When the disease has been got under, then the child can be fed up, and if old enough a tonic can be added. Milk alone, even if diluted, is sufficient to support a child. Diluted milk is therefore the best food, given very little at a time, perfectly fresh, with a little loaf-sugar and a very little lime-water perhaps, and neither hot nor cold. After giving ipecacuanha, the child should be kept quite still, and no food should be given for at least a quarter of an hour before or after, as the ipecacuanha produces great nausea and incites vomiting. Most careful watching day and night is necessary. Each stool should be carefully inspected by the mother, who should keep paper and pencil by her, and note down the time it was passed and its nature, as also times of giving medicine and food. The doctor will then be able to follow the case, the effect of the powders, &c.; for dysentery and diarrhoea, like many diseases, should be carefully watched, the symptoms followed, and medicine regulated accordingly, and not by a hard-and-fast rule. Should the gums be stretched tightly over a tooth, so that the latter is visible beneath, take a small, sharp penknife, have the child’s head between your knees and the child’s body held firmly by another person ; then with a steady hand cut the gum through to the tooth. ’1 his affords great relief. Besides diarrhoea and dysentery, there is sometimes great sickness. In such cases, when the stomach is very irritable, a mustard leaf protectecl by muslin can be put at the pit of the stomach before giving food, which should Housekeeper and Cook 167 be very weak chicken broth or Liebig s Extract, if the milk be persistently thrown up. The following mixture, one tea- spoonful three times a day, may be given for a child from one to two years old : 25 grains carbonate magnesia, 2 drops pep~ permint oil, 1 oz. distilled water. Shake the bottle. Or 2 grains carbonate soda and 2 drops of essence of peppermint in a teaspoonful of water three times a day. If the child seems very weak, add a drop of sal volatile to each meal of chicken broth, and rub its limbs well with cod-liver oil, and put pieces of sponge soaked in the oil under its armpits and knees. Nutritive enemas are excellent in such cases. Sometimes during teething an eruption appears, spreading all over the body. On no account check this. Keep the child scrupulously clean with carbolic soap, and dress night and morning with old cambric or linen steeped in a mild solution of carbolic oil. Fever is very common in India, and in its simple form can be controlled. But should there seem no abatement after administering a diaphoretic, send for the doctor. The child’s temperature must be taken, to reduce which it may be necessary to give a cold bath and wrap in cold Avet sheets. In ordinary cases, stop the morning bath, giving instead a Avarm one at night. Wrap the child in a Avell Avarmed blanket afterAvards, and lay in bed, give a dose of diaphoretic, which should be repeated every third hour till a free action of the skin sets in and perspiration takes place. If the head and hands be very hot, sponge Avith vinegar and Avater, and leave a thin muslin rag over the forehead to be Avetted from time to time. Bowels can be acted on by Gregory’s Mixture if constipated, or red mixture if there be diarrhoea.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

When the disease has been got under, then the child can be fed up, and if old enough a tonic can be added. Milk alone, even if diluted, is sufficient to support a child. Diluted milk is therefore the best food, given very little at a time, perfectly fresh, with a little loaf-sugar and a very little lime-water perhaps, and neither hot nor cold. After giving ipecacuanha, the child should be kept quite still, and no food should be given for at least a quarter of an hour before or after, as the ipecacuanha produces great nausea and incites vomiting. Most careful watching day and night is necessary. Each stool should be carefully inspected by the mother, who should keep paper and pencil by her, and note down the time it was passed and its nature, as also times of giving medicine and food. The doctor will then be able to follow the case, the effect of the powders, &c.; for dysentery and diarrhoea, like many diseases, should be carefully watched, the symptoms followed, and medicine regulated accordingly, and not by a hard-and-fast rule. Should the gums be stretched tightly over a tooth, so that the latter is visible beneath, take a small, sharp penknife, have the child’s head between your knees and the child’s body held firmly by another person ; then with a steady hand cut the gum through to the tooth. This affords great relief. Besides diarrhoea and dysentery, there is sometimes great sickness. In such cases, when the stomach is very irritable, a mustard leaf protectecl by muslin can be put at the pit of the stomach before giving food, which should Housekeeper and Cook 167 be very weak chicken broth or Liebig s Extract, if the milk be persistently thrown up. The following mixture, one teaspoonful three times a day, may be given for a child from one to two years old : 25 grains carbonate magnesia, 2 drops peppermint oil, 1 oz. distilled water. Shake the bottle. Or 2 grains carbonate soda and 2 drops of essence of peppermint in a teaspoonful of water three times a day. If the child seems very weak, add a drop of sal volatile to each meal of chicken broth, and rub its limbs well with cod-liver oil, and put pieces of sponge soaked in the oil under its armpits and knees. Nutritive enemas are excellent in such cases. Sometimes during teething an eruption appears, spreading all over the body. On no account check this. Keep the child scrupulously clean with carbolic soap, and dress night and morning with old cambric or linen steeped in a mild solution of carbolic oil. Fever is very common in India, and in its simple form can be controlled. But should there seem no abatement after administering a diaphoretic, send for the doctor. The child’s temperature must be taken, to reduce which it may be necessary to give a cold bath and wrap in cold wet sheets. In ordinary cases, stop the morning bath, giving instead a warm one at night. Wrap the child in a well warmed blanket afterwards, and lay in bed, give a dose of diaphoretic, which should be repeated every third hour till a free action of the skin sets in and perspiration takes place. If the head and hands be very hot, sponge with vinegar and water, and leave a thin muslin rag over the forehead to be wetted from time to time. Bowels can be acted on by Gregory’s Mixture if constipated, or red mixture if there be diarrhoea.

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