Crouch

“ For at least a minute, Captain Crouch uttered never a word. Then, quietly, without any show of haste, he took his pipe from his pocket, filled it, struck a match and lit it, and puffed a cloud of smoke into the air.
"I've known many men," said he at last, "and I've seen most parts of the world. I was first introduced to danger--if I might call it so--when I was little more than a lad, and we've kept up a nodding acquaintance ever since. I've known different kinds of danger, too--all the family relations, so to speak: jungle fever, malaria, cholera and Black Jack ”

“ Max looked worried. He was convinced that Crouch would die of blood-poisoning, and was beginning to wonder how, in that benighted, tropical forest, he was going to amputate the captain's leg.
"Don't you fret," said Crouch, tying the bandage himself. "Maybe, one brand of tobacco's not so good as another. It's my belief that if they cut off your head, you could stick it on again with Bull's Eye Shag." By then he had got to his feet. "Come on," said he; "this man won't let us get away if he can help it. ”

“ It is there we propose to go."
"Who goes with you?" asked Max.
"Crouch," said Harden; "Captain Crouch. The most remarkable man on the Coast. Nobody in England has ever heard of him; but on the West Coast, from Lagos to Loango, he is either hated like sin or worshipped like a heathen god. There's no man alive who understands natives as well as Crouch. He can get more work out of a pack of Kru-boys in a day than a shipping-agent or a trader can in a week." ”

“ In a moment, Crouch had the receiver to his ear. He had the wisdom not to speak, until he had found out who it was who had rung up the unoccupied flat, and this proved to be no less a person than the mysterious "Mr. Valentine," who was speaking from the "Hotel Magnificent" in the Strand. "Are you there?" he asked. "Are you the charwoman?"
Crouch replied at once, in the old woman's squeaky voice.
"I'm Mrs. Wycherley," said he.
"I told you," said the voice, "that you were to expect Mr. Russell this evening. He will probably arrive at about eight o'clock." ”

“ They were obliged to feed thus early, because it was necessary that at nightfall they should take their places around the stockade to prevent the Arabs breaking out in the night. The little sleep they got in those days they were obliged to take by day, when it sufficed for one of their number to watch the enemy's movements in the stockade.
Suddenly Crouch drove the knife with which he had been eating into the earth.
"I can't make it out!" he cried. "I'll give credit where it's due; the man 's clever as a monkey. What do you say?" ”

“ The truth burst upon him as in a flash: the stockade had been abandoned. And at that moment there was a great crashing sound as the gate swung back upon its hinges, and Crouch and Harden burst into the fort.
CHAPTER XX--THE RATS ESCAPE Edward Harden, rifle in hand, led the way, followed by Crouch and the four Fans. As they entered the stockade, expecting to be attacked from all sides in the darkness, they opened out in accordance with a pre-arranged plan. Crouch turned to the left and Edward to the right; and then, taking post on the banquette, they stood ready to fire. ”

“ As he was engaged in lighting this, a green baize door swung back and there entered one of the most extraordinary men that it was ever the lot of the young medical student to behold.
As we have said, the Explorers' Club was in Bond Street, and Captain Crouch was dressed after the fashion of a pilot; that is to say, he wore a navy-blue suit with brass buttons and a red tie. He was a very small man, and exceedingly thin. There seemed nothing of him. His head was almost entirely bald. He wore a small, bristling moustache, cut short like a tooth-brush, and a tuft of hair beneath his nether lip. ”

“ Another action was brought before him under these circumstances:—Butler, Lord of the Manor of Badminton, in the county of Gloucester, contending that Crouch was his villein regardant, entered into certain lands, which Crouch had purchased in Somersetshire, and leased them to Fleyer. Crouch thereupon disseised Fleyer, who brought his action against Crouch, pleading that Butler and his ancestors were seised of Crouch and his ancestors as of villeins regardant, from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. ”

“ Crouch, who was born on 31 July 1808, was a musical director and composer of many songs, including the well-known ballads ‘Kathleen Mavourneen’ and ‘Dermot Asthore.’ He went to America in 1845, and took up his residence in that country. ”

