101. What are the causes of Diarrhœa—“Looseness of the bowels?”
Improper food; over-feeding; teething; cold; the mother’s milk from various causes disagreeing, namely, from her being out of health, from her eating unsuitable food, from her taking improper and drastic purgatives, or from her suckling her child when she is pregnant. Of course, if any of these causes are in operation, they ought, if possible, to be remedied, or medicine to the babe will be of little avail.
102. What is the treatment of Diarrhœa?
What to do.—If the case be slight, and has lasted two or three days (do not interfere by giving medicine at first), and if the cause, as it probably is, be some acidity or vitiated stool that wants a vent, and thus endeavors to obtain one by purging, the best treatment is to assist nature by giving either a dose of castor oil or a moderate one of rhubarb and magnesia,[[176]] and thus to work off the enemy.
After the enemy has been worked off, either by the castor oil or by the magnesia and rhubarb, the purging will, in all probability, cease; but if the relaxation still continue, that is to say, for three or four days,—then, if medical advice cannot be procured, the following mixture should be given:
Take of—Compound Powdered Chalk with Opium, ten grains;
Oil of Dill, five drops;
Simple Syrup, three drachms;
Water, nine drachms:
Make a Mixture.[[177]] Half a teaspoonful to be given to an infant of six months and under, and one teaspoonful to a child above that age, every four hours—first shaking the bottle.