should not disturb it. If the mother is prepared to do her part
faithfully a vaccine shield is not necessary from a medical standpoint
and in some cases it is objectionable. A simple, clean bandage is all
that is necessary. It is very important that the child be kept from
scratching the part; most of the troubles of vaccination come from this
habit. It is desirable that the limb should be kept at rest during the
stage when the process is at its height. If the vesicle discharges it is
necessary that the area should be kept clean and dusted with boracic
acid. If the wound becomes infected it must be treated by a physician.
The mother must not resort to home remedies in such cases unless she is
prepared to take the consequences, which may be serious.

CHAPTER XXII

CONSTIPATION IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN

"It is a greater disgrace to be sick than to be in the
penitentiary. When you are arrested it is because you have
broken a man-made statute, but when you are ill, it is because
you have disobeyed one of God's laws."

Constipation--Regularity of Bowel Function--The Function of the
Stomach--Fermentation--Incomplete Constipation--Importance of a
Clean Bowel--A Daily Movement of the Bowel
Necessary--Constipation in Breast-Fed Infants--Treatment of
Constipation in Breast-Fed Infants--Constipation in Bottle-Fed
Infants--Treatment of Constipation in Bottle-Fed
Infants--Constipation in Children Over Two Years of Age--Diet
List for Constipation in Children--Bran Muffins in
Constipation--Treatment of Obstinate Constipation--Oil
Injections in Constipation.

CONSTIPATION. REGULARITY OF BOWEL FUNCTION

The most frequent cause of ill health and inefficiency in the human race
is inattention to regulation of the bowel function. Good health depends
upon many causes of which good blood is an absolutely necessary
requisite. Good blood depends upon what feeds and sustains it. There are
other contributing factors, such as the proper kind of exercise, the
proper amount and quality of fresh air, the method of living, etc., but
these are all food in a sense. The food we take in is acted upon by the
various digestive juices until everything is extracted from it that
contributes to the building up of the body. Whatever is left, whatever
the body does not want, is immediately, or within a reasonable time,
passed out in the form of a movement of the bowels.

If any