1. Summer complaint is an irritation and inflammation of the lining membranes of the intestines. This may often be caused by teething, eating indigestible food, etc.
2. If the discharges are only frequent and yellow and not accompanied with pain, there is no cause for anxiety; but if the discharges are green, soon becoming gray, brown and sometimes frothy, having a mixture of phlegm, and sometimes containing food undigested, a physician had better be summoned.
3. For mild attacks the following treatment may be given:
1) Keep the child perfectly quiet and keep the room well aired.
2) Put a drop of tincture of camphor on a teaspoonful of sugar, mix thoroughly; then add 6 teaspoonfuls of hot water and give a teaspoonful of the mixture every ten minutes. This is indicated where the discharges are watery, and where there is vomiting and coldness of the feet and hands. Chamomilla is also an excellent remedy. Ipecac and nux vomica may also be given.
In giving homoeopathic remedies, give 5 or 6 pellets every 2 or 3 hours.
3) The diet should be wholesome and nourishing.
FOR TEETHING.
If a child is suffering with swollen gums, is feverish, restless, and starts in its sleep, give nux vomica.
WORMS.
PIN WORMS.
Pin worms and round worms are the most common in children. They are generally found in the lower bowels.
SYMPTOMS.—Restlessness, itching about the anus in the fore part of the evening, and worms in the faeces.
TREATMENT.—Give with a syringe an injection of a tablespoonful of linseed oil. Cleanliness is also very necessary.
ROUND WORMS.
A round worm is from six to sixteen inches in length, resembling the common earth worm. It inhabits generally the small intestines, but it sometimes enters the stomach and is thrown up by vomiting.
SYMPTOMS.—Distress, indigestion, swelling of the abdomen, grinding of the teeth, restlessness, and sometimes convulsions.
TREATMENT.—One teaspoonful of powdered wormseed mixed with a sufficient quantity of molasses, or spread on bread and butter.
Or, one grain of santonine every four hours for two or three days, followed by a brisk cathartic. Wormwood tea is also highly recommended.
SWAIM’S VERMIFUGE. 2 ounces wormseed, 1-1/2 ounces valerian, 1-1/2 ounces rhubarb, 1-1/2 ounces pink-root, 1-1/2 ounces white agaric.
Boil in sufficient water to yield 3 quarts of decoction, and add to it 30 drops of oil of tansy and 45 drops of oil of cloves, dissolved in a quart of rectified spirits. Dose, 1 teaspoonful at night.
ANOTHER EXCELLENT VERMIFUGE.
Oil of wormseed, 1 ounce,
Oil of anise, 1 ounce,
Castor oil, 1 ounce,
Tinct. of myrrh, 2 drops,
Oil of turpentine, 10 drops.