369. Will you give me a list of remedies for the prevention and for the cure of Constipation?
If you find it necessary to give to your son or to your daughter aperient medicine, the mildest ought to be selected; for instance, an agreeable and an effectual one is an electuary composed of the following ingredients:
Take of—Best picked Alexandria Senna, one ounce;
Best Figs, two ounces;
Best Raisins (stoned), two ounces:
All chopped very fine. The size of a nutmeg or two to be occasionally eaten.
Or, one or two teaspoonfuls of compound confection of senna (lenitive electuary) may occasionally, early in the morning, be taken. Or, for a change, a teaspoonful of Henry’s magnesia, in half a tumblerful of warm water. If this should not be sufficiently active, a teaspoonful of Epsom salts should be given with the magnesia. A Seidlitz powder forms another safe and mild aperient; or one or two compound rhubarb pills may be given at bedtime. The following prescription for a pill, where an aperient is absolutely necessary, is a mild, gentle, and effective one for the purpose:
Take of—Extract of Socotrine Aloes, eight grains;
Compound Extract of Colocynth, forty-eight grains:
Hard Soap, twenty-four grains;