medicine of immense power—either for good or for evil; in certain cases it is very valuable; but in others, and in the great majority, it is very detrimental.
This practice, then, of a mother giving mercury, whether in the form either of calomel or of gray powder, cannot be too strongly reprobated, as the frequent administration either of one or of the other weakens the body, predisposes it to cold, and frequently excites king's evil—a disease too common in this country. Calomel and gray powder, then, ought never to be administered unless ordered by a medical man.
Syrup of buckthorn and jalap are also frequently given, but they are griping medicines for a baby, and ought to be banished from the nursery.
The frequent repetition of opening medicines, then, in any shape or form, very much interferes with digestion; they must, therefore, be given as seldom as possible.
Let me, at the risk of wearying you, again urge the importance of your avoiding as much as possible, giving a babe purgative medicines. They irritate beyond measure the tender bowels of an infant, and only make him more costive afterward; they interfere with his digestion, and are liable to give him cold. A mother who is always of her own accord quacking her child with opening physic, is laying up for her unfortunate offspring a debilitated constitution—a miserable existence.
96. Are there any means of preventing the Costiveness of an infant?
If greater care were paid to the rules of health, such as attention to diet, exercise in the open air, thorough ablution of the whole body—more especially when he is being washed—causing the water, from a large and well-filled sponge, to stream over the lower part of his bowels; the regular habit of causing him, at stated periods, to be held out, whether he want or not, that he may solicit a stool.
