[13]
The purges may be suited to the constitutions, and in some cases, even to the inclinations of our patients. I have seen jalap, rhubarb, senna, manna, aloes, soluble tartar, glauber and epsom salts, and the butternut pill, all given with equal success. The quantity should be sufficient to procure three or four stools every day. A little magnesia should always be mixed with rhubarb and jalap in preparing children. It will be sufficient for the mothers and nurses of infants to conform strictly to the vegetable diet. I have never seen any advantages from giving them even a single dose of physic.
It is hardly necessary to observe, that the quality, dose, and number of purges are to be determined by the age, sex, and habits of our patients. A constitution enfeebled with a previous disease forbids the use of purges, and requires medicines of a restorative kind. Patients afflicted with cutaneous disorders bear larger and more frequent doses of physic than are indicated in more healthy subjects.
In adult subjects of a plethoric habit, blood-letting is very useful on the third or fourth day after inoculation. We are not to suppose, that every fat person labours under a plethora. A moderate degree of
fat
