Olive or castor oil may be used for this purpose; they must be warmed and rubbed over the abdomen night and morning, for five or ten minutes.  Perhaps the best form of liniment that can be made use of is the following:—­

Compound soap liniment, one ounce;
Compound tincture of aloes, half an ounce.

Sect.  II.—­Calomel.

Calomel is one of the most useful medicines we possess; but though powerful for good, it is by no means powerless for mischief, and pages might be written upon the evil effects which have resulted from its indiscriminate use in the nursery; medical men are daily and hourly witnessing this fact.  It is particularly eligible in the diseases of children; but then it is quite impossible for unprofessional persons to judge when it may be appropriately exhibited.  And it cannot be too generally known, that the effect of this medicine upon the evacuations is always to make them appear unnatural.  From ignorance of this fact, calomel is often repeated again and again to relieve that very condition which it has itself produced, causing, but too frequently, a degree of irritation in the delicate lining membrane of the bowel, which it may be very difficult for a medical man to remove, and perhaps a source of misery to the child as long as it lives.

Its frequent exhibition has also another evil attending it, for “the immoderate use of mercury in early infancy produces more, perhaps, than any other similar cause, that universal tendency to decay, which, in many instances, destroys almost every tooth at an early age."[FN#20]

[FN#20] Bell on the Teeth.

In the diseases of childhood it is often administered by the mother or nurse with a degree of careless excess which ultimately, if not immediately, produces severe and irremediable injury.  I have met with such cases; but Mr. Bell details a remarkable instance in point:  “A child, about three years of age, was brought to me, having a most extensive ulceration in the gum of the lower jaw, by which the alveolar process (that portion of the jaw which forms the sockets of the teeth) was partially denuded.  The account given by the mother was, that the child had some time previously been the subject of measles, for which a chemist, whom she consulted, gave her white powders, one of which was ordered to be taken every four hours.  It appears by the result, that this must have been calomel; for, after taking it for two or three days, profuse salivation was produced, with swollen tongue, inflamed gums, etc., followed by ulceration of the gum, lips, and cheek.  On examining the denuded alveolar process, I found that a considerable necrosis (death of the bone) had taken place, including the whole anterior arch of the jaw from the first double tooth on the left side to the eye-tooth on the right.  By degrees the dead portion of bone was raised, and became loose, when I found that the mischief was not confined to the alveolar process, but comprised the whole substance of the bone within the space just mentioned,” etc.  Surely the knowledge of such a case as this would induce every prudent mother to exclude calomel from her list of domestic nursery medicines.