Part 28

Sea-bathing and fresh-water bathing, 279

Sea-bathing for a young child, 228

Secrets, talking, before a child, 163

Selection of females for nourishing children, 46

Senna as an aperient, 221

Shivering fit, importance of attending to a, 215

Shivering fit, treatment of a, 216

Shoes, plan to water-proof, 283

Shoes preferable to boots, 115

Shoes and stockings for children and youths, 114, 283

Shoes, the ill effects of tight, 114

“Shortening” an infant, 33

Shoulder-blades “growing out”, 238

Sick child, the nursing of a, 229

Sick child not to be stuffed with food, 232

Sick-room, management of the, 229

Sickness of infants, injurious effects of, 99

Singed rag for wrapping, 26

Singing and reading aloud, 298

Singing beneficial to a child, 164

Single-stick, the game of, 294

Sitting with the back to fire, 135

Sitz bath both useful and valuable, 225

Skating for boys and girls, 297

Skin, grazed, application for, 269

Sleeping-rooms, importance of well ventilating, 309

Sleep, the, of children, 164

Sleep, the, of infants, 71

Sleep in middle of day beneficial, 164

Sleep, much, necessary for infants, 74

Sleep, temperature of infants’ bed-room during, 71

Sleep, right time of putting a child to, 165

Sleep, rocking infants to, 72

Sleep of youth, and early rising, 311

Slight attack not to be interfered with, 91

Slippers, the best for sick-room, 233

Small-pox, the ravages of, 53

Small-pox, a pest and disgrace, 54

Small-pox, when modified, 207

Small-pox, when in the neighborhood, 55

Small-pox, to prevent pitting of, 240

Smothering of infants, the cause of, 75

Socks and stockings for a child, 115

Soda, ill effects of washing clothes with, 24

Sounds, joyful, for every ear, 144

Soups and broths, 287

Speak gently to a child, 145

Spencer, a knitted worsted, 31

Spine, in case of injury to the, 258

Spine, lateral curvature of the, 319

Spines, causes of distorted, 164, 319

Spines twisted from rapid growing, 238

Spirits, deadly effects of, to the young, 288

Spitting of blood, 320, 322

Spitting of blood, precautions against, 324

Spurious croup sometimes mistaken for the genuine, 179

Stammering, cause of, 148

Stammering, cure of, 149

Stays, the ill effects of, 284

Stillness of the sick-room, 233

Sting of the bee or wasp, 268

Stir-about and milk, well-boiled oatmeal, 121

Stockings and shoes, 114, 283

Stooping in a girl, evil effects of, 318

Stopping of chimneys, 150, 229

Stuffing a sick child with food, 232

“Stuffing of the nose” of infants, 98

“Sty,” treatment of the, 220

Suet-pudding, the nature of, 119

Sugar for infants, 42, 52

Sugar confectionery for infants, 131

Sugar, _raw_, as an aperient, 52

Sunstroke, prevention of, 112

Sunday, children should not regard as a day of gloom, 159

Supper for a child and for a youth, 128, 289

Surfeit water and saffron tea, 194

Sweetmeats colored with poisonous pigments, 131

Swimming, on boys and girls, 278

Symptoms of _serious_ diseases, 170

Tape-worm, the effect on children of, 244

Taste for things refined and beautiful, 138

Tea, on giving a child, 131

Tea, green, the ill effects of, 131, 289

Teeth, attention to, importance of, 313

Teeth, child should not have meat until he has cut several, 118

Teeth, the diet of a child who has cut all his, 118

Teeth and gums, to keep in a healthy state the, 313

