572 DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF LOCOMOTION. 



quickly. Among remedies said to be specifics for rheumatism are 

 propylamin, trimethalin, and more especially salicylic acid or sali- 

 cylate of soda. The latter may be given in doses of 15 to 20 grs. 

 every hour or two hours, till the pain is relieved, unless tinnitus, 

 cerebral symptoms, or signs of collapse should require discontinu- 

 ance of the medicine. The possibility of such symptoms being in- 

 duced demands that the patient should be watched. Under the 

 influence of the salicylate, the fever and local symptoms usually 

 subside within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, the tongue cleans 

 off, and the appetite improves ; when the change has taken place, 

 the remedy is to be carefully and gradually discontinued by decreas- 

 ing the dose or lengthening the interval. The patient should be 

 watched for at least a week. Under this remedy heart complica- 

 tions are said to be much less frequent. Should the joints remain 

 swollen, we may try iodide of potash and warm baths, especially 

 alkaline baths. 



3. P. 565. 



Observers agree that the most important point in the treatment 

 of rachitis, as well for preventing curvatures as for curing the exist- 

 ing disease, is proper diet. Infants should be nursed till the erup- 

 tion of the first teeth, say the seventh month ; then we may give in 

 addition meat broths, egg, rare or raw shaved meat, etc. They 

 should not be nursed over nine months or a year. When the mother 

 cannot nurse, and a good wet nurse is not to be found, something 

 must be substituted. About this substitute opinions are not unani- 

 mous. Some recommend cow's milk diluted and neutralized with 

 magnesia, others Nestle* a food, others again Liebig's food or con- 

 densed milk. Probably none of these is to be chosen under all cir- 

 cumstances ; but if the child does not thrive on one, try another. 

 Biedert discovered that the casein of human milk is chemically dif- 

 ferent from that of cow's milk, and claims that this is the cause of 

 their difference, and that cow's milk cannot be made to resemble 

 human milk simply by diluting with water and adding sugar. He 

 recommends a mixture of one-eighth of a pint of sweet cream and 

 three-eighths of a pint of boiled water, with the addition of 15 grs. 

 of sugar of milk. This mixture contains the proper amounts of fat, 

 salts, and sugar, and only one per cent, of casein, which is just 

 about what a child's stomach will digest, according to Biedert. 

 This is the proportion to begin with, but as the child grows older 

 more cream is to be added. The yolk of egg may be mixed with 

 water, sugar of milk, and a very little salt. Finely-ground linseed 

 meal is said to be the chief constituent of revalenta arabica, which 

 has some reputation as an article of nutriment. 



