Part 16

9. Summer Complaint, Former Canadian's Remedy for.--"Eat one blossom of the May weed every hour or two until relieved. This remedy came from Port Huron and has been used by my father with success."

10. Summer Complaint, a Goderich Lady Found this Good for.--"Powdered rhubarb, cinnamon, baking soda (one tablespoonful of each), dissolve in one pint of boiling water, add one tablespoonful of peppermint; take every hour one teaspoonful in water."

11. Summer Complaint, Inexpensive Remedy for.--

"Paregoric 2 ounces Brandy 1 ounce Jamaica Ginger 1 ounce

Have used this and found it excellent." Dose: 1/2 dram every 3 hours.

12. Summer Complaint, Fern Root Good to Relieve.--"A decoction is made with two ounces of the sweet fern root boiled in one and one-half pints water to one pint. Dose.--A tablespoonful several times a day as the case requires. Most useful in diarrhea," This may be purchased at any drug store and will be found a very good treatment for diarrhea.

13. Summer Complaint, Milk and Pepper a Common Remedy for.--"Sweet milk and black pepper once or twice a day. Dose.--Three or four swallows. Mother used to use this for us children." The milk should be warmed, for in this way it relieves the diarrhea while the pepper is stimulating.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Diarrhea.--1. Rest in bed is the best. Abstain from food, especially at first, and then only give a little milk and boiled water or milk and lime water every two hours for two days. Cracked ice is good for the thirst.

2. A dose of one-half to an ounce of castor oil to an adult is of great benefit, as it removes all the irritating matter from the bowels. This often cures a light diarrhea. Follow by a blackberry wine or blackberry cordial if it is more severe.

3. For children.--An infusion of path weed is an excellent remedy for this trouble in children; after castor oil in one to two teaspoonful doses has been given. If castor oil is too bad to take, you can use what is called "spiced syrup of rhubarb," one to two teaspoonfuls to a child one to two years old, and then follow with blackberry wine.

4. For infants.--An infusion of chamomile is good for the green diarrhea of teething babies.

[110 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

5. Another for infants.--For infantile diarrhea the root of geranium maculation or cranesbill, boiled in milk in the proportion of one or two roots to the pint, will be found of great service and is tasteless.

6. Ginger tea is frequently of good service, especially when the stomach needs "toning."

7. Infants of six months.--Chalk and bismuth mixture by Dr. Douglass, of Detroit.

"Subnitrate of Bismuth 2 drams Paregoric 2 fluid drams Chalk mixture 2 fluid drams

Mix and shake bottle. Give one-half to one teaspoonful for loose bowels in a child six months old, every two to four hours as needed."

DIET IN DIARRHEA.--From the Head Nurse of a Large Hospital.

May Take--

Soups.--Milk soup well boiled, clam juice, beef tea.

Meats.--Scraped fresh beef or mutton well broiled, sweetbread, beef juice from freshly broiled steak (all sparingly).

Eggs.--Lightly boiled or poached on dry toast.

Farinaceous.--Rice, sago, macaroni, tapioca, arrowroot, dry toast, milk toast, toasted crackers.

Desserts.--Milk puddings, plain, with sago, rice, tapioca or arrowroot (no sugar).

Drinks.--Tea, toast water, boiled peptonized milk, Panopepton.

Must Not Take--

Oatmeal, wheaten grits, fresh breads, rich soups, vegetables, fried foods, fish, salt meats, lamb, veal, pork, brown or graham bread, fruits, nuts, pies, pastry, ice cream, ice water, sugars, sweets, custards, malt liquors, sweet wines.

Infants.--Bottle-fed infants should stop milk and use egg albumen, etc. This is prepared by gently stirring (not to a froth) the white of one egg in a cup of cold water and one-fourth teaspoonful of brandy and a little salt mixed with it. Feed this cold.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 111]

If it causes foul or green stools it must be stopped. Dr. Koplik, of New York, recommends stopping the feeding of breast and bottle-fed infants in severe diarrhea or cholera infantum and to use the following:--Albumin water, acorn cocoa, or beef juice expressed and diluted with barley water. The white of one egg is equal in nourishing value to three ounces of milk and is well borne by infants. The albumin water can be used alternately with the solution of acorn cocoa or beef juice or barley water. Liebig's soup mixture is better liked by older children. Meat juice is made from lean beef, slightly broiled, then cutting it in squares and squeezing these in a lemon press. Rice or barley water can be added to this if the meat juice causes vomiting. Add only one or two teaspoonfuls of barley or rice water and increase, if it agrees well, in a day or two.