Teeth, right way of brushing the, 314

Teeth, appearance and number of _first_ set of, 59

Teeth, appearance and number of _second_ set of, 169

Teeth, the second crop of, 169

Teething, the time at which children begin, 58

Teething, eruptions from, 68

Teething the frequent cause of sickness, 99

Teething, a fruitful source of disease, 64

Teething, plan to be adopted during, 67

Teething, restlessness from, 253

Teething, _second_, importance of care, 170

Teething, symptoms and treatment of painful, 66

Teething, in town and country, 67

Temperature and ventilation of a nursery, 133

Temperature of a warm bath, 254

Thread or maw-worm, and its causes, 213

Throats, sore, precautions to prevent, 325

Thrush, cause, symptoms, prevention and cure of, 100

Thumb, the best gum-stick in the world, 62

Tight bands, belts and hats, 111

Tight lacing, the ill effects of, 284

Times for feeding an infant, 35

Tobacco smoking for boys, 327

Tobacco smoking, cases illustrating the danger of, 327

Toe-nails, the right way of cutting, 116

Tongue-tied, to ascertain if an infant be, 34

“Tooth-cough,” should anything be given in, 67

Tooth-powder, an excellent, 313

Top crust of bread as infant’s food, 38

Tous-les-mois, 37

Toys, children’s, 158

Toys painted with arsenic, 137, 158

Trade or profession for a delicate youth, 308

Treatment of the delicate, 226

Treatment of some urgent serious diseases, 79, 171

Truth, the love of, 147

Tub, commencement of washing an infant in a, 20

Tumbling and rolling of a child, 154

Vaccination, the advantages of, 53

Veal for a child, the objection to, 126

Vegetables for a child, 126

Ventilation, and on stopping of chimneys, 150, 230

Ventilation and sleep, 308

Ventilation of a nursery, 134

Violet powder, to make, 23

Walking, on the early, of infants, 151

Walking exercise, value of, 291

Walking in his sleep, a child, 168

Warm baths for children, 253

Warm external applications, 254

Warts, the best remedy to destroy, 339

Washing of a child, remarks upon the, 108

Washing of an infant, remarks upon the, 19

Washing a new-born infant’s head with brandy, 21

Washing a nursery floor, 136

Wasp, the sting of a, 268

Water, on the importance of good, 127

Water on the brain, 173

Water, cold and warm, for ablution, 107

Weather, on a child almost living in the air in fine, 153

Weather, on sending the young out in wet, 153

Wet flannel application, 255

White lily leaf for bruises, 257

Whom, and how, to nurse the young, 44

Whom to select as a nurse for feeble children, 47

Windows of a nursery should be large, 138

Windpipe, foreign substance in the, 273

Wine for children and youths, 130, 288

Winter clothing, the time to leave off, 116

Woolen garments, the use of, 113, 282

THE END.

TO THE READER.

Before presenting a few from the numerous commendations to this invaluable work, we desire to furnish the _verbatim_ copy of an able letter addressed to the editor by JOHN BELL, M.D., author of treatises on “Baths” and “Mineral Waters,” “Regimen and Longevity,” “Health and Beauty,” etc., etc. The eminent services, as an editor and author, rendered by DR. BELL to the profession will cause his words to sink deeply in the minds and hearts of thousands of parents and physicians, who have alike been profited by his skill and wisdom.

THE PUBLISHERS.

PHILADELPHIA, March 16, 1871.