“ The following works, bearing the initials H. C., have also been attributed to Crouch: 1. ‘Christmas Carols,’ licensed to Richard Harper by the Stationers' Company 9 Nov. 1632. 2. ‘London's Lord have mercy on us: a true relation of five Modern Plagues’ (a tract in prose and verse) , Lond. (G. R. Harper) , 1637 (?) This is positively assigned to Crouch by Mr. Chappell (Roxb. Ballads, Ballad Soc. i. 468) . 3. ‘The Greeks and Trojans Warres,’ a ballad, Lond. 1640 (?) (Roxb. Coll. iii. 158) . 4. ‘A Whip for the Back of a backsliding Brownist,’ Lond. (by H. Crouch) , 1640 (?) 5. ”

“ Although he wrote tracts at the beginning of the civil war, Crouch held himself aloof from all parties, and deplored from a religious point of view the resort to active hostilities. His ballads, on general topics, ran fluently, and were exceptionally popular. ”

“ CROUCH, JOHN (fl. 1660–1681) , royalist verse-writer, was probably brother of Humphrey Crouch the ballad-writer [q. v.] There were many booksellers and publishers named Crouch in London in the seventeenth century, and license was granted to one John Crouch (who is very probably the verse-writer himself) by the Stationers' Company on 26 May 1635 to publish Thomas Heywood's ‘Philocothonista’ and ‘The Christian Dictionary.’ Before the publication, however, Crouch disposed of his interest in both these works to John Raworth (Arber, Transcript, iv. 339) . The Rev. ”

“ CROUCH, WILLIAM (1628–1710) , member of the Society of Friends, born 5 April 1628 at Penton by Weyhill, near Andover, Hampshire, was the son of a substantial yeoman. His father died in William's infancy, and the child had little more education than his mother, a woman of strong puritan feeling, could supply. In 1646 he was apprenticed to an upholsterer of Cornhill, and afterwards set up for himself in the same trade in a shop in Spread Eagle Court, Finch Lane, Cornhill. After enduring much torment owing to religious doubts, Crouch met in 1654 Edward Burrough [q. v.] ”

“ I run a kind of nursing home, here in my house, and there's a bed ready for you if you care to occupy it."
"A nursing 'ome!" said Croucher, shrinking from a vision of lint and ligatures. "There's nuffunk so much the matter with me that I want to go into an 'ome."
"Nothing that rest could not cure—rest and diet—I agree," said the doctor, with an eye on the empty dishes.
"But won't it cost a lot?" inquired Croucher, thinking of the kidneys especially. "I'm stony-broke, you see," he explained with increased bitterness.
"Our friend insists on paying the bill," said the doctor, grimly. ”

“ A full hot bath, or hot fomentations nearly always produce relief.
Aconitum, 3d.—Retention from cold, fever, or inflammation, hot, dry skin, thirst, etc.
Cantharis, 3d.—Frequent urging, with total suppression; or the discharge, with pain, of a few drops of bloody urine.
Croup is liable to attack a child any time from the age of one month, until nine or ten years old. The attacks occur most frequently when about two or three years of age. Nothing will more quickly make a mother’s heart stand still with alarm and terror than to hear the hoarse, whistling, sonorous breathing of croup. ”

“ There is no disease that requires more prompt treatment than croup, and none that creeps on more insidiously. The child at first seems to be laboring under a slight cold, and is troubled with a little dry cough; he is hot and fretful, and hoarse when he cries. Hoarseness is one of the earliest symptoms of croup; and it should be borne in mind that a young child, unless he be going to have croup, is seldom hoarse; if, therefore, your child be hoarse, he should be carefully watched, in order that, as soon as croup be detected, not a moment be lost in applying the proper remedies. ”

“ If the respiration becomes sonorous and difficult, the voice hoarse and gruff, the cough croupy and brassy as it is called, you have the characteristic symptoms of croup. But the peculiar breathing, making a sort of crowing sound with each inspiration, will always distinguish it, and there will always be some fever attending it. Croup sometimes commences with sore throat, and I believe that the sanguinaria powder will usually be efficacious in its cure; but prompt doses of veratrum are still more effectual. ”

