ldren refuse whey; and then a
mixture of cream and veal broth, more or less diluted either with water
or with the white decoction, may be given instead. The addition of soda,
potash, chalk or lime water to milk before it is given is also of
service, since it not only prevents the occurrence of fermentation, but
also renders the curd of cow's milk more easily soluble.

The indiscriminate and over-free employment of these alkalies, however,
as nursery remedies is by all means to be avoided, for the symptoms of
indigestion for which a grown person if suffering would seek the advice
of a skilful doctor require his help no less when the patient is a
child. When acids will be of service in promoting the secretion of the
gastric juice, when pepsine will be likely to be of use, when stimulants
such as a little brandy, when aromatics to get rid of flatulence,
opiates to relieve pain or check diarrh[oe]a, or when an occasional
mercurial, or some other remedy may be of use by stimulating the liver
to increased action, are questions which I would not advise any mother
to try to answer for herself. Much care and pains and knowledge and
experience are often required by the doctor to enable him to answer them
correctly.

I must not leave the consideration of the ailments of the digestive
organs in early infancy without some notice of that affection of the
mouth popularly known as _thrush_ to which an exaggerated importance was
once attached as the supposed cause of those symptoms of disordered
health, of which it is in reality only the accompaniment. Still it is a
sign of such grave disorder that it needs a careful study.

THRUSH.--If you examine the mouth of a young infant, in whom the attempt
at hand-feeding is not turning out well, you will often observe its
lining to be beset with numerous small white spots, that look like
little bits of curd lying upon its surface, but which on a more
attentive examination are found to be so firmly adherent to it as not to
be removed without some difficulty, when they leave the surface beneath
it a deep red colour, and now and then bleeding slightly. These specks
appear upon the inner surface of the lips, especially near the angles of
the mouth, on the inside of the cheeks, and upon the tongue, where they
are more numerous at the tip and edges than towards the centre. They are
likewise seen upon the gums, though less frequently and in smaller
numbers. When they first appear they are usually of