Collected essays in preventive medicine : infection & disinfection, temperature observations on children, the period of infection in epidemic diseases, and the renal signs of disorders of nutrition / by William Squire.

  • Squire William, 1826-1899.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Collected essays in preventive medicine : infection & disinfection, temperature observations on children, the period of infection in epidemic diseases, and the renal signs of disorders of nutrition / by William Squire. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    is cited as a proof of innate or mother wit in its rudimen- mentary form. To long and constant success in this effort the equable body-heat of our race may be due, and this capacity for keeping up an even temperature is not un- connected with the progress of communities, the growth of social manners, and the capability of sustained powers of will and thought. An infant no sooner breathes than the heat of the body attains the normal ; the first differences of warm or cold felt by the skin, the first sense of touch, excite the re- quisite movements to bring air into contact with the newly- diverted blood current, and life goes on at full rate. Res- piration is aided by a child's first exertion in crying; washing and rubbing also affords an exercise beyond the muscular kicks and struggles excited; all these quicken change and tend to develop heat. Let suitable covering retain this warmth at the surface, sleep will then be quiet and prolonged. A healthy child born at term has a reserve supply of material to keep up the body-heat, so that a little liquid only at long intervals is all the food required for the first day or two, and that little can mostly be supplied by the mother. To take an ordinary instance : (Case i) a boy born quite at the full period without undue difficulty at 1.30 p.m., the temperature taken in the rectum at 2 o'clock, was gS°.4, the child having been but slightly covered in a not very warm room ; the surface generally was colder, but at^ 3 o'clock after the child had been washed and dressed, 98 .4 was easily obtainable in the folds of integument at the neck. At 8 p.m. the temperature taken at the neck was still 98°.4, and next morning the same, though the night had been passed sleeping in a bassinet; little or no food had been taken, as the child seemed too well nourished to have much disposition to suck. At 11 a.m., after washing and dressing, the surface temperature in the neck was 98°.8 with a slight loss of body-weight.* During the month, * The loss of weight marked in the first few days is constant ; it is not owing to the want of nutriment or to the kind of supply given The most appropriate ingesta are those which aid the clearance of wLteTaterS fr'om the Lwels and kidneys. If the infant wets the napkins freely it is receiving all it needs in the way of fluids, and at Z me much is needed, for the proportion of solid matter to be p sse Un the urine is increased tenfold. A week later, with six times as much urine voided, only half this active waste is evidenced.