Veratrum Viride, 3d.—Coldness of extremities, head hot, thirst, nausea, vomiting. Six pellets every two hours.
Phosphorus, 3d.—Odorless, clay colored discharges. Four pellets every hour.
Inflammation of the bowels is inflammation of the intestines, involving either all their coats or only their mucus lining. The symptoms are rigors, followed by dry, hot skin; quick, wiry, strong pulse; thirst, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea or constipation; severe pain in the abdomen, especially around the navel, aggravated by pressure. Lies on his back with his knees drawn up.
Causes.—Errors in diet, cold, use of drugs, especially of purgatives and strong medicines used to check diarrhea. Remember what is said of diarrhea on [page 224], and do not be in haste to check the first symptoms. Use liquid food only. It is seldom necessary to give remedies.
Hot fomentations alternated with cold compresses carefully adjusted, will prove very efficacious. Hot enemas should also be given.
Dentition under natural and proper conditions should not be accompanied by constitutional disturbances. Some law must have been violated to have caused derangements with teething.
The symptoms of the disorders of dentition are hot, swollen gums, accompanied by feverishness and restlessness, starting, as if in fright, or interrupted sleep, increased flow of saliva, various eruptions on the head or body, derangements of the digestive organs. Summer complaint is the most frequent of the ailments peculiar to teething, which see [page 225].
The most prevalent and serious cause for these ailments is to be found in the adoption of a mixed diet at too early an age. A teething infant cannot with impunity be thus fed. This is sufficiently proved by the lack of a full complement of teeth needful for mastication. Disturbed conditions of the mother, as worry, anger, over-heating, and fatigue often result in serious effects on the nursing child.
Let the gums be bathed frequently in cold water. Lancing is seldom necessary.
Starchy foods and sweets should be avoided. It has been proven that the love for sweets often manifested by children is an unnatural appetite. It is doing injury to the teething infant to cultivate this taste by universally sweetening its food. Supplement the milk diet with graham mush, wheatlet, granula, or bread of the fine flour of the entire wheat.