In Malaria:
Aristochin.
Saloquinine.
Arsenic.
In Syphilis:
Mercurials.
Sajodin.
In Rheumatic Fever:
Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin).
Acetylamidosalol (Salophen).
Magnesium salicylate.
In Myxedema:
Thyroid.
Of course, a large variety of combinations of these could be elaborated.
It, therefore, seems established that we have, in candy medication, a method of fairly extensive applicability; an almost complete therapeutic armamentarium of the greatest possible value in the treatment of children. For the tiny infant this method is, of course, unsuitable as well as unnecessary. As soon, however, as the youngster commences to know what candy is, it is ready for candy medication. It is particularly during the ages of from three to ten that this form of administration is indicated.
Several objections have been raised against this method. Perhaps the most serious one lies in the danger of poisoning, from the fact that children enjoy these tablets so much that they are likely to eat a large number of them at one time, should the mother be careless enough to leave them within reach. The only way to prevent such an occurrence is not to prescribe more tablets than would constitute a safe dose should all of them be taken at one time. It is better to have the patient get a new supply daily than to have a single case of death or serious disturbance occur from this source.
Another objection that has been raised is that the dose of some of the medicines is very small. In the case of such remedies as sulphur and chalk the author admits that the dose is perhaps too small to be of practical importance. In the case of most other medicaments, however, the smallness of dose is of advantage rather than of disadvantage, in that it necessitates administration at short intervals. If the administration of small doses frequently repeated until the desired effect is obtained is a good principle in practice, it is particularly so in pediatrics. For are not all the vital processes of the child much more rapid than those of the adult; are not its bowel movements, its urinations more frequent, does it not need nourishment more often? Then why not medicine?
CHAPTER IV.
THE MAKING OF SWEET TABLETS.
IT IS GENERALLY supposed that tablet making is an art, requiring special expertness and expensive machinery. Now while both of these ideas are correct when the preparation of a large variety of tablets and of large quantities is contemplated, they are erroneous in regard to the making of prescription quantities of these sweet tablets, which present a comparatively simple and relatively uniform problem in tablet making.