wash the hair at the roots every day, and keep it cut short. This wash is said to destroy the worm at the roots; while bear's grease or pomatum will rather feed than destroy that enemy of the hair. Not a few of the ladies we have known, have care- lessly fallen into the habit of swallowing pins. There is no wisdom in this, though we have seldom known any very serious results follow. When the accident happens, do not be terrified, nor swallow quantities of medicine to compel the substance to hasten through the bowels, but rather take a raw egg beat up in a little milk; this will coagulate, and the point being thus sheathed, it will be deprived of its power to do injury. Such of our fair readers as wish for freedom from pimples or eruptions on the face, will carefully guard them- selves from all advertised nostrums for that purpose. 308 DISEASES OF WOMEN. Neither prepared chalk, rouge, nor any other poison will attract her. A sensible woman knows that artificial beauty cannot be admired ; and that these much-praised cosmetics poison and discolor the skin. . If, unfortu- nately, the habit of their use has been already formed, let our readers henceforth use only an infusion of horse- radish, or the juice of house-leek, in milk or cream. Cleanliness and good health furnish the greatest beauty. We have often been surprised that comparatively so few deaths occur from drinking an excessive quantity of cold water when overheated. We now and then hear of a case where, this being done, the result has been the loss of sight, sometimes falling while walking, difficulty of breathing, coldness in the extremities, rattling in the throat, the loss of pulse and—death. When these symp- toms begin to appear, let laudanum, in the proportion of from a tea-spoonful to a table-spoonful, be given with the utmost promptitude. Ice water is indeed a luxury, but, little as it costs, it is often an expensive one. Take only a quarter of a pint at a time—at intervals of five or ten minutes between each draught. THE END. ■ ::g"!#? iiKh I urn «feii' 99999999999999999999999999