“ Croup is an inflammation of the larynx characterized by a more or less severe spasm of the laryngeal muscles. This spasmodic contraction distinguishes it from similar affections in adults. The spasm produced is very often more marked and results in more severe symptoms than does the inflammation. ”

“ Croup exceeds by contracting the trachea enough to impede the passing of air to the lungs; diphtheria has more swelling of the tonsils, throat and glands of the neck, but all depend upon the same blood and nerve supply, or a general law of blood beginning with arteries to and from veins, lymphatics, glands and ducts to supply and take away all fluids that are of no farther use to the vital and material support. As all authors have agreed that the brain furnishes the propelling forces to the nerves, it would be proper to inquire how the brain is nourished. ”

“ In the male the scrotum is drawn up out of the way. A circular perineal incision is then made, beginning anteriorly at the perineoscrotal junction and extending around the anus. The arm may be introduced through this opening after the removal of the rectum and the abdominal and thoracic organs pulled downward and removed. In the female the uterus and vagina are removed through the vaginal opening; the arm is then introduced and the abdominal and thoracic organs removed.
II. POINTS TO BE NOTED IN THE EXAMINATION OF THE PELVIS.
I. MALE PELVIS. 1. Penis. ”

“ At other times the mesenteric glands are in a tubercular condition. The bones, too, do not escape the ravages of scrofula, which affects the softer and more spongy structure at the heads of cylindrical bones, the bones of the carpi, tarsi, and vertebræ. In its early development, so insidious and imperceptible is the change, that it is most frequently overlooked. Perhaps a sense of slight weakness is all that attracts attention, until the disease is more advanced, and a dull pain is felt in the hip, knee, or ankle joint, which is aggravated by pressure or long exercise. ”

“ She now and then put her hand to her neck to finger a brooch in the collar of her dress. It was a simple gold brooch, but she appeared to derive some comfort, or it may be some confidence, from the mere touching of it.
The operation was effected without untoward incident of any kind. It was entirely successful. The wound healed by what is known as "first intention," there was no rise of temperature and no surgical complication. But the condition of the patient caused an uneasiness that deepened day by day. ”

“ The great thing was to exclude the air, and give the sufferer at least temporary relief. With some native flour, a bandage was deftly applied, the arm placed in a sling, and the patient’s head was bathed with water and eau-de-Cologne. Fanned assiduously by the girl’s fan, he began to feel restored, he had been given heart, he had been assured that his hurts were not mortal, and presently he languidly declared himself better. ”

“ If the bleeding is very obstinate, and it occurs in the arm, place a cork underneath the string, on the inside of the fleshy part, where the artery may be felt beating by any one; if in the leg, place a cork in the direction of a line drawn from the inner part of the knee a little to the outside of the groin. ”

“ It is believed that children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are much more subject to croup than others. Although very sudden in its onset and very alarming, spasmodic croup, fortunately, is seldom dangerous. A little child goes to bed in apparently normal condition and wakes up suddenly with a coarse metallic cough, difficult breathing, and with a distressed expression on the face.
Alternate hot and cold compresses should be applied to the throat—first the hot cloths (wrung from very hot water) being applied over the throat, which should be covered with a single thickness of dry flannel. ”

“ When the hand is held before a Crookes tube, and is looked at through the cylinder, we can see the bones of the hand or foot almost as clearly as is shown in Figure 2. It has not yet, I believe, been applied to thicker parts of the body. Figures 3 and 4 show a baby's foot and knee as seen through this tube. The partial development of the bones accounts for the peculiar appearance. There is no bony knee-pan, or patella, at birth, and the bones of the toes consist only of cartilage, which is translucent, and therefore not seen. ”

“ Croup is 129mostly seen in animals between six months and a year old, and rarely in those over five or six years of age. The specific cause of the formation of false membranes and of spasms of the laryngeal muscles is a mystery, but to these the susceptible constitution and tissues of young animals appear to predispose. No mere grade of inflammation from the slightest hyperæmia to the highest type of inflammatory action is of itself sufficient to arouse the special phenomena. ”