Amelia Hill, aged two years six months, admitted for _Meningitis_,--_suckled one year nine months_.
---- Hughes, died of '_Water in the head_,'--_suckled fourteen months_.
---- Ferreira, aged seventeen months, died of '_Water in the head_,'--_suckled until its death_.
For the five following cases I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. William Griffith, an intelligent surgeon of Eaton-street, who, having some time ago been apprised of my peculiar views, has since directed his attention particularly to the subject. They completely confirm my opinions, and will have more weight with the public than any additional evidence I could adduce from my own practice.
In the letter inclosing these cases, Mr. Griffith writes thus--'from the observations I have been enabled to make, I am led to believe that disease almost invariably follows protracted suckling. I may add in conclusion, that I perfectly concur with the views which you entertain on the subject.'
'---- Jackson, residing at ----, aged two years six months, who had been kept _at the breast twenty-two months_, was in a dying state when I was requested to see her. The pulse was preternaturally slow--great stupor--dilatation of the pupils, and diastasis of the bones of the head. In six hours from the time I first saw her she died, and the mother was desirous that the head should be examined, having lost a child previously, in what she considered a similar manner. On removing the scalp I found the cranium very much enlarged and altered in shape. Between the tunica arachnoides and pia mater, there was a quantity of water effused;--the sides and upper surface of the brain were exceedingly soft. In the lateral ventricles there were from six to eight ounces of water. In answer to a few questions I asked the mother, she stated that her former child was, during the _first ten months_ of its life, _a plump, healthy infant_,--_after that period he altered_,--the stomach, bowels, and _head became affected_, and, in the course of a few months, he manifested similar symptoms to those which proved fatal in the case of his sister. He was _suckled for twenty-one months_, and _died_ at the age of _twenty-seven months_. The mother of these children has one other child alive, and at my urgent request it was weaned at _nine months_,--it is now _seventeen months old, and in excellent health_.'