The Folklore of Children's Diseases

Abstract

THE folklore of children's diseases is very extensive, including as it does popular conceptions of the acute exanthemata and other infectious diseases, especially whooping-cough and diphtheria, rheumatic fever, venereal infections, cardiac, alimentary and respiratory disorders, as well as isolated diseases, especially enuresis, infantile convulsions, rickets, hernia and the supposed effect of the Evil Eye. Time does not allow me to discuss the folklore of all these diseases, some of which I have dealt with elsewhere, but I have tried to select the most interesting material. Aetiology. Belief in the doctrine of maternal impressions, of which numerous examples have been collected by Gould and Pyle,' is still far from extinct, even among medical practitioners, although there is no scientific foundation for such a view. Some years ago 2 1 showed a case of giant naevus of tippet distribution before the Children's Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, in a girl aged seven, whose mother had been frightened in the third or fourth month Qf pregnancy by a black and tan dog. In spite of her doctor's assurance to the contrary she was convinced that the child would be marked, and her surmise proved correct. In the subsequent discussion the president of the section expressed his belief in the reality of maternal impressions, and quoted a similar case. The recognition of astrology by orthodox medical practitioners survived till the eighteenth century, as is shown by Mead's work.3 Kircher (quoted by Pettigrew 4) alluded to the evil effects of a conjunction of Mars and Saturn, which he states emitted very deadly exhalations, and such diseases as small-pox, measles and fever become inevitable. A puny child who does not thrive is often regarded, especially in countries bordering on the Mediterranean, as suffering from a visitation