MEDICAL HINTS. 
173 
If the diarrhoea continues, give chlorodyne (’20 minims) and tincture 
of ginger (10 minims) in an ounce of water two or three times a day. 
If the diarrhoea is persistent, an astringent is needed: five grains of 
tannin, or two or three grains of sulphate of iron may be given three times 
a day. Ten grains of quinine should be given each day. 
All food should be semi-solid and tepid; soup thickened with rice or 
arrowroot is good. Patient should keep in bed and wear a flannel band 
round the belly. 
If the trouble continues for more than a few days, it is probably 
due to dysentery, or typhoid. 
Sprue. 
This is a chronic form of tropical diarrhoea, the leading symptom of 
which is the frequent passage of large, frothy, and pale-coloured motions; 
dyspepsia, and soreness of the tongue and mouth, are also present, and 
there is marked anaemia ,and advancing debility. The disease may follow 
attacks of diarrhoea or dysentery. 
Treatment .-—Put the patient to bed, give a simple aperient such as 
castor-oil, to clear out the bowels ; allow only a milk diet, to. which, as 
the symptoms begin to abate, meat juices and jellies should be cautiously 
added. If any other disease, such as scurvy, is present, it must be 
treated. Drugs are not usually of much service; however, a mixture 
containing bismuth, soda, and one drop of carbolic acid in an ounce of 
gum-water, may be given three times a day for a week. The soreness 
of the mouth and tongue may be treated by the application of borax 
and glycerine, or mild antiseptic mouth washes, such as a weak solution 
of permanganate of potash, or a lotion of boric acid. Special symptoms, 
such as pain and collapse, must be treated as they arise. As soon as 
the patient is strong enough, he should be removed to a temperate 
climate. 
Dysentery. 
Dysentery, or inflammation of the lower bowel, is caused by drinking 
impure water (dirty filters are a fruitful cause of this disease), and by 
eating bad or improperly cooked food; it may be provoked by chills, 
general debility, and exhausting diseases, such as chronic malaria. 
