An account of the medicinal virtues of magnesia alba: more particularly of calcined magnesia; ... By Thomas Henry, ...

ON THE DISEASES IN WHICH MAGNESIA ALBA IS USEFUL.

DURING the first months after the birth of a child, the state of the solids is lax, and the juices thin and dilute. These circumstances contribute to the more easy growth of the body; yet to prevent the tone of the parts from becoming too much relaxed, nature, with that providential care which pervades her whole crea∣tion, has given an acid to the stomach of young animals to strengthen their fibres and prevent too great a ten∣dency to alkaline acrimony. But this, like her other provisions, sometimes exceeds the bounds which were intended, and degenerates into a disease of an opposite tendency to those it was designed to prevent. From the excess of acidity in the bowels of infants, the milk is coagulated, and, by oppressing the stomach, becomes the source of many diseases. The bowels are irritated,

and spasmodic contractions of the guts occasion severe gripings to the tender infant, and as the nerves are, at that period, exceedingly irritable, convulsions of some particular part or of the whole system are frequently the consequence. Green stools and sour vomitings discover this acidity in the bowels of young children so frequent∣ly, that one of the best writers on the subject of their diseases, attributes the origin of all infantile disorders to this cause.* 1.1

Children thus affected always lose their florid com∣plexion and become pale and wan. Sometimes they de∣clare the severe gripings which torment them, by the most piercing cries; and sometimes, when their stomachs are oppressed with coagulated milk or viscid phlegm, they lie in a state of stupidity, refusing all nutriment. Their stools and what they vomit shew evident signs of acidity, not only in the colour but the smell.

Under these circumstances it is too common a practice among nurses, neglecting the primary cause of the disease, to pour in hot cordials, and often to quiet the complain∣ings of the infant by administering opiates, instead of attempting to correct and carry off the acidity which occasions the disorder. Remove the cause and the effect will cease. To this end, where the child vomits up phlegm or coagulated milk, or appears oppressed with them, it it may be proper to clear the stomach by giving a grain or two of ipecacuanha, or a tea-spoonfull of a dilute solution of emetic tartar; either of which may be administered with great safety; and after the operation

of the vomit, a small dose of Magnesia may be given and repeated occasionally so as to keep the body of the child gently open. It is a great recommendation of Magnesia, that its insipidity renders it more agreeable to infants than any other purgative; and it has this advan∣tage over all the other absorbents, that it acts as an easy purgative, whereas they tend to bind and render the body costive; a state which should be studiously avoided during infancy, for a plentiful discharge by stool is al∣ways so favourable to the health of children, that we ought to be very cautious how we hastily check even the excesses which may sometimes happen in that evacuation. As the loosenesses of infants are generally occasioned by some acrid stimulus in the bowels, they are best cured by changing the nature of the offending matter and dis∣lodging it from its seat. The method, therefore, which has been proposed above should first be used, before any astringents are called in to our aid.

The rash, commonly known by the name of the red gum, and the disorder called the thrush or frog, which so often affect children during the first months, may in general be cured by the same treatment. In the former, should the body be too loose, oyster-shell powder, or shalk may supply the place of Magnesia. In the latter, some topical application may be necessary; the following ••ormula is very efficacious.

Take of egg-shells, cleared from the internal skin or ••embrane, dried before the fire, and reduced to a fine powder, and of sugar, each a quarter of an ounce, of borax ••n grains, mix them together. Let a small quantity of his be placed now and then on the child's tongue, that ••e may roll it about in his mouth.

It has been a common practice to give Magnesia to children as a preventive, and to mix it for this pur∣pose with their food, in order to correct that disposition which milk and the farinaceous aliments have to turn four. This however should be done with caution, for it is only the excess of acidity which is prejudicial to infants: some degree of it is necessary; and should we too officiously and entirely destroy, what we ought only to restrain within due bounds, we may create disorders of an opposite nature to those we have endeavoured to prevent, and instead of an acid, produce an alkalescent disposition in the first passages. Indeed, I fear that dis∣eases have been more frequently created than obviated by the use of preventive medicines, and they should only be allowed in cases where the approach to disease is ma∣nifest. But when a child is in a healthy state, the best means to preserve him from a superabundant acidity, is to pay due attention to the regulation of his diet, to give him proper exercise, not to confine him too much in the foul air of hot unventilated rooms, to wash his whole body every day in cold water, and to rub him very well night and morning with a dry flannel, taking care that his stomach be not too full at the time when this friction is performed.

Nor would I advise parents to rely with too much se∣curity on the virtues of this medicine, where the disor∣ders of their children are complicated or obstinate. The advice of the sagacious and distinguishing practitioner will then be necessary, to direct what method of treat∣ment is to be pursued. Nor can I here avoid lamenting that the management of children, when diseased, is so

often in the hands of nurses and ignorant women, from an absurd notion that their diseases are not proper sub∣jects of medical investigation; when, in truth, there are none which require a clearer judgment, a quicker pene∣tration, or a greater share of medical knowledge in the prescriber.