F. H. GETCHELL, M.D.

DEAR DOCTOR:—I must compliment you on your neat Introduction as in itself a good summary, with additional enforcement, of the advice contained in the work of Dr. Chavasse on the “Physical Training of Children.” The author has been very successful in conveying much needed instruction in language clear, forcible and readily comprehended by every reader. Mothers, for whose benefit the work has been prepared, must feel, with it in hand, that they have gained a friendly, disinterested and wise counsellor to admonish and guide them in many trying emergencies to a proper physical management, and to some extent concurrent moral culture, of their offspring, from the first hour of infantile life, on through childhood, until the time for school education begins. Familiar truths are here presented with a freshness and piquancy which carry with them the renewed assent and conviction of those who deemed themselves possessed of the requisite knowledge, while by the larger number, the uninitiated into maternal cares and children’s wants, they cannot fail to be received as the utterances of wisdom and long experience. In his inculcations the author does not assume that a child is a mere machine, to be made to go through certain movements by an older controlling hand, nor that it is to be left, like a young plant, to grow up in fruitless luxuriance, without pruning or grafting. He favors a large charter for nature, but he dwells also on the existence of natural laws, growing out of the very framework and constitution of a living body, an infraction of which, whether it be through ignorance, pedantic teaching, fashion or the intrusion of physic, is followed by injury to health and happiness. A child is not to be treated as an automaton, but as a being whose physical and mental organization, instincts and germs of intelligence are to be gradually developed under careful training. Growth, health and flexibility of movements come first: polish and the graces may well be an afterthought. The first instinctive wants of an infant, the gratifying of which is necessary to its existence, are air to breathe, food to nourish, external warmth by suitable covering, and sleep to invigorate and refresh. It is now that the reason of the mother and of her immediate aids should be deliberately exercised in the regulation of these instincts. Selection and limitation of means for the purpose must be made, and the physical training of the infant is thus already begun. How important that this training should be conducted with a full knowledge of the necessities of the case! and yet it is this very knowledge that is so generally wanting, and which it is the great object of Dr. Chavasse to supply. His advice and directions to this end are full and explicit, minute without being tedious and plain without being trivial. All the deeds and contingencies of nursery-life are anticipated, and the treatment required in consequence is carefully detailed. The cardinal purposes of a sanitary teacher are to preserve the health of the child, to restore it when lost and to prevent disease. While giving full scope to the fulfilment of these purposes, the author admits, with reserve, the necessity of indicating the means of curing some of the ailments and chief diseases incident to childhood. He enjoins the mother to send for a physician as soon as the case requires medical aid, and he gives the additional and often-needed advice to abide strictly by the directions of her medical adviser. There are times, however, when the suddenness and violence of the attack and the inability to procure timely professional assistance throw the mother on her own resources, and it is under these circumstances that the author teaches her how to act and what prescriptions to give, but not without many cautions on his part. It must still be continually borne in mind that everything can be done in the way of prevention, and much in the way of cure, by a timely and judicious use of the ordinary hygienic means applied for the growth and preservation of the child, viz.: air, water, food, clothing, exercise of the body and nurture of the affections. The medicine-chest ought never to form part of the furniture of the nursery. Meddlesome medicine is bad, and that medicine is always meddlesome when it is applied without actual necessity, clearly indicated by a competent judge. The mother will find this judge in the author of the present volume.

Especially to be commended are the sub-chapters on _The Nursery_, _Exercise_, _Amusements_ and _Education_, the mere reading of which by parents, and more particularly by mothers, cannot fail, while inculcating new duties on them, to call their affections into increased activity and extend their benevolent feeling to all who are placed under similar circumstances with themselves. Air and light and range for romps and games, pleasant words and nurture in love inspire children with joy and gladness, and parents, in reading these feelings, catch the soft contagion and become happier themselves in making their miniature second selves happy. In a subsequent part of the volume, under the head of “Boyhood and Girlhood,” additional advice is given on many of the topics which were detailed in reference to infant life. First among these is daily ablution in its full sense, including the use of the bath as “a grand requisite for health.” The transition from bathing to swimming is very natural and easy. “Swimming ought, then, to be a part and parcel of the education of every boy and girl.” In urging exercise and amusements for the young, and specifying many ways, including the gymnasium, dancing and skating, in which the desired object may be attained, the author could not fail to caution against the perversion of the pleasures of the dance by the too general accompaniments of tight dress in crowded rooms, impure air, late hours, over-exertion and rapid transitions of temperature, to which are too frequently added excesses in eating and the drinking of stimulating and intoxicating liquids. Children’s parties are properly stigmatized as disgusting and demoralizing. Schools come up for consideration, and most valuable advice and warning are given for the treatment of girls sent to these institutions. Physical education should always precede mental, and be continued with it. In a question between health and books, the former should always carry the day. “Unfortunately, in this enlightened age, we,” as the author justly remarks, “commence at the wrong end—we put the cart before the horse: we begin by cultivating the mind, and we leave the body to be taken care of afterward; the results are broken health, precocious, stunted and deformed youths, and premature decay.” All that is said in this volume on the subject of education is pertinent, suggestive and instructive, not only to mothers, but to all whose line of duty lies in training the young for the proper discharge of their duties in after life. Were I attempting to give an analysis of the work of Dr. Chavasse, I would have spoken first of his instructions on the topics of diet and clothing, which are quite comprehensive and adapted to the successive periods of infancy and childhood on to adolescence. Water for drink, milk as the staple food, “the most nourishing, wholesome and digestible,” ought to require no special recommendation did we not sometimes see the substitution by parents, intelligent in other respects, of beer and wine, and even diluted spirits, for beverage, and of highly seasoned dishes of meat, pastries, cakes, etc., for food. Of milk it is truly said that “the finest and the healthiest children are those who for the first four or five years of their lives are fed _principally_ upon it.” The use of light clothing with a view of hardening children is discountenanced, as it deserves to be, and the present fashion of dressing children meets the strongest censure, as being both adverse to health and furnishing early lessons of vanity. The clothing should be of such texture and material as to keep up the animal heat, and in a climate like ours, as indeed in all northern climates or those misnamed temperate, the vicissitudes of temperature in which are so great and frequent, woollen undergarments can rarely be dispensed with. To children, and invalids at all ages, they are indispensable. The dress, whatever may be the fashion, should be easy fitting, and this more particularly, as pointed out by the author, in the matter of shoes and boots, the undue tightness of which is an abomination only second to tight lacing of the chest and abdomen.

