“APERIENT MEDICINE”

One of the greatest errors of the nursery is the too frequent and indiscriminate exhibition by the mother or nurse of purgative (aperient) medicine to the infant. Various are the forms in which it is given; perhaps the little powders obtained from the chemist is the most frequent, as it is certainly the most injurious, form, their chief ingredient being calomel.

The choice of the aperient, or the dose, or the exact condition of the health of the infant, or whether it is an aperient at all that is required, are points entirely overlooked: a little medicine is thought necessary, because the child appears unwell, and a purgative, or a little white powder, is forthwith given. The great art of medicine is the proper application of the proper medicine, in the proper dose, at the proper time; points never considered in the nursery.

For example, I have known a large dose of magnesia given by a nurse to an infant, that had been suffering from a diarrhoea of some days’ standing, and very quickly cause death. Now, magnesia is one of the most useful and harmless medicines that can be given to an infant when indicated; when prescribed in a dose suited to its age, and when the proper time is fixed upon for its exhibition; in the foregoing case, however, every thing forbad its use, but none of these points were considered.
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