Mother, Nurse and Infant / A Manual Especially Adapted for the Guidance of Mothers and Monthly Nurses, Comprising Full Instruction in Regard To Pregnancy, Preparation for Child-birth, and the Care of Mother and Child, and Designed to Impart so Much Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Midwifery, and the Proper Use of Medicines as Will Serve Intelligently to Direct the Wife, Mother and Nurse in All Emergencies.

by S. P. Sackett

60. BEEF JUICE.

Take a nice juicy steak, remove all the fat, broil it over a bright coal fire long enough to heat it through; then with a meat or lemon squeezer press out the juice into a cup; set in hot water. Remove any fat that may be in it; shake the salt box slightly over it and serve.

I shall not refer to the different alimentary preparations now thrown in the market, which come with printed directions on the packages, farther than to say that I have a favorable opinion of Carnrick’s Soluble food for infants. I have tested it well.

CHAPTER V.
THE ART OF PRESCRIBING.

The nurse will not often prescribe medicine, but it may be of use to know how to read the prescriptions of others, and to know a few of the general rules or principles upon which physicians act in trying to produce the greatest curative effect with least possible inconvenience.

THE DOSES OF MEDICINE.

Generally in the following prescriptions the ordinary dose for an adult is stated. The young require a smaller dose than older persons, or those at maturity; and the very aged cannot bear as large doses as the middle aged. The following is designed to exhibit the dose proportioned to the age; the dose for a person of middle age being one drachm:

That for a person from	14	to 21	will be	2	scruples.
That for a person from	7	to 14	will be	½	a drachm.
That for a person from	4	to 7	will be	1	scruple.
That for a person of	4	years	will be	15	grains.
That for a person of	3	years	will be	10	grains.
That for a person of	2	years	will be	8	grains.
That for a person of	1	years	will be	5	grains.

There are some medicines however which require to be given to children in much larger proportioned doses than those stated above. For example, a child of three years might require half as much castor oil for a dose as an adult. Females usually require smaller doses than males, and those of sanguine temperament than the lymphatic and phlegmatic. Idiosyncracies sometimes exist in individuals rendering them peculiarly susceptible to the action of certain remedies, or causing a medicine to act on an individual in a manner wholly different from the ordinary mode.

In general the susceptibility to the action of a medicine is diminished by its frequent use; some medicines are of variable strength, and all these considerations should lead to great care in prescribing; some medicines require more care than others, however, and such formula will be selected for insertion here as may be pretty generally used with safety. I believe they do not require more effort to adapt them to particular cases than ordinary patent medicines.