CHOLERA MORBUS (Acute Inflammation of Stomach and Upper Bowel).--This is most common in young people in late summer, after indiscretion in eating.

Symptoms.--Sometimes the patient feels tired, then nausea, etc. The attack though is usually sudden, with nausea, vomiting, and cramp-like pains in the abdomen. The contents of the stomach are vomited. The bowel discharge at first is diarrhea and later like rice water. Repeated vomiting and purging, with severe cramps. It looks like true cholera.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES, Cholera Morbus.--Castor Oil for.--"Castor oil one tablespoonful for an adult, one-half tablespoonful for children." This is an old, tried remedy and very good.

2. Cholera Morbus, Blackberry Root and Boiled Milk for.--"Steep the root of the long blackberry, give in one-half teaspoonful doses; alternate with teaspoonfuls of well boiled sweet milk, one-half hour apart."

3. Cholera Morbus, Blackberry Cordial for.--"Take a quantity of blackberries, strain out all of the juice. To each pint of juice add a pint of sugar. Then put in a little bag or cloth one-half ounce of cinnamon, one-fourth ounce of mace, two teaspoonfuls of cloves. Place this little bag with spices in the berry juice and boil for about two minutes, after which remove bag of spices and add one large cup of brandy or whisky to each pint of juice."

4. Cholera Morbus, Tincture Cayenne Pepper for.--"Tincture cayenne pepper, five to ten drop doses in a little hot water. Before giving this medicine it is well to drink a quantity of tepid water and produce vomiting. This can be made more effective by adding five or ten drops of camphor."

5. Cholera Morbus, Nutmeg and Jamaica Ginger for.--"Grate one teaspoonful nutmeg, put few drops Jamaica ginger in three or four tablespoonfuls of brandy, add little water." The writer says this is one of the finest remedies she has ever known for summer complaint.

6. Cholera Morbus, Home Remedy for.--"To a pint of water, sweetened with sugar, add chalk one-half dram, anise, two drams, cayenne pepper, ten grains; boil this down to one-half pint. Give a teaspoonful every hour or two until relieved. Kerosene may be applied to the abdomen with cloths. This is a very good remedy and easily prepared."

[112 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

7. Cholera Morbus, Old Reliable Remedy for.--

Tincture Rhubarh 4 ounces Spirits Camphor 2 ounces Paregoric (Tinct. opii camph.) 3 ounces Spirits Ammonia 4 ounce Essence Peppermint 1 dram

Take a half teaspoonful every two hours. This is a tested recipe; have known of its being used the last fifty years."

The camphor and paregoric will relieve the pain, while the rhubarb and pepper are stimulating and laxative.

8. Cholera Morbus, Common Remedy for.--"To check vomiting and purging, the following mixture is excellent:

Essence of Peppermint 1 ounce Water 1 ounce Carbonate of Potash 20 grains Paregoric 1 teaspoonful White Sugar or Honey 2 teaspoonfuls

Mix and shake well. Dose.--One teaspoonful every ten or twenty minutes until the patient becomes quiet. If necessary keep up bodily heat by means of hot flannels or bricks to extremities. Keep the patient quiet."

This is an excellent remedy for this trouble and may be used by anyone. The above mixture is for an adult.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Cholera Morbus.--l. Heat to the bowels and to the extremities. Give plenty of hot water to aid vomiting and to wash the stomach. It is always well to keep on drinking hot water and frequently the vomiting stops. If not, the camphor, laudanum and water can be given.

