-314 



Tlic Country Gaiilcivomaii 



safest and best purgative for this purpose. 

 It has the advantage of being very mild and 

 unirritating, yet withal very quick in its 

 action. A tablespoonful of the oil may be 

 taken, floating on cold water, or any other 

 simple liquid which may be preferred by the 

 patient. A mixture of orange-juice or lemon- 

 juice with water forms an agreeable vehicle 

 for the oil. If the dose be vomited, it should 

 be repeated immediately, and the patient 

 should lie still, and take no more liquid for 

 half an hour, by which time the oil will have 

 passed from the stomach into the bowels. 

 Within an hour or two the oil will usually 

 have acted freely. Then a tablespoonful of 

 brandy may be taken in some thin arrowroot 

 or gruel ; and if there be much feeling of irri- 

 tation, with a sense of sinking, from five to 

 ten drops of laudanum may be given in cold 

 water. These means will suffice for the 

 speedy arrest of most cases of choleraic 

 diarrhoea. If the patient have an insuperable 

 objection to castor oil, or if the oil cannot be 

 retained on the stomach, ten or fifteen grains 

 ■ of powdered rhubarb, or a tablespoonful of 

 Gregory's powder, may be substituted for the 

 oil. If the diarrhoea have continued for some 

 hours, the stools having been copious and 

 liquid;] if there be no griping pain in the 

 bowels, no feeling or appearance of distention 

 of the intestines ; the abdomen being flaccid 

 and empty, and the tongue clean — we may 

 conclude*that the morbid agent has already 

 purged itself away. There will, therefore, be 

 no need for the castor oil or other laxative ; 

 andj we may immediately give brandy in 

 arrow-root, and the laudanum, as before di- 



rected. The rule in all cases is not to give 

 the opiate until the morbid poison and its 

 products have for the most part escaped ; not 

 to close the door until the ' enemy' has been 

 expelled. 



While there are some cases in which the 

 evacuant dose is required even at the com- 

 mencement of the attack, there are many 

 more in which the opiate is unneces- 

 sary in the later stage. In some cases of 

 severe and prolonged diarrhcea, it may be 

 necessary to repeat the oil and laudanum 

 alternately more than once at intervals of 

 three or four hours. Practical skill and tact 

 are required to discriminate these cases. It 

 must be borne in mind that, when the cho- 

 leraic secretions are being actively poured out 

 from the blood vessels, the bowel, though it 

 may have been completely emptied by a dose 

 of oil, may quickly again become filled with 

 morbid secretions, and hence the need for 

 an occasional repetition of the evacuant dose. 

 If the diarrhoea be associated with vomiting, 

 this should be encouraged and assisted by 

 copious draughts of tepid water. The vomit- 

 ing affords relief, partly by the stimulus which 

 it gives to the circulation, but mainly by the 

 speedy ejection of morbid secretions. If 

 there he nausea without vomiting, and more 

 especially if the stomach be supposed to con- 

 tain undigested or unwholesome food, or 

 morbid secretions, an emetic may be given 

 — either a teaspoon ful of powdered mustard, 

 or a tablespoonful of common salt, or twenty 

 grains ipecacuanha powder in warm water. 

 In all cases of severe diarrhoea the i:)atient 

 should remain in bed." 



USEFUL RECIPES IN COOKERY. 



I. souPE DES GALLES. sixpcnnyworth of beef bones and sixpenny- 



ADD to the liquor in which a knuckle of worth of pork rinds. When the boiling is 



veal has been boiled the usual time somewhat advanced, throw in the skin of a 



for table, as much water as will make calf s head ; and in an hour afterwards, or 



altogether six quarts, and stew in it gently, when it is quite tender, hft it out, and set it 



