[ 7 ] 



objeaion to the ufe of this medicine, that the patient labours 

 under fome degree of diarrhoea; the acrimony of the ftools 

 not unfrequently excites frequent and inefFeaual efforts, which 

 are to be removed only by a removal of the exciting caufe. 

 If abforbents poifefs any power in fuch cafes, they owe it to 

 their combination either with laxatives, effential oils, or dif- 

 tiUed waters; and even with thefe aids I have commonly 

 found them to aflPord but temporary eafe. 



That infants fhould be particularly liable to diforder in 

 the biliary fecretion can hardly appear furprifing, when it is 

 confidered that in them the liver bears a much larger propor- 

 tion to the weight of the body than in adults : This increafed 

 fize of the liver, like that of the heart, probably dlminiflies 

 gradually as the body advances towards maturity. The effeds 

 of this peculiarity, of ftruaure of infants, are ftrongly mani- 

 fefted in moft cafes even after birth : although it be a com- 

 mon praaice to keep their bowels difcharging freely, and 

 though their ftools be evidently loaded with bile, yet during 

 the firft week few infants efcape fome degree of jaundice 

 (commonly called Yellow Gum). Thefe faas prove a very 

 copious fecretion and excretion of bile at an early period, 

 when the uncommon fize of the liver is indifputable ; it ap- 

 pears to me probable that the fame tendency to copious 

 fecretion muft continue, in fome degree, through infancy and 

 childhood until this vifcus be reduced to its ordinary fize. 

 Medical praaitioners have long remarked that well-prepared 

 calomel agrees Angularly well with the conftitution of children 