2. Morphine by hypodermic method. A doctor must give this.

3. Tincture of Camphor 15 drops Laudanum 15 drops

Mix in one-third of a cup of hot water. This is a good remedy. Mustard poultice to the stomach and bowels benefits.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 113]

CHOLERA INFANTUM, Symptoms.--Usually begins with a diarrhea, which is often so mild as to attract but little attention, but should be a warning. If a weakly baby has a diarrhea which persists, or is foul smelling and especially if there is a marked loss of flesh and dullness of mind, there is ground for worry. If a bright child loses interest in things and has diarrhea something is wrong. The two essential features are vomiting and diarrhea, and the vomiting is persistent. First it vomits food, then the mucus and bile. The thirst is great, but anything taken to relieve it is instantly thrown up. The stools are frequent, large and watery. They may be painless and involuntary. They may look like dirty water, but later they loose all color. They are sometimes so thin and copious as to soak through the napkin and saturate the bed. They may be without odor, and again the odor is almost over-powering. The prostration is great and rapid. The fontannelles, openings in the head, are depressed, the face becomes pale and pinched, and the eyes are sunken. It occurs usually during the summer months, oftener in babies under eighteen months and still more under a year old.

Cautions.--This book will probably find its way into homes many miles from a drug store and possibly a long distance from a physician. Should a child in that home show symptoms of cholera infantum it would be imperative for that mother to begin at once home treatments. We, therefore, give below a number of remedies which a mother can either prepare in her home or can take the precaution to have filled at some convenient time and keep constantly at hand, properly labeled so she can turn to them at any moment. On the other hand, should you have to wait even three or four hours for a physician begin one of the treatments below until he comes; you may save the child's life by doing so. Cholera infantum and pneumonia claim so many of our little ones each year, and in many cases snatch them away within a few hours of the first noticeable symptoms that we must advise you to call a physician as soon as you suspect it is serious. Cases vary and only a trained eye can detect the little symptoms and changes that may weigh in the balance the life of baby.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES for Cholera Infantum.--l. Castor oil and warm applications for.--"Give the child one teaspoonful of castor oil, then wring woolen cloths out of warm whisky and apply to the abdomen. This will most always give relief, especially after the castor oil has acted upon the bowels."

2. Cholera Infantum, First Thing to Do.--"The first thing to do is to give a teaspoonful of castor oil, so as to thoroughly clean out the bowels. Then add one tablespoonful of turpentine to one quart of hot water and wring cloths out of this and apply to the bowels to relieve the pain that is always present in this disease. The turpentine is especially good for the bowels when they are bloated and have much gas in them."

3. Cholera Infantum, White of Egg and Cathartic for.--"One teaspoonful castor oil every two hours, until the movements are natural. Give no food except albumen water, which is composed of the white of one egg (slightly beaten) and a small pinch of salt in a glass of cold water which has been previously boiled. Feed this by spoonfuls."

4. Cholera Infantum, Olive or Sweet Oil for.--"One teaspoonful sweet or olive oil three times a day and an injection of one tablespoonful of the oil at night, to be retained in the bowels. If continued this will completely cure."

5. Cholera Infantum, Spice and Whisky Poultice for.--"Take all kinds of ground spices, make a poultice. Heat whisky and wet the poultice. Apply to the stomach and bowels."

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6. Cholera Infantum, Cabbage Leaf Poultice for.--"Take a cabbage leaf, hold it over the stove until warm as can be stood on back of hand; lay it across the child's abdomen. Repeat if necessary."

7. Cholera Infantum, Herb Remedy for.--"Strawberry root, blackberry root and raspberry root, equal parts, steeped together. I have used this remedy and found it good, but it should be used in time." Make a tea of these roots and take one teaspoonful every hour until relieved. This is a mild astringent.

8. Cholera Infantum, Tomatoes Will Relieve.--"Make a syrup of peeled tomatoes well sweetened with white sugar. Give one teaspoonful every half hour." This syrup is very soothing and the tomatoes are especially good if there is some ulcerated condition of the bowels. This preparation should always be strained before using.

9. Cholera Infantum, Injection for.--"For infant one year old inject into the bowels one pint of thin starch, in which is mixed from three to five drops of laudanum; cool, repeat night and morning. Plenty of water or cold barley water may be given and the food for a time may consist of egg albumen with a few drops of brandy. When the symptoms first appear apply a spice plaster or hot application over the abdomen; and keep child as quiet as possible." This is a remedy recommended and used by a number of physicians and has cured many severe cases.

