510 DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



treatment, the vomiting and purging cease, if the water be restored to 

 the thickened blood, the collapse often disappears quickly, and it looks 

 as if the fasting child were recovering, then we commence gradually 

 with small quantities of diluted milk. If this be rejected again and 

 again, and it appears dangerous to subject the children to a longer ab- 

 stinence, I can recommend teaspoonful doses of beef-essence, which is 

 prepared by cutting the flesh into small cubes, placing these in a bot- 

 tle (without adding water), closing this securely, and leaving it in a 

 vessel of boiling water for several hours. 



The indicatio morbi very rarely calls for the so-called antiphlo- 

 gistic remedies. Abstraction of blood, general as well as local, may 

 be dispensed with. In severe cases, characterized by excessive vomit- 

 ing and thirst, Gold is serviceable. Both in cholera morbus and cholera 

 infantum the use of ice-water and small pieces of ice is beneficial, as 

 is also the application of cold compresses to the abdomen ; these should 

 be frequently renewed. 



We can speak even more decidedly against the use of muriate of 

 ammonia in the treatment of acute gastric catarrh than we did of 

 its use in bronchial catarrh. We cannot depend on its anticatarrhal 

 action, and its employment can only increase the difficulty. 



Carbonic acid is very popular in the treatment of this disease ; it is 

 given as effervescing powder, or effervescing mixture, or as carbonic- 

 acid water. It usually causes eructation very soon, and this appears 

 to bring up other gases from the stomach, so that there is almost 

 always momentary relief. It is not claimed, however, that carbonic 

 acid, which everywhere acts as an irritant, moderates the hyperasmia 

 of the stomach, and has any direct influence on the rapid cure of the 

 disease. 



It is different with the use of the carbonates of the alkalies ; they 

 lessen the toughness of the secreted mucus, and facilitate its evacua- 

 tion ; hence, independent of their use for fulfilling the causal indica- 

 tions (see above), they deserve full consideration in the later stages 

 of acute gastric catarrh. Moreover, the alkaline carbonates appear to 

 assist the secretion of the gastric juice ; at least Blondlot and Fre- 

 richs observed that, after giving carbonates of the alkalies, enough 

 acid gastric juice was formed, not only to neutralize the alkali, but to 

 give the contents of the stomach an acid reaction. In the status gas- 

 tricus they are usually given in the form of soda-water, or tinctura rhei 

 aquosa. 



Further rules are rarely required for the treatment of symptoms. 

 Among the symptoms that most frequently call for treatment is vom- 

 iting, and, where the bowels are affected at the same time, diarrhoea 

 If moderate, these may be regarded as favorable symptoms, and re 