Dr. Chavasse in the earlier editions of his work had carefully restricted himself to the domain of hygiene, and he was mainly induced to enlarge his teaching by the advice of Sir Charles Locock, in years gone by accoucheur to the queen. Following out this advice, he now gives, as already intimated, the treatment of some of the more urgent and serious diseases of infants and of children, to be carried out when a medical man cannot instantly be procured and when delay might be death. To a consideration of these he adds that of various ailments and of accidents, and thus enables the mother, with the assistance of discreet adults of the house, to have prompt recourse to the best means of treating them. The concluding section of the volume contains good and available advice for the prevention of diseases, the insidious approach of which makes it very necessary to detect their real character, and to adopt the best means of arresting farther progress, as in the instances of consumption and scrofula in both sexes, and curvature of the spine, most common in females.

Where there is so much to commend in plan and execution of the work of Dr. Chavasse, I feel no inclination to hunt out minor defects, and can have no hesitation in proclaiming him to be one of our most successful co-laborers in the grand domain of hygiene, and particularly in his chosen department, the “Physical Training of Children.” I must, at the same time, congratulate you, my dear doctor, for your having selected such a worthy companion in a course of sanitary instruction which you are pursuing in connection with your more onerous professional engagements.

Yours, sincerely, JOHN BELL.

* * * * *

J. W. BRINTON, M.D., of Philadelphia, _Lecturer on Operative and Minor Surgery to the Summer Course of the Jefferson Medical College, Surgeon to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Surgeon to Philadelphia Hospital, etc., etc._, in referring to PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN, writes to the editor:

“The work seems to me an admirable one, and its suggestions, if followed, must, I am sure, tend to prevent nursery mismanagement.”

* * * * *

REV. DANIEL MARCH, D.D., of Philadelphia, author of _Night Scenes in the Bible_, _Our Fathers House_, _etc._, writes:

“I have been deeply interested in the title and contents of the work, PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN. The slight examination which I have made of several chapters satisfies me that the subject has been treated with great clearness, delicacy and discretion. The book will come as a messenger of light, comfort and life to multitudes of homes. It will do much not only to promote health and long life, but to secure the highest enjoyment and the wisest improvement of life while it lasts. I wish it might find a place in every American home.”

* * * * *

REV. ALFRED NEVIN, D.D., of Philadelphia, author of _A Popular Commentary on Luke_, _The Churches of the Valley_, _A Guide to the Oracles_, _etc., etc._, says:

“I have examined the PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN sufficiently to assure me that it would be a valuable acquisition to any family library for constant and convenient reference. The _preventive_ suggestions which it makes touching the influences and agencies which often damage, if not destroy, the health of children, are of special importance. The form of questions and answers, in which the instruction is embodied, strikes me also as having many advantages. In addition to the intrinsic merit of the book, the very handsome style in which it is published must aid in giving it a wide circulation.”

* * * * *

HON. JOHN W. FORNEY, proprietor of the Philadelphia _Press_, and one of the most distinguished editors of the country, pertinently says:

“I have examined the work, PHYSICAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN, and regard it as exceedingly useful and interesting. It abounds in valuable information, and I do most cheerfully commend it to the public.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.