During the period between dentition and puberty, the diseases attendant on a lax fibre still continue, though not so predominantly as in the former stage; yet aces∣cency is the manifest cause, or at least the concomitant of many of the complaints to which children are at this time liable. To this they are disposed, notwithstanding the change in their diet to a more alkalescent kind, by the great quantities of fruit, frequently crude and un∣ripe, cakes, and other sweet and greasy food with which they are too often indulged. By these errors, their bowels are overcharged; their digestion impaired, and the aliment remaining too long in the stomach becomes sour, and occasions vomitings, head-achs, and other com∣plaints which are thought to proceed from worms, and indeed are frequently attended with that disorder; as the crudities thus generated in the bowels serve as a nidus for these destructive vermin. Here likewise Magnesia may be of considerable advantage, as an alkaline purga∣tive, neutralizing the offending acid, and at the same time promoting its discharge by stool. But if the sto∣mach be overloaded with mucus, or undigested aliment, a gentle vomit ought to precede the exhibition of the Magnesia.

And even in a more advanced stage of life, persons of weak habits, and who lead sedentary lives, are often af∣flicted

with indigestion, four eructations, heartburn, vo∣mitings, and costiveness. These disorders very frequent∣ly attend women during their state of pregnancy, and are sometimes almost instantly removed by the use of Mag∣nesia. Doctor Watson* 1.2 has published the case of a pregnant woman, who was afflicted with such severe vo∣mitings as to bring on convulsions, hiccoughing, and violent pain at her stomach. What she brought up was acid, and so very acrimonious, as to inflame and exco∣riate her mouth and throat; and the great uneasiness she felt at her stomach, upon swallowing any liquor that had the least degree of acrimony, or was more than luke∣warm, made it probable that the internal surface of the stomach was affected in the same manner. In this despe∣rate situation, after variety of remedies had been tried in vain, the stomach was washed with unsalted mutton broth, till the liquor was discharged without any acid taste. Her pain was by this means abated, but in about two hours was apparently returning with the same vio∣lence as before. This ingenious physician then directed a drachm of Magnesia to be given in mutton broth, and to be repeated as often as her pain returned, without any regard to the quantity the whole might amount to, sup∣posing her pain to continue severe. The first dose reliev∣ed her, and in three days she took three ounces of Mag∣nesia; and in the next three days, two ounces more, by which time all her symptoms were removed. It is re∣markable in this case, that an excessive purging was not

the consequence of taking so large a quantity of Magne∣sia, where there was so much acid to neutralize it.

In bilious habits, where there is generally a disposition in the stomach contrary to acidity, Magnesia is usually esteemed to be improper, taken alone: but I am dubious whether this opinion is well founded, and many reasons for these doubts may be deduced from some experiments which have been recited in a former work.* 1.3 However, where putrid bile is to be corrected and discharged by stool, very good purposes may, perhaps, be answered by taking the Magnesia, joined with a sufficient quantity of acid to neutralize it, while in a state of effervescence; or by swallowing the Magnesia and the acid, one imme∣diately after the other, so as to produce the fermentation in the stomach: for thus the fixed air, with which the Magnesia abounds, being let loose, may powerfully cor∣rect the tendency to putridity in the contents of the pri∣mae

viae, and at the same time evacuate them down∣wards.

It is probable Magnesia may be of service in diseases of the skin. Several authors have attributed cutaneous eruptions, and indeed the antient chemists, as has been before observed, ascribed almost all disorders to the pre∣sence of an acid in the blood; whilst others absolutely deny that an acid can be admitted into the lacteals, or if admitted, exist in the blood in a state of acidity. In these cases, however, if an acid acrimony abounds in the stomach and bowels, with a costive habit, and pale com∣plexion, Magnesia will be a useful corrector, and enter∣ing the circulation in the form of a mild neutral salt, may act as an excellent alterative; or, where there is no suspicion of acidity in the stomach, an equal quantity of cream of tartar may be mixed with the Magnesia.

HAVING thus given a cursory detail of the medicinal properties of Magnesia in its natural state, I shall now proceed to consider it in a state of calcination.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Harris de Morbis Infantum.
• * 1.2

  Medical Observations and Inquiries, Vol. 3. p. 335.
• * 1.3

  Henry's Experiments and Observations, p. 68, and seq.

  By these experiments it appears that Magnesia, though remark∣ably septic to animal flesh, retards the putrefaction of bile, and re∣stores sweetness to it when actually putrid: that these last effects are still more strongly produced by the Calcined Magnesia, which also powerfully resists the corruption of flesh: that some of the other absorbents prove antiseptic to bile; and, consequently, that the opinion of the universal septic property of the absorbent class of medicines, and of the impropriety of prescribing them in fevers of a putrescent type, may admit of some exceptions; for as the bile is by many supposed to be the great source of putrid diseases, ought not the antiseptics, which are prescribed in these cases, to be such as more particularly impede the corruption of this fluid, rather than that of flesh?