Diets and Drinks.--Stop ordinary feeding at once. A little cream and water, or barley water and cream may do. If the breast milk excites the stomach and the bowels, stop it for a few hours. You can give a few drops of raw beef juice or a little brandy and water. To satisfy the thirst, wrap up a small bit of ice in a linen cloth and let the baby mouth it. Dilute the milk or stop entirely and give only water, or lime water and milk, barley water. Give all the water the child can drink boiled and cooled.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Cholera Infantum.--1. Washing out of the bowel frequently by injection controls the diarrhea. Use water of a temperature of 107. Elevate the tube about two feet above the bed, use one-half pint at one time. As the half pint flows in disconnect the funnel attached to the tube and the contents of the bowel are allowed to escape. Then allow another one-half pint to flow in. Some may escape and this is not an unfavorable sign. Keep on until a quart is given. This treatment is to wash and clean out the gut and stimulate the heart. The salt solution should be used, if necessary. Give only two daily.

2. For Vomiting.--Wash out the stomach through a tube or by giving a great deal of water.

3. Subcarbonate of bismuth for the vomiting and straining; two or three grains in powder every two or three hours. If there is much colicky pain, add one-half grain of salol to the bismuth powder.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 115]

4. Castor oil; one teaspoonful may be needed if the bowels have any fecal matter in them.

5. Mustard poultice or spice poultice on the belly is useful.

Vomiting.--This is simply a symptom; many diseases cause it, as scarlet fever, tuberculosis, meningitis, acute dyspepsia, biliousness, chronic dyspepsia, indigestion, neuralgia of the bowels, appendicitis, ulcer and cancer of the stomach, pregnancy, etc. Many persons with dyspepsia vomit their food.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES for Vomiting.--1. Spice Poultice to Stop.--"Make a poultice of one-half cup of flour and one teaspoonful of each kind of ground spice, wet with alcohol or whisky. Apply over the stomach." This acts as a counter irritant and has the same action on the system as a mustard plaster, only not so severe and can be left on for hours, as there need be no fear of blistering. This kind of a poultice should always be used when it is necessary to leave one on any length of time.

2. Vomiting, Mustard Plaster to Stop.--"Plaster of mustard on pit of stomach." Be very careful not to allow the plaster to remain on too long, as it will blister, and this would be worse to contend with than the vomiting.

3. Vomiting, Parched Corn Drink to Stop.--"Take field corn and parch it as brown as you can get it without burning. When parched throw in boiling water and drink the water as often as necessary until vomiting is stopped."

4. Vomiting, Peppermint Leaves Application for.--"Bruise peppermint leaves and apply to the stomach." This can be found in any drug store in a powder form, and is easily prepared by crushing the leaves and applying to the stomach. If you have the essence of peppermint in the house, that will answer about the same purpose taken internally and rubbed over abdomen.

5. Vomiting, to Produce, Mustard and Water for.--"To produce vomiting take two tablespoonfuls dry mustard, throw luke warm water over it and let stand a minute, then drink." This is an old, tried remedy that we all know about.

6. Vomiting, to Produce, Warm Water for.--"Drink a quart of warm water and you will easily find relief at once." The warm water remedy is very good as the water helps the patient by removing all decomposed food.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Vomiting.--The only way to treat it is to treat the disease that causes it. Here I may mention a very simple remedy; a tea made from wood soot is frequently helpful. It is the creosote in the wood soot that gives it its medical virtue.

2. For nervous vomiting; two to five drops of garlic juice is good. Dose of syrup for a child [is] one teaspoonful. Dose of syrup for an adult is four teaspoonfuls.

[116 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

3. A little brandy on cracked ice is often good.

4. Oil of cloves, one-half to one drop, helps in some cases.

5. Lime water added to milk is good in babies.

6. Vinegar fumes, saturate a cloth and inhale the fumes.

7. Seidlitz powder often settles the stomach, soda also.

8. Mustard plaster over the stomach is good in all cases.

9. One-tenth of a drop of ipecac is good for nausea and vomiting.

10. One-half of a drop of Fowler's solution every two hours is useful in nausea following a spree. So also one drop dose of nux vomica every half hour.

APPENDICITIS.--Inflammation of the vermiform appendix is the most important of acute bowel troubles. Sometimes the appendix may contain a mould of feces, which can be squeezed out readily. Sometimes foreign bodies like pins are found there; in about seven per cent of cases foreign bodies are found.

