Thin arrow-root made with water (prepared very carefully, or the child will refuse it,) should be given for five or six days; the warm bath used every night for the same period, a new flannel bandage rolled round the body, and the child cautiously protected from a damp atmosphere.  The arrow-root, upon the cessation of the diarrhoea, may have cows’ milk added to it, if milk is not found to disagree:  when this is the case, chicken or weak mutton broth, free from fat, or beef-tea, thickened with farinaceous food, with a little salt added, are the best substitutes.  Should not the diarrhoea yield to the foregoing measures, and that readily, medical aid ought to be sought.  Diarrhoea is very frequent from the time of weaning to the third year of age, and certainly in its effects forms so important a disease, that, unless in the slight form noticed above, a mother is not justified in attempting its relief.

In conclusion, I would observe, that I do not think a mother justified in attempting more than what has been laid down here for her guidance.  It is believed that the few and plain common-sense directions given, if followed, will do much to prevent disease, and even to relieve it in its milder forms; they will not, however, cure disease itself when really established:  and again I would repeat, let the mother recollect that to prevent disease is her province—­to cure it, is the physician’s.

Sect.  III.—­Costiveness.

1.  In infancy.

The principle to act upon in the management of the infant’s bowels is this,—­that they should be kept free, and by the mildest and least irritating means.

If therefore they become accidentally confined (less than two stools in the four-and-twenty hours), and the infant is suckled, the mother may ascertain whether an aperient taken by herself will render her milk of a sufficiently purgative quality to act upon the bowels of her child.  This is the mildest mode of all.

If, however, this does not answer, or is not practicable from the child being fed artificially, then the mildest aperient medicines must be chosen to accomplish this purpose.  The kind of medicine to be selected, and the doses in which to be adminstered, will be found in the section on “Aperient Medicine."[FN#39]

[FN#39] See page 97.

If, however, the bowels of the infant are disposed to be habitually confined, it should be ascertained whether this may not be dependent upon its diet.  The same food that agrees perfectly well with one child will frequently cause costiveness in another.  An intelligent and observing mother will soon discover whether this is the source of the mischief, or not.  Boiled milk, for instance, will invariably cause confined bowels in some children; the same result will follow sago boiled in beef tea, with others; whilst, on the other hand, the bowels may frequently be brought into regular order, and their confined state overcome, by changing the food to Leman’s tops and bottoms steeped in hot water, and a small quantity of unboiled milk added; or prepared barley, mixed in warm water and unboiled milk, will have the same effect.