The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-04-25
Written for the Galaxy.
No. III.

of certain characteristics of features, complex
ion, form, SC. More extensive and accurate
observations have shown that these signs are
not much to be relied on. And although the
professional eye, accustomed to the studiou.
observation of these peculiarities might discov-
er in them the evidences of scrofula before it
appeared in any arrangement Of the general
health, yet this guide would be unsafe and un-
satisfactory for people in general. Disregard.
ing these things, then, whenever child is Of
scrofulous parentage, or gives evidence of a
feeble constitution, he should be managed in
the manner hereafter laid down; for even if
be free from the scrofulous faint, his system
needs invigorating influences. say "a child,
because it is in childhood that the constitution
of the health is for the most part formed. II
Is almost as true with the physical as with the
moral man, that "just as the twig is bent, the
trees inclined" Later in life, though the
same managementiS applicable, its power will
be less.
shall proceed to speak particularly of the
different influences already mentioned as tend
ing to generate or to excite scrofula; giving
in connection with each ,evidence of its power
and detailing the means of counteracting or
avoiding it.
In regard to the effect of insufficient and in
nutritious diet, we have seen evidence of Its
deleterious power in the facts already men
toned. In addition it is true as a general rule.
that scrofulous diseases must prevail among
those classes who from the circumstances OF
life are most poorly fed. Among the lower
classes in our large towns against whom all
unfavorable influences, indeed, combine, }
scrotulais more fatal than any where else in
this country. The effect of the change from a
better to worse diet is most strkinglv seen in
weaving. 1t is rare for children before wean-
ing to suffer from scrofulouI diseases, & tuber-
cles-are very seldom found in the bodies Of
those who die Of other complaints before that
period. While for three or four years after
that period they are more common than at anv
other time oflife.
tits the experience of physicians that about
that time there sfrequently change in the
character of the affections of children IT. for ex-
ample, an infant at the breast has sore eyes, it
is, in ninety nine of hundred cases, catarrhal
or purulent ophthalmia; while if the same or
gan Is diseased, subsequently to weaving, the
case is one of scrofulouS ophthalmia. I he
cause of this change is not difficult to discover
The milk of the mother is the best adapted
that is possible to the system Of the child. 1t
contains IN just proportion the three nutri-
tious principles, the albuminous, the oleagin-
Gus and the saccharine,-the curd the butter.
and tho whey. The proportion of fat is larger
in human milk than in that of any other ami
NAL, and it Is an important fact that the guam
tity of the oleaginous part, or cream, increases
after the ninth month, so as toamonnt to one
third of the whole, indicating the design of ma
ture that this article should continue to form an
important part of the diet of children. Now
while upon this diet, in which the parts which
represent fat and lean meat preponderate O.
yer the other ingredients, the child is almost
free from scrofulous disease, but with the
change of diet at weaving, comes every variety
of that complaint, l am persuaded that the diet
of children, especially Of weakly and scrofuloris
children, is much more often too weak than toe
strong.
Among the rich the child gets too much
pastry and soup, among the poor too many
vegetables. in proportion to the animal food
1t is common mistake to suppose that such
light food is best adapted to the feeble diges-
ton of children. Meat is fully digest
ible, for the healthy stomach, and less liable to
prove irritating by the generation of acid. 1t
may not make the child 50 fat, but it gives
more vigor to the frame and activity and tone
to all the functions. am persuaded that
parents err greatly in forbidding, as many of
them do, the use of fat meat to their children.
The fondnesS which children very generally
have for it, in connection with the character OF
the mothers milk above mentioned, is an I'M
questionable proof that nature calls for it.
Taken in moderate quantities it will almost
always be found to agree with the stomach and
the health. Indeed it sometimes seems pecul-
iarly fitted to give tone to the enfeebled diges-
ton of children. 1t is no uncommon case that
a child worn down by protracted disease Of
the bowels, Is first started on the road to health
by piece Of fat bacon ora pork rind the stom-
ach refusing every thing else. keep YOUR
pork barrel always open,' an observing far
mer once said to me, "and your children will
grow up stout and healthy" If children are
allowed to have this kind of food regularly
there will be little danger of a surfeit from it.
If the principal diet be, as it should be, bread
and milk, fruit and milk, &c. the additional
articles should be bread and sound animal
food, instead Of vegetables, pastry, soups and
other trashy stuff. Soup is the slowest of d.
gestion of all the forms in which animal food
can be taken; pastry is little better, as anv one
may know who Will make full meal of that
alone.
The same kind Of diet should be used bv a.
dults who are inclined to scrofulous complaints.
If man is constitutionally plethoric and pre-
disposed to iniammations and COMPOSITIONS. he
may bear, even with benefit, the Grahamite
regimen, but if his system be on the other end
of the scale it will kill him. Among the Hin
docs, most Of whom, from religious scruples cat
no meat, consumption is far more common
than with any other people inhabiting that
latitude, and thirteen to one more common
than among the Europeans residing there. In
Greenland, on the contrary, where the people
subsist almost entirely on animal food, and
that, for the most part, fat scrofuous disease is
less common than it is in the milder latitude of
Europe and this Continent.
Cold and moisture have very important
influence on the scrofulous constitution. In
England, The rarest of climates, it ismore COM
mon than any where else in the world; on the
Continent they call it the '.Englishman's dis
ease" Everywhere it is more frequent on the
sea coast, where damp winds blow, than inland
In the dry, warm climate of Italy, the West
Indies Madeira &C.. IL Is comparativelv nm