Part 21 (1/2)
INFANTS' EXERCISE-MACHINES.
”Does a man throw his precious pearls and diamonds into the sea?”
”Why, then, do ye cast the priceless health and beauty of your children to the winds?”
I cannot undertake to relate at present one t.i.the of the precautions taken in the care of infants. Did I venture so to do I should have to ”descend” to the minutest particulars, such as the dispensing with ”pins,” and the making the baby's dress in one piece, the nursing, and form of the cradle, to the mode in which the baby is to be placed at the side of the mother, to prevent its being overlaid or injured,-- everything, in fact, which in Montalluyah is thought essential to protect infants and save them from unnecessary suffering, in order that their young strength may be husbanded for the future requirements of the man.
To give you some notion, however, of the minutiae to which our care extended, I will explain to you one series of precautions which has great influence on the child's health, beauty, and intelligence.
Young children formerly suffered greatly from fits and various diseases, caused by the want of healthy circulation. When more advanced, and whilst learning to walk, they were subject to falls. This was amongst the most serious evils of early neglect, for it was demonstrated beyond doubt that accidents to the infant, prominent amongst which were blows received on its head, not only affected its after-growth, and laid the foundation of nervous and other disorders, but were often attended with the sadder result, that the child's intellect was impaired.
Nevertheless, so little was this danger apprehended, that many people long indulged in the foolish habit of boxing children's ears, unaware that the shock produced on the nerves of the head, which are the conduits of electricity, often made a child stupid, if, indeed, the effects of this brutal practice were not in after-life attended by more serious consequences. In learning to walk, also, the weight of the child's body, pressing on the legs too heavily, has a tendency to make them crooked or bent, and to affect other parts of the body.
To obviate these evils, a man named Drahna invented, at my suggestion, certain mechanical contrivances, which were so efficacious, and prevented so much suffering, that his name will never be forgotten as one of the great benefactors of our world.
These contrivances are respectively adapted to the infant when it cannot sit up, when it can sit up, when it has acquired strength beyond the second stage, and, lastly, when the limbs have acquired sufficient strength to support the increased weight of the body.
The contrivance, in the first stage, is calculated to give the infant healthful exercise, circulate the blood, and, at the same time to protect him from injury. It consists of a soft spring-cus.h.i.+on, on which the baby is laid; two little elastic bands on this cus.h.i.+on secure the arms, whilst other bands secure the head, ankles, and waist. By turning a small handle the machine is very gently set in motion, but by pressing down a k.n.o.b its velocity may be increased at will. So agreeable is the action of the machine, that when the motion is altogether stopped the child will often cry, or rather coo, that the movement may be repeated.
For the second stage, the instrument is similar to the first, but larger and stronger.
The third stage is adapted to the time when it is judicious to begin to teach the child to walk. The legs, and, indeed, every part of the body, are supported by the instrument, which cannot be overturned. When this is put into motion, the child's left leg is first moved, then the right, and so on alternately. A perfect idea of walking, with the necessary movement of the joints, is thus given to the child, without the slightest strain on its limbs, as yet unfitted to bear the weight of its own body. The machine continues in motion for a time sufficient to exercise without causing fatigue.
As soon as the child has acquired the knowledge of the motion, and his limbs are strong enough to support the weight of the body without injury, these machines are put aside, and the fourth contrivance is used. In this, the mechanism consists of a framework with very light and soft bandages, made with the plumage and down of birds. With these bandages the child's head, knees, elbows, wrists, shoulders, and loins are gently bound. The framework to which the bandages are attached has a projection from every point, on which the child, in case of accident, can possibly fall, and he is thus effectually protected; for, as the projection allows of his falling only slightly out of the perpendicular, the concussion is but slight, and the young one is only pressed gently on the soft down.
As the child increases in strength, the projections are removed at intervals, one by one, commencing with those corresponding to the knees, the last removed being those protecting the head, which are retained for a long time. Even when they have been removed, the head is still guarded by a light turban with inside springs, made so as to yield gently to a blow, and thus save the head; so important is it considered to protect this superior portion of the human frame.
When the bandages are first removed from the knees, the child has perhaps some falls; but these, the head and other parts being protected, are not attended with any serious consequences; and if the child actually falls, the sensation of pain he may experience may teach him to be more careful in future. Such lessons would, indeed, be valuable at all times; but they would be purchased at too great a cost if learned at the price of injury to body and mind.
The use of these four instruments was followed by remarkable results; and they are thought of such great value to the community that the districts supply them gratuitously to the poor. Those thus charitably bestowed are less ornamental than the others, but equally efficient.
THE TEETH.
The teeth are also subjects of great care, and the infant is spared all pain in cutting them. When the teething-time is near, and before the pains attending it have even commenced, the child's gums are rubbed night and morning with a bulb or root so softening and relaxing in its effects, that after a short time the teeth make their way through the gums with perfect ease. When the teeth are too numerous the redundant ones are extracted, without causing the patient the slightest pain. A hot solution of the same bulb is applied to the portion of the gum which encloses the tooth to be extracted; causing the gum to separate from the roots of the tooth, which is then removed with perfect ease. None are extracted after the last have appeared, for decay is effectually prevented. In seeking remedies for the maladies of those who were born before my laws came into operation, the immediate cause of decay was discovered; but we did not rest until we had detected the remote cause and the means of preventing the evil.
By the aid of the microscope and other scientific appliances the discovery was soon made that decay in teeth is produced by a minute worm resulting from the absence of the proper electricity, necessary for preserving in the tooth a healthy action. When this electricity is deficient, the circulation in the bone becomes sluggish, the fatty matters stagnate, and through the warmth of the gum acting on the stagnant acc.u.mulation, a single worm is generated.
Though we had discovered the existence of the worm and the cause of its being bred, some time elapsed before we were able to discover whether the necessary electricity was wanting, and, by supplying the deficiency, to prevent the generation of the worm. At length a professor, by name Jerronska, invented an ingenious little instrument, of a form corresponding to the upper and lower jaw, and furnished above and below with small points or minute spikes; the instrument in a contracted shape is introduced into the mouth and is there expanded to correspond to the form of the jaws. It is charged with an electricity that can escape through the spikes only, and is opposed to the electricity of the teeth, which if healthy will cause a slight shock to the patient, without any other inconvenience. On the other hand, if any of the teeth do not contain the proper kind or quant.i.ty of electricity, they will turn to a colour like fire, leaving the healthy teeth untouched; for the instrument affects those teeth alone whose electricity is defective.
We have then the means of impregnating the unhealthy teeth with the proper electricity, and thus destroying the incipient ovum, which cannot live in an electricity healthful to the tooth.
In like manner, minute precautions are taken to preserve the beauty and power of the eye. Formerly, in consequence of the intensity of light in Montalluyah, and through other causes, the sight suffered severely.
Our physicians also found out the means of tracing and removing the germs of defects in the ear, the nostrils, the tongue--in short, everything that, if neglected, might impair the adult's energies and beauty.
Great attention is paid to the quality of the air in which children are bred, for air affects both the blood and the nerves. Its effect on the blood was long known, through the fact that air is one of its important ingredients; but its effect on the nerves was first demonstrated by observing that nerves taken from a person recently dead shrivel and contract in a vitiated atmosphere, and revive and expand when brought into the open air.