[Illustration: By permission of Henry H. Goddard.]
This is one of those truly unfortunate cases which, so far as present knowledge goes, cannot be guarded against. Eunice, age 31, mentally 2, is a low-grade imbecile. There is not in the whole family, for generations back, a single case of feeble-mindedness, nor of disease that would undermine the nervous organization. Close scrutiny does not reveal a single assignable cause. She came, as an accident, to blight an otherwise normal family.
Such cases are few, but unfortunately they do occur. It is for Eugenics to materially reduce the possibility of such occurrences.
Rules to be Observed in the Treatment of Contagious Diseases--What Isolation Means--The Contagious Sick Room--Conduct and Dress of the Nurse--Feeding the Patient and Nurse--How to Disinfect the Clothing and Linen--How to Disinfect the Urine and Feces--How to Disinfect the Hands--Disinfection of the Room Necessary--How to Disinfect the Mouth and Nose--How to Disinfect the Throat--Receptacle for the Sputum--Care of the Skin in Contagious Diseases--Convalescence After a Contagious Disease--Disinfecting the Sick Chamber--The After Treatment of a Disinfected Room--How to Disinfect the Bed Clothing and Clothes--Mumps--Epidemic Parotitis--Chicken Pox--Varicella--La Grippe--Influenza--Diphtheria--Whooping Cough--Pertussis--Measles--Koplik's Spots--Department of Health Rules in Measles--Scarlet Fever--Scarlatina--Typhoid Fever--Various Solutions--Boracic Acid Solution--Normal Salt Solution--Carron Oil--Thiersch's Solution--Solution of Bichloride of Mercury--How to Make Various Solutions.
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN THE TREATMENT OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
Every mother should know the elementary principles involved in the treatment of contagious diseases. They are contagious because they may be conveyed from one individual to another or because a person nursing a victim of a contagious disease may carry that disease to another person without having the disease herself. For this reason, certain rules have been established by the medical profession, which experience has taught are necessary in order to preserve the health of the community when such diseases are prevalent.
The very first rule to which the physician will direct the mother's attention, when there is a contagious disease, will be that the child must be "isolated."