When to Send for the Doctor and what to do before the Doctor Comes
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM. :Author: Frieda E. Lippert, M.D., and Arthur Holmes, Ph.D. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1913. Pp. 265.
Instead of attempting to enumerate the various classes of people to whom this book will be valuable, it is far easier and more accurate for the reviewer to say at once that there is hardly anyone,?excepting possibly the physician and his right hand, the trained nurse,?who does not have need for it. Mothers first of all are the ones for whom it was written, and if mothers, why not fathers too? Are they not often enough called upon to give aid in a sudden illness of a child, and to settle the urgent question, “Hadn’t we better send for the doctor?” No less than parents would teachers, social workers and nursery governesses do well to get by heart the simple rules for detecting signs of ill health in a child and learn to distinguish between contagious and non-contagious, trifling and serious maladies.
The illustrations are well chosen and bring out with beautiful clearness the points to be observed. The text is equally clear, and is divided into chapters and sections with headings which make it easy to trace down a symptom and find its significance. Part I deals with “Simple Non-contagious and Contagious Diseases,” and its ten chapters are on “Baby’s Cries,” “Colds,” “Sore Throat,” “Fevers,” “The Sick Stomach,” “Bowel Troubles,” “Headache,” “Skin Eruption,” “Contagious Febrile Diseases,” and “Contagious Diseases of the Eye”. Part II is on “Simple and Serious Nerve Disorders,” Part III on “Some Habits of Childhood,” Part IV on “Physical and Mental Causes of Retardation,” including the common physical defects and special defects of hearing, teeth, speech, and posture. Part IV, “What to do before the Doctor Comes,” contains brief and definite directions for the prompt treatment of wounds, burns and scalds, loss of consciousness, fractures, dislocations, sprains, and poisoning. Where so much that is useful is included, one is led to wonder why yet another chaptfr was not given a place. A few words on the hygiene of adole cence and its emergencies would have added greatly to the value of this book.
The volume closes with a very complete index, making it possible to refer in a moment to any topic on which information is wanted, whether it be the incubation period of measles, a home remedy for colic, the proper temperature of a living room, or the way to prepare an antiseptic dressing for a wound. Both Dr Lippert and Professor Holmes, it is almost unnecessary to say, have had long and ample experience with exceptional as well as normal children. Their advice is sound and easy to follow, and will surely help in the saving of lives that are endangered in the many crises of childhood. A. T.
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