The infant : nutrition and management / by Eric Pritchard.

  • Pritchard, Eric, 1864-1943.
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The infant : nutrition and management / by Eric Pritchard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Towards the end of the last century it was largely administered in the form of an emulsion, combined with hypophosphites, under the belief that it pos¬ sessed nutritive properties and could serve as a substitute for cod-liver oil. 2. In 1899 Dr. Robert Hutchison repeated the almost forgotten experiments of Dr. Randolf (1884), and proved that petroleum was not absorbed from the bowel, that it had no nutritive properties, and that the only rational therapeutic purpose it could serve was as a substitute for mucus. 3. Paraffin is a rational specific in the treatment of constipation in infants. 4. Petroleum emulsions are extremely useful in the treatment of all forms of indigestion in infants. 5. The efficacy of petroleum in these conditions may depend on— (a) Its lubricating properties, (b) Antiseptic properties. (c) Its cleaning-up effect on the mucous membrane. 6. Petroleum emulsion is a most useful vehicle for most drugs, soluble as well as insoluble, which are prescribed for infants. It may be given with perfect safety in very large doses.