It is a disease of young persons. Fifty per cent occur before the twentieth year. It is most common in males. Persons who do heavy lifting are quite subject to the disease. Some cases follow falls or blows. Indiscretions of diet are very apt to bring on an attack, particularly in those who have had it before. Pain in the appendix in such persons, frequently follows the eating of food hard to digest. Gorging with peanuts is also a cause.

Symptoms.--In a large proportion of cases the following symptoms are present:--Sudden pain in the abdomen, usually referred to the right groin region. Fever often of moderate form or grade. Disturbances of the stomach and bowels, such as nausea, vomiting and frequently constipation. Tenderness or pain in the appendix region. The pain in fully one-half of the cases is localized in right lower part of the abdomen, but it may be in the central portion, scattered, or in any part of the abdomen. Even when the pain is not in the region of the appendix at first, it is usually felt there within thirty-six or forty-eight hours. It is sometimes very sharp and colic-like; sometimes it is dull. The fever follows rapidly upon the pain. It may range from 100 to 102 and higher. The tongue is coated and moist usually,--seldom dry. Nausea and vomiting are commonly present. It rarely persists longer than the second day in favorable cases. Constipation is the rule, but the attack may start with diarrhea.

Local Signs.--Tenderness of the rectus muscle (to the right of the centre of the abdomen) and tenderness or pain on deep pressure. The muscle may be so rigid that a satisfactory examination cannot be made. Sometimes there is a hardness or swelling in the appendix region. Tenderness, rigidity and actual pain on deep pressure; with the majority of cases, a lump or swelling in the region of the appendix.

[Illustration: Vermiform Appendix. When Affected by Inflamation and Gangrene Necessitating an Operation.]

[Illustration: Vermiform Appendix. Showing Different Types.]

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 117]

Recovery.--Recovery is the rule. It frequently returns. General peritonitis may be caused by direct perforation of the appendix and death in appendicitis is usually due to peritonitis.

Surgeons have declared that sudden pain in the region of the appendix, with fever and localized tenderness, with or without a lump almost without exception means appendix disease. Rest in bed, take measures to allay the pain; ice bag applied to the part is very effective.

Operation.--Dr. Osler, of Oxford, England, says.--"Operation is indicated in all cases of acute inflammatory trouble in this region, whether the lump is present or not, when the general symptoms are severe, and when by the third day the features of the case points to a progressive (condition) lesion. An operation after an acute attack has disappeared is not fraught with much danger."

Diet.--All food should be withheld for a few days if possible. Liquids, such as egg albumen, weak tea, thin broth, barley or rice water, or milk diluted with lime water may be given in small quantities if necessary. When the acute symptoms have subsided, milk may be taken undiluted, and eggs may be added to the broth. When the pain and fever have disappeared entirely, gruels made of rice or barley, soft-boiled egg, scraped beef, stewed chicken, toast, and crackers may be added to the list; still later, mashed potatoes and vegetables, finely divided and strained, may be allowed and, finally, when well, usual diet resumed.

APPENDICITIS, Mothers' Remedies.--Home Treatment Found Good for.--"To allay the pain and stop the formation of pus in appendicitis it is recommended that a flannel cloth be saturated with hot water, wrung out, drop ten to fifteen drops of turpentine on it and apply to the affected parts as hot as the patient can bear. Repeat until relief is obtained. Then cover the bowels with a thin cotton cloth, upon which place another cloth wrung out of kerosene oil. This sustains the relief and conduces to rest and eventual cure. It is an essential part of the absorbent cure for appendicitis, and since its adoption doctors do not resort to a surgical operation half so often." The above is a standard remedy and will most always give relief.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Appendicitis.--The bowels should at first be moved by an enema, The patient should be perfectly quiet in bed. The ice-bag should be applied to the part, but wrapped in flannel and flannel also on the skin, It must not be allowed to make the flesh too cool. This coolness relieves the inflammation of the part. Small doses, from one-tenth to one drop, of aconite can be given for the fever and inflammation the first twenty-four hours. Dose every one to three hours. But little medicine is now given in appendicitis.

[118 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]