The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1825-10-26
Re0tcaI.
From the Boston Medical Intelligencer.
.4CIDTTY.

\ S1N41<4
An acid acrimony may be occasioned either
by laxity and debility 10 the organs of diges.
ton, or by an excess of ascescent food. When
! digestion is imperfect, acidity is the conse-
quences though no such process as fermenta-
ton has preceded. Phe food of children is
for the most part of the vegetable kind, and
readily turns sour in the stomach, if the BODY
be any way disordered hence most of their
complaints are accompanied with eviden,
signs of acidity,-as green stools, gripping pains
| in the bowels, &c. 1t is frequently asserted
that prevailing acid Is the cause of nearly
all disorders among children: but acidity in
| their stomach is oftenef an effect than cause
of their complaints. 1t is not acidity, but it.
excess, that does the harm, and this is Away:
| a consequence OF some error in diet, or defcien.
cy in the powers of digestion.
Redundant acid in the alimentary cana
| may be known by sourness of the eructations
| frequent pain 10 the stomach, hatulence, and
| grplng pains in the bowels; there is costive-
ness, paleness of the skin, itching comes on
pustules appear, and a train Of nervous symp.
toms soon follows. In diseases peculiar to
| children, there are, for the most part, symp.
| toms of an excess of irritation the pulse i,
accelerated, the stomach is disordered, the
! vessels OF the skin are contracted, and convul-
| sive fits follow.
As this is frequently cause of great mortal
ity among children, we cannot be too atten-
tive to its treatment, nor too early In the use
ofremedIes, for ifneglected, it is likely to end
in some obstinate or incurable disease. To
commence with, then, children if not too fee
Bile, should be exercised more and fed less.
Twice as many die in consequence of pamper.
ing and feeding upon delcacies, as from want
neglect or acute disease.
II medicine must be employed, let it be
done under the superintenGance of a physi-
cian. Paregoric and mint drops, the grand
remedies in which nurses on all occasions put
their trust, are improper articles to be admin
| lstered in efficient doses, in the commence.
ment ofa majority of disorders that are pecu.
liar TO children. Castor oil, the most potent
| article n the nurses materia medica, and heT
last resort in cases Of emergency, is also obiec.
tlonable where there is acidity in the stomach
| and bowels.--This complaint is not peculiar
to children, nor does it always depend on the
nature o. the food. 1t is mark of disordered
digestion, and may proceed from many differ
ent causes. Curdled milk elected is a popu.
lar and decisive proof of a sour stomach. But
this is often fallacious; for the stomach of an
infant will curdle milk, when the incest test
| cannot detect the least particle Of acid. From
all that's known upon this subject, is supposed
that the principles OF the vegetable acid (for
oil this nature is the morbid acid of the stom.
ach, } are found in food Of every kind. and
tA--4, when tsscir union is DESTROYED in the FIRST
periods Of digestion, new compound laKei
place. CalcerOus and magnetism earths only
act as palliatives in diseases which arise from
acidity; their cure depends on Strengthening
the system, and invigorating the action Of the
stomach.
FIN instance Of Suspended .anin,ation.-A
laborer who had fallen from a scaffolding in
England, was carried, apparently dead, to
medical aid, and after means had been applied
without success for his recovery, his friends
carried the body home, with advice from the
surgeon to procure a coffin. A more skilfu]
surgeon, however, hearing the circumstances,
examined the body, and found heat enough
to convince him that the vital spark had not
fed. He at first opened vein in the arm,
but no blood Of consequence came; on draw
ing the scalpel over two branches of the tenn
poral artery, he bled profusely. Before a
pound had flowed he breathed, and when two
pounds were drawn, he respired almost natu-
rally. Several hours passed between the time
of his fall and that of the operation which re-
stored fellow being to life. 1t occurred to
the surgeon at the time, (and which he found
IN another similar case,) that the blood re-
mains in the arterial system, in warm fluid
state, after the superveins become nearly
empty; and what remains in them is partly
CONCEALED from losing its free caloric; also
that the arteries retained the elasticity and
vital properties considerable time after the
veins have lost their little contractile power
necessary to carry on the circulation.