Page:The physical training of children (IA 39002011126464.med.yale.edu).pdf/21

 at once, if it be possible, for much depends upon the early treatment of the disease; and in no case should the limited knowledge of the mother be substituted for that of the experienced physician. It must be remembered that this book is not intended exclusively for those who are always within the reach of a physician, but it is also for the guidance and assistance of whose who are far from, or unable to obtain, medical advice, and to those located on the frontier, and at the missionary stations, this part of the work has proved to be of the greatest advantage.

Sound advice is given in regard to dosing children with many quack cordials, carminatives, and syrups, that fill the shops, all of which are advertised to contain no opium, and yet the busy practitioner hardly passes a month without being called to attend a child dangerously narcotized by some one of these preparations.

It is to induce sleep that these preparations are given, the mother not being aware that if an anodyne be used to-day, a larger dose will be required to-morrow to produce the same effect, and also that by its interference with digestion the habitual use of narcotics always injures the health of the child. For these reasons laudanum, paregoric, or any preparations containing opium in any form, should never be given to the infant, unless under the control of a physician.

The management of the nursery is not overlooked, and very judicious rules for selecting, warming, and ventilating the apartment are given. As the child advances, the teeth begin to make their appearance, and this is always a source of more or less irritation; but, by a little care at