Symptoms. — The following is generally the course of the
disease: A child is put to bed in its ordinary health, appar-
ently, or it may have a slight cold, and a cough a trifle rough,
but not enough to excite attention to it. After a variable time
the child wakes up with a hoarse, ringing, rasping cough and
difficulty in breathing, and countenance expressive of its
trouble; each inspiration and expiration being attended with a
rough metallic tubular sound, and the voice masked or obliter-
ated by a harsh, hoarse, croaking vocalization. The cough is
dry, harassing, and unattended with expectoration in the out-
set, but after awhile some portions of a membrane-like mucus
may be coughed up. The pulse becomes rapid, the skin hot,
the countenance more and more distressed, and if relief be not
afforded, the patient becomes drowsy, the complexion becomes
blue, and the little patient may die from suffocation within
forty-eight hours. Happily, however, this is not the most com-
mon course of the disease, if the treatment be prompt and
active.
The first thing to be done is to give a teaspoonful of ipe-
cacuanha wine every ten minutes until vomiting occurs. Ipecac-
uanha wine is preferable to antimonial wine, as the latter is too
depressing. (Where children are subject to croup, ipecac-
uanha wine should always be at hand.) Meanwhile, a hot bath
should be prepared, and used as quickly as possible; and while
318 MEDICINAL.
in the hot bath a wet sponge, sprinkled with mustard, should
be held on the upper part of the chest and front of the neck.
After the vomiting has subsided, small doses of the ipecacuanha
wine (from five to fifteen drops, according to the age of the
child) should be continued every three hours, until the hoarse-
ness in the breathing and voice ceases and the cough becomes
loose. The atmosphere of the bedroom should be kept warm
and moist by steam from a pipe or spout of a kettle. The
temperature should not be allowed to fall below 60 degrees, if
possible. The diet light and simple.
As a last resource, supposing these remedies are not at hand
or obtainable, and the disease is making rapid strides, life may
be saved by applying scalding water to the neck, holding it
there on a sponge or flannel for a minute at least. This is a
most extreme and violent means, but it is one by which the
writer has seen a life saved.
DandrifF. — Symptoms. — Scurf, or dandrift", consists in an
exuberant exfoliation of the minute scales of the outer skin
and sometimes forms an obstinate and annoying effection of
the hairy scalp.
Treatment. — Rub in some mild ointment or pomatum,
over night, and wash it out in the morning with soap. Or ap-
ply the following ointment at bedtime: Ointment of red pre-
cipitate, 2 ounces; balsam of Peru, i drachm, and wash it out
the next morning with juniper tar soap.
Page 227
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Symptoms. — The following is generally the course of the disease: A child is put to bed in its ordinary health, apparently, or it may have a slight cold, and a cough a trifle rough, but not enough to excite attention to it. After a variable time the child wakes up with a hoarse, ringing, rasping cough and difficulty in breathing, and countenance expressive of its trouble; each inspiration and expiration being attended with a rough metallic tubular sound, and the voice masked or obliterated by a harsh, hoarse, croaking vocalization. The cough is dry, harassing, and unattended with expectoration in the outset, but after awhile some portions of a membrane-like mucus may be coughed up. The pulse becomes rapid, the skin hot, the countenance more and more distressed, and if relief be not afforded, the patient becomes drowsy, the complexion becomes blue, and the little patient may die from suffocation within forty-eight hours. Happily, however, this is not the most common course of the disease, if the treatment be prompt and active.
The first thing to be done is to give a teaspoonful of ipecacuanha wine every ten minutes until vomiting occurs. Ipecacuanha wine is preferable to antimonial wine, as the latter is too depressing. (Where children are subject to croup, ipecacuanha wine should always be at hand.) Meanwhile, a hot bath should be prepared, and used as quickly as possible; and while
in the hot bath a wet sponge, sprinkled with mustard, should be held on the upper part of the chest and front of the neck. After the vomiting has subsided, small doses of the ipecacuanha wine (from five to fifteen drops, according to the age of the child) should be continued every three hours, until the hoarseness in the breathing and voice ceases and the cough becomes loose. The atmosphere of the bedroom should be kept warm and moist by steam from a pipe or spout of a kettle. The temperature should not be allowed to fall below 60 degrees, if possible. The diet light and simple.
As a last resource, supposing these remedies are not at hand or obtainable, and the disease is making rapid strides, life may be saved by applying scalding water to the neck, holding it there on a sponge or flannel for a minute at least. This is a most extreme and violent means, but it is one by which the writer has seen a life saved.
Dandriff. — Symptoms. — Scurf, or dandriff, consists in an exuberant exfoliation of the minute scales of the outer skin and sometimes forms an obstinate and annoying effection of the hairy scalp.
Treatment. — Rub in some mild ointment or pomatum, over night, and wash it out in the morning with soap. Or apply the following ointment at bedtime: Ointment of red precipitate, 2 ounces; balsam of Peru, i drachm, and wash it out the next morning with juniper tar soap.