For children above two years, it must
always be given with some other aperient: thus, it may be combined with
castor oil by the medium of mucilage or the yolk of an egg; in fact, it
might be substituted for the syrup of roses in the previous
prescription for castor oil.
MAGNESIA AND RHUBARB.
Magnesia, besides being a laxative, allays irritability of the
stomach; it is consequently useful during dentition, at which period
there is both much irritability and a prevailing acescency of the
stomach. The dose is from five grains to ten for an infant, increasing
the quantity to fifteen grains or twenty to children of nine or ten
years of age. When taken alone the best vehicle is hot milk, which
greatly quickens its aperient operation. And whenever the bowels are
distended with wind, the pure magnesia is preferable to the carbonate.
It is well to mention here, that when the infant throws up the nurse's
milk it is generally curdled; a fact which leads the inexperienced
mother to infer that the child is suffering from acidity; and to
counteract the supposed evil magnesia is given again and again. This is
a useless and pernicious practice, for curdling or coagulation of the
milk always takes place in the stomach, and is produced by the gastric
juice, and is so far from being a morbid process, that milk cannot be
properly digested without it.
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