The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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22 The Health Bulletin May, 1927
will not stand tho irritation of wool
next to it, it is liardly wise to expect
that the far more susceptible skin of
the infant will be more resistant.
Where once "prickly heat" was considered
a visitation of divine Providence
that must be put up with it is
nowadays looked upon as a reflection
upon the judgment of the adult in
charge, who has subjected the infant to
clothing conditions.
One other way in which the care of
the baby can be immensely simplified
is by the use of the three protective
inoculations which can be definitely,
positively and safely recommended for
all babies before the end of the first
year. We refer, of course, to immunization
against smallpox, typhoid, and
diphtheria. It would seem quite unnecessary
in this day and generation
to mention these three, much less to
defend the advisability of using them.
Yet we know- that many a child goes
unprotected against all three diseases
for years, when he might at little cost,
less discomfort, and no risk, be made
quite safe from them. These things
ought not so to be ; and the nurse who
is doing her full duty, and the doctor
who is mindful of his, vpill try their
best to protect the children which
come under their care.
Isn't this making the scientific care
of children so simple that every one
can be his own doctor and trained
nurse Would that it were; and that
those of us whose lives are devoted
to the care of children could so discharge
our duties that we would work
ourselves out of a profession. Unfortunately,
there is no immediate ho])e
of such a consummation so devoutly
to be desired. Anyone who has had
anything to do with the care of an
infant at first liand knows that points
will always come up about which there
can be no generalized rules and regulations
; these will require the individual
attention of doctor and trained nurse.
We also know that, simplify as we
will, there are always enovigh things
to be done by the mother during the
twenty-four liours that make up the
crowded eventful day's work, that the
mother's task can never be made a
very easy one, do what we will. But
the doctor or the professional nurse
who can make it any easier, and so aid
in the execution of the duties of a
mother's day that she may carry them
out without becoming, as so many
mothers are, constantly overtired and
exhausted, will be aiding in the care
of the child in still another way. He
will be doing his best to insure that
child, and every child who profits by
his effort, the quiet, calm, sustaining
mental atmosphere that can never
exist in the home where the mother
is never rested. For the maintenance
of a calm, happy background is needed
during the critical first six years of
life when the main character trends
are becoming set in moulds that will be
retained through life. Trained Nurse
and Hospital Review.
r
THE TRAGEDY OF ODOUS AMELIAS
By EUGENE B. HOWLE, M.D., D.D.S., President N. C. Dental Society
I came into this world as a lower
central incisor in tlie mouth of a little
girl about five years old. It was many
years later through a chain of horrible
circumstances which I shall try to
describe that I came to be known as
Odous Amelias (Oulomenos) which,
freely translated, means "A tooth which
has been sacrificed on the altar of
neglect."
I found myself in a wholesome,
healthy environment surrounded by
beautiful, pink gums and bathed by
pure, clean oral secretions. My development
was rapid. I soon became
big and strong and firm and it was a
joy to realize that I had been endowed
with those characteristics which would
enable me to perform with ease and
comfort the duties for which I liad
been by nature designed. Life was a
wondrous thing. Many happy years
slipped by so peacefully that I had
not vet come to realize that my host