oval, is the compound tincture of
camphor, or paregoric elixir, as it is called, of which sixty measured
drops contain a quarter of a grain of opium. Ten to fifteen measured
drops of this are a sufficient dose for a child one year old, and this
ought not to be repeated within twelve hours. The repetition every few
hours of small doses of opiates is quite as hazardous as the giving of a
single overdose; and if it does not work serious mischief by stupefying
the child, it renders it impossible to judge of its real condition.

Thus much may suffice with reference to the more important remedies.
Others will necessarily call for notice when the diseases come to be
considered in which they may be of service.

There are two points which still remain to be noticed before I leave the
introductory part of this little book.

The first of these concerns the importance of keeping written notes in
the course of every case of serious illness. For want of doing this the
most imperfect and conflicting accounts of what has happened are given
to the doctor. No person can watch to any good purpose for
four-and-twenty hours together; and no one's memory, least of all in the
midst of fatigue and anxiety, can correctly retain all details
concerning medicine, food, and sleep, which yet it may be of paramount
importance that the doctor should be made acquainted with. I am
accustomed to desire a record to be kept on a sheet of paper divided
into six columns, one for food, a second for medicine, a third for
sleep, a fourth for the evacuations, and a fifth for any special point
which the nature of the illness renders it of special moment to observe,
while the date is entered on the first column of all, indicating when
food or medicine was given, or when and for how long the child slept. It
is best to enter the variations of temperature on a separate paper, in
order that the doctor may at a glance perceive the daily changes in this
important respect. No one who has not made the experiment can tell the
relief which the keeping this simple record gives to the anxiety of
nursing the sick, especially when the sick one is loved most tenderly.

The other point concerns the relations of the mother or of the parents
to the doctor. I have often heard it said, 'Dr. Green always attends my
husband and myself, but we have Dr. White for the servants and
children,' implying a lower degree of medical knowledge as required in
their case, and to be acknowledged