Before giving an infant a particle of aperient medicine, try, if the
bowels are costive, the effect of a little _raw_ sugar and water,
either half a tea-spoonful of raw sugar dissolved in a tea-spoonful or
two of water, or give him, out of your fingers, half a tea-spoonful of
raw sugar to eat. I mean by _raw_ sugar, not the white, but the pure
and unadulterated sugar, and which you can only procure from a
respectable grocer. If you are wise, you will defer as long as you can
giving an aperient. If you once begin, and continue it for a while,
opening medicine becomes a dire necessity, and then woe betide the
poor unfortunate child. Or, give a third of a tea-spoonful of honey,
early in the morning, occasionally. Or administer a warm water
enema--a tablespoonful, or more, by means of a 2 oz. India Rubber
Enema Bottle.

_What NOT to do_.--There are two preparations of mercury I wish to
warn you against administering of your own accord, viz.--(1) Calomel,
and a milder preparation called (2) Grey-powder (mercury with
chalk). It is a common practice in this country to give calomel, on
account of the readiness with which it can be administered it being
small in quantity, and nearly tasteless. Grey powder also, is, with
many mothers, a favourite in the nursery. It is a medicine of immense
power--either for good or for evil, in certain cases it is very
valuable, but in others, and in the great majority, it is very
detrimental. This practice, then, of a mother giving mercury, whether
in the form either of calomel or of grey powder, cannot be too
strongly reprobated, as the frequent administration either of the one
or of the other weakens the body, predisposes it to cold, and
frequently excites king's-evil--a disease too common in this
country. Calomel and grey-powder, then, ought never to be administered