On the wasting diseases of infants and children / by Eustace Smith, M.D.

  • Smith, Eustace, 1835-1914.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the wasting diseases of infants and children / by Eustace Smith, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    due to the hurry of breathing it induces, for when their ribs are softened an increased demand for air is difficult to satisfy. Marked tenderness to the touch in rickets is usually a sign that the case is becoming complicated with scurvy. The special symptoms are accompanied by all the other phenomena which preceded the beginning of the disease. The bowels remain confined, or are more or less capricious, a day or two of relaxation being followed by an equal period of constipation. More often, however, there are three or four evacuations in the course of the twenty-four hours, accompanied by considerable straining- The stools consist of whitish, curdy-looking matter, mixed with mucus, and are extremely offensive. The food taken seems to pass almost unchanged through the alimentary canal, being, no doubt, forced too rapidly along from abnormal exaltation of the peristaltic action of the bowels, so that sufficient time is not allowed for digestion. A certain amount of abdominal discomfort appears to be common in these cases, for the child may often be noticed to turn round in his cot on to his face, and will sometimes fall asleep resting upon his arms and knees, with his head buried in the pillow. The urine becomes more abundant and deposits a calcareous sediment, or abounds in phos- phates. There is usually some thirst; but the appetite is often voracious, so that the child very shortly after a meal will show a disposition to eat again. This is what we constantly meet with in cases of dyspepsia in the adult, where the peristaltic action of the intestines is unnaturally brisk. The child soon loses his power of walking, and sits, or lies about. He becomes dull and languid, and neglects his playthings. There is usually some emaciation; but if the symptoms are not severe at the first, he may be plump in appearance, although his flesh feels soft and flabby. In the daytime he is drowsy,