A treatise on the diseases and physical education of children / by John Eberle.

  • Eberle, John, 1787-1838.
Date:
1848, ©1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases and physical education of children / by John Eberle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library at Emory University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University.

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    of blood to the head, and consequently to increase the liability t<s inflammatory diseases of the brain. Sweetmeats.—Indulgence in the use of sweetmeats is a copious source of disease and mortality during childhood. Dried fruits preserved with sugar, nuts, baked sugar, &c. are among the most indigestible substances employed as food. There are few individ- uals, even in adult age, whose digestive organs are sufficiently vigorous to digest such articles with facility; and their frequent or abundant use rarely fails to impair the tone of the stomach, and to cause intestinal disturbances. Fruits preserved with their skins, as raisins, are particularly pernicious. The cuticle, or skin, of all fruits is of peculiarly difficult digestion. The most active digestive powers are, in general, insufficient to digest this portion of fruits. Added to this the hard and insoluble seeds which rai- sins and many other fruits in common use contain, render them highly irritating and injurious to the alimentary canal. In vain are judicious dietetic regulations adopted for the nourishment of children, if articles of this kind are allowed. I have known two or three raisins to produce the most serious and protracted disor- der of the intestinal canal in infants. Three instances have oc- curred to me, in which convulsions and speedy death were, une- quivocally, the consequence of overcharging the stomach with this indigestible and irritating fruit; and my friend, Dr. Cobb, has recently communicated to me a case, which occurred in his own family, of the most alarming character, produced by the same cause. The infant appeared to be well when put to bed. On attending to it about midnight, it was found cold, pulseless, with a deathlike expression of the countenance, and apparently dying. In a short time spontaneous vomiting came on, by which a large quantity of raisins was thrown from the stomach, after which all the alarming symptoms speedily disappeared. The raisins had been given to the child by a servant of the family without the knowledge of its parents. The conduct of parents, in relation to this subject, is often ex- tremely irrational and pernicious in its consequences. They would-not themselves venture on the frequent and free use of confectionaries of this kind; and yet will indulge their children without scarcely any restraint, in the use of these pernicious luxu- ries. The sicklier and weaker the child is, the more apt, in gen- eral, is it to be allowed these destructive gratifications. The pale, feeble, and sickly child, whose stomach is hardly able to di- gest the most simple and appropriate aliment, is sought to be ap- peased and delighted by the luscious and scarcely digestible arti- cles of the confectioner. Indigestion, intestinal irritation, termin- ating often in ulceration and incurable diarrhoea, are the frequent consequences of such conduct; and at best, such indulgences must,