Essays on Infant Therapeutics (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 Excerpt: ...but when syncope does come on, it is very certain that they do not recover from it so readily, and they are always in more or less danger. In the adult, syncope from the loss of blood, unless the quantity be very large, is a state which, as a general rule, is attended with little or no danger, and from which the patient speedily recovers. Hence it is that physicians are continually in the habit of inducing it in the management of certain forms of disease, and not merely with impunity, but evident advantage. In the young subject it is not so, and it is a state always attended with hazard. If the child recover from it, it does so very slowly, and every now and then it sinks irretrievably under its influence. That this is a fact, is confirmed by abundant testimony on the part of those who have taken the trouble to make the necessary observations. Dr. Marshall Hall, in speaking on this subject, says, "In infancy, the state of syncope (from the loss of blood) is a state of danger.." Evanson and Maunsell remark, " As a general rule, it is well to stop the flow of blood when decided pallor takes place, without waiting for actual fainting, from which children do not quickly recover."f Armstrong says, "Do not bleed to actual syncope in children, as they are apt to fall into convulsions, of which they may die. Children do not recruit from very large bleedings like adults." Dr. Ryan observes, "The abstraction of blood in cases of infants and children until fainting occurs, is the worst practice that can be imagined, as convulsions or death may be produced. " Indeed, the general fact admits of no question; and the reason is obvious enough, if we reflect for a moment upon the nature of the agent, and at the same time compa...