The Wilmingtonian., 1886-07-10
Only Teething!!

for babyhood that mothers so often con
found cholera infantum with teething.
Scores and scores OF cases of bowel in.
yolvments advance to the point of IN articulc
mortiS before the parents or guardians rea,
lie their gravity. "Only teething" says the
mother while her child is absolutely dying
from cholera infantum and in many cases
the fatal issue might have been avoided had
the seriousness of the case been appreciated
in the earlier stage.
| Parents should remember that dentition
is a perfectly natural process aud it has
neither lot nor part with Serious effusions
from the bowels. As many children teeth
in the winter as in the Summer season yet
intestinal complications are never heard of
in Winter in connection with teething.
There is probably no disease in the cate
CORY of human ailments that numbers SO
many victims in given space of time, as
cholera infantum, yet its prevalence is
largely due to causes that can and should be
controlled by human agencies.
Among The predisposing causes of this
disease may be mentioned crowded dwellings
from which sunlight and pure air are ex-
c.uded, filthy underclothing infrequent alb
lutions and injudicious nourishment.
The child sustained in the early months
of its existence by its mothers breast, other
things being equal, is much more likely to
brave the dangers of bowel arrangements
than the child which must rely for its sus-
tanence upon foreign and unnatural support.
supervene, the mother of the nurs-
ing child cannot be two careful in regard to
the nature of her diet. Under no circum-
stances should the child be allowed to nurse
when the mother is extremely fatigued or
suffering from intense heat.
To the child dependent upon other than
natural agencies for its nutriment, it should
be remembered that the starchy food which
is given in excess to so many children under
the false idea that it is easily digestible,
is prone to ferment in the alimentary canal,
and thus produces an irritation of the
stomach and bowels which rapidly favors
development Of cholera infantum.
| 10 &c &c
ness in children, whose organs are designed
for the digestion of milk and kindred food
the conditions necessary for the digestion
Of starch only developing with the teeth,
and too many cases of summer complaint
are due to improper substitutes for the
child's natural food.
Cholera Infantum is the scourge Of child
hood in this country and it is marked by a
| violent inflammation of the stomach and
bowels. The iuitatory symptoms are exces-
sive vomiting and profuse purgation. More
OF less fever characterizes the early stage
| and if the disease is not arrested within the
first forty eight hours, fatal exhaustion will
ensue in a vast majority of cases.
That this should be so is scarcely to be
| wondered at when we consider that the
very causes which produce the dsease-viz :
foul air, confinement, uncleanliness and i'm
proper food, are in operation throughout the
illness.
Before death we observe all the signs Of
exhausted vitality, muscular contractions
great emaciation, sunken eye and loss of
voice. In many cases consciousness vanish
es some hours before the fatal issue; in
others it is retained to the last.
The discharges from the bowels are usual
| ly yellowish or greenish, at first consisting
chiefly of secretions from the mucous mem
brane of the iptestines as the disease pro-
crosses the serum of the blood begins to es-
cape and the action of the bladder is almost
completely suspended. There is constant
vomiting, accompanied with diarrhoea and
cold sweats,
Even a case of acute Group does not afford
more narrowing spectacle than that Of a
child dying of cholera infantum. 1t is the
more dreadful because the burden Of the cal
amity oftentimes lies at the parents door
a crime of neglect, in short, which no tears
of sorrow can wash away.
There can be no doubt that much of the
mortality from cholera nfantum is due to
the failure Of the child's natural guardians
to recognize the character of the disease.
The father is out all day at his work, and
leaves the responsibility OF the care of the
children to the mother. The lat is toe
often prone to treat the premonitory diar-
rh 9a as natural or even beneficial she will
often say it is because the child is teeth,
inn, and that Mrs. Browns and Mrs. Jones
children were attacked in the same way and
got over it all right Of course Mrs. Brown
and Mis-. Jones are called in consultation,
and endorse this view with all the coq,tonce
in their power. As result the child is suf.
fered to run on-perhaps dosed with little
| "a