2. Impure emetine, 3 gr.; syrup of ipecacuanha and water, of each 1-1/2
oz.
These draughts are administered by spoonfuls every ten minutes, until
there has been a sufficient number of vomitings. In this manner he says he
has been always able to make the patient expectorate a certain quantity of
false membrane. This treatment is accompanied by the use of small doses of
calomel, leeches to the throat, and blisters to the nape of the neck; but
it is the opinion of M. Marotte that the vomitings alone effect the cure.
Out of 25 cases that occurred at the Hôpital des Enfans[Enfants], the only
authenticated case of cure among all these was effected by emetics. (M.
Boudet.)
The croup is a very dangerous disease, and medical aid should be
immediately sought wherever it can be procured. It is principally confined
to infancy, or to children under 9 years of age; but occasionally attacks
adults. One of our early friends, a young medical practitioner of great
promise, died of it prematurely, after only about 20 hours' illness.
=CROWDIE.= Mix the liquor in which a leg of mutton has been boiled with
half a pint of oatmeal, and two onions cut very fine; and add pepper and
salt. Make the oatmeal into a paste with a little of the liquor over the
fire, stir in the remainder of the ingredients, and let them boil gently
for twenty minutes. This forms a very nutritious and cheap dish.
=CROWING, IN CHILDREN.= _Syn._ CHILDCROWING. SPURIOUS CROUP. SPASMODIC
CROUP. This very formidable disorder almost always occurs during teething.
It comes on in paroxysms. In the intervals between the spasms the
respiration is quite natural; but during the attack there is great
difficulty of breathing accompanied with a crowing noise, and with violent
struggling on the part of the little sufferer. Convulsions and faintness
also sometimes occur. In his 'Advice to a Mother' Mr Chavasse prescribes
the following treatment:--
"The first thing, of course, to be done is to send immediately for a
medical man. Have a plentiful supply of cold and hot water always at hand,
ready for use at a moment's notice. The instant the paroxysm is on the
child, plentifully and perseveringly dash cold water upon his head and
face. Put his feet and legs in hot salt-mustard-and-water, and if
necessary place the child up to his neck in a hot bath, still dashing
water upon his face and head. If he does not quickly come round, sharply
smack the back and buttocks. As soon as a medical man arrives, he will
lose no time in thoroughly lancing the gums, and in applying appropriate
remedies. During the intervals, great care and attention must be paid to
the diet. If the child be breathing a smoky, close atmosphere, he should
be immediately removed to a pure one. Indeed in this disease there is no
remedy equal to a change of air--to a dry bracing neighbourhood. Even if
it be winter, change of air is the best remedy, either to the coast or to
a healthy farmhouse. In a case of this kind where it is not practicable to
send a child from home, then let him be sent out of doors during the
greater part of every day; let him, in point of fact, almost live in the
open air. I am quite sure from an extensive experience that, in this
disease, _fresh air, and plenty of it, is the best and principal remedy_."
=CRU'CIBLE.= _Syn._ MELTING POT; CRUCIBULUM, L.; CREUSET, Fr. A vessel
used by metallurgists and chemists for holding substances whilst they are
exposed to a high temperature. The crucibles commonly used for fusing
metals are formed of clay, or a mixture of plumbago and clay. For certain
purposes, crucibles of platinum, gold, silver, iron, porcelain, and lime,
are employed.
=Crucibles, Earth'en.= _Syn._ CLAY CRUCIBLES. From fire-clay, mixed with
silica, coke, burnt clay, or other infusible matter.
_Manuf._ The materials, having been ground and kneaded, are generally
moulded by hand upon a wooden block of the shape of the cavity of the
crucible. Another method of shaping a crucible consists in ramming the
ingredients into a suitable mould, formed of steel or gun-metal. (See
_engr._)
[Illustration:
_a a._ External steel mould.
_b b,_ Clay or composition for forming the crucible.
_c,_ Internal steel mould.
_d d,_ Wooden stand.
_e,_ Cord or chain to withdraw the internal mould or plug.]
Small crucibles are sometimes formed by pouring 'slip,' that is, clay
mixed with sufficient water to give it the consistence of cream, into
porous moulds, made of a species of stucco. A series of these moulds are
placed upon a table and filled with the semifluid composition. By the time
the whole (say 50 or 60) are filled, the 'slip' may be poured out of the
one first filled, leaving only a very small quantity behind to give the
requisite thickness to the bottom. The second and third may then be
treated in the same way, until the whole number have been attended to. In
each mould a perfect crucible is formed, by the abstraction of the