I have seen it upon the edges and under-surface of the eyelids, in babes that are allowed to sleep where it is generally very close, with the face covered over, or closely nestled to the breast of the mother. The treatment should be cooling. Calcined magnesia in from three to five-grain doses daily, for a week or two, and gently washing the scales over once a day with sugar and water, will, if persisted in, effect a cure. Giving “baby just a taste of everything mamma eats,” is no doubt a frequent cause of this distressing complaint.
If the appetite fails in a child, and there is no perceptible cause, and the mouth is dry and hot for a time, it will do no harm to touch the front edge of the tongue with a mite of table-salt. One or two trials will suffice to set the saliva flowing, then with a little coaxing and proper food the appetite will return. I may have digressed somewhat, but as apthæ is frequently accompanied by diarrhœa, I deem it well to guard against fear and loss of hope that might ensue from its being mistaken for cholera. In any case of vomiting or purging of infants, great caution is required not to give all kinds of palliative suggested by incomers; this is “going it blind,” so to speak. Cholera is a terrible disease, and should be subdued as speedily as possible. At best it leaves its merciless traces throughout the remainder of life; the victim being frequently annoyed by choleric pains, indigestion, nervousness and cough. To sum up all, the causes of cholera infantum are movable unless fixed by some perceptible atmospherical pressure. The causes of cholera are no doubt overlooked by the major portion of a community where its ravages from time to time have been the greatest, and consequently no efforts are put forth in a general way to prevent a repetition of its visits. Even where the conditions of the atmosphere may give rise to cholera, its force can be modified, and the number of fatalities lessened. I have frequently been asked if cholera is contagious; in answer, I can safely say, it is not, as a disease; but like causes will produce like effects, in the same locality, and at the same time. In regard to the fumes of carbolic acid, chloride of lime, sulphur, and the like, as disinfectants, I believe that they are all decidedly depressing, and against the speedy recovery of cholera patients if used in immediate contact. The removal from a crowded district in time of an apparent epidemic is decidedly commendable. It is well known that poverty, wretchedness, and crime favor an increase of mortality from this disease. Yet the prospects of thousands remain the same year after year.