My course for the last fifteen years has been to first ascertain, if possible, the cause of cholera, and have it removed; also particularly to inquire how long it has been since the child has been noticed to fail in the effort to suck; then as to the color and frequency of the discharges. I have never known, through my observations of over twenty-three years, any better corrector of acidity, sourness in the human bowels, than calcined magnesia. After giving from two to three grains every hour, or according to the degree of acidity, until it is all apparently changed, then, as cautiously as needful, I proceed to quiet the motion of the bowels, as in case of purging within the month, by the use of mixture No. 1, which if put up by a regular chemist, and given according to directions, can be no more objectionable because inserted in this little book than thousands of other recipes scattered over the community by tons in expensive books.
No. 1, R. Mixtura Creatæ, preperata, zj.—Chalk Mixture, Aquæ Cinnam. zss.—Cinnamon Water. Add Opii Tinct. Gutta vj.—Laudanum.
Shake well before using. Dose—A small teaspoonful after each stool. Increase the dose according to age of patient. Of course it is not expected that the inexperienced would attempt to administer anything other than domestic remedies, unless put up according to the rules of art.
For a decided case of cholera, it is best to begin with half a teaspoonful of the mixture; which, by the by, should be sucked down by the patient very slowly, in order to have it remain on the stomach. No time should be wasted listening to the old story of working off a bowel complaint; few are the adults that ever have survived the experiment, much less the weakly infant. Deaths from cholera cannot possibly be so numerous in consequence of the discharges having been checked too soon, for the usual precaution is not to arrest them; so they are let to go on increasing, till all hopes of contracting the vessels are vain. It would be well in all cases before administering Mixture No. 1, to fill a flannel bag with hops, wring it out of warm, salt water and lay it over the chest and belly, re-wetting every two hours; this done will alone sometimes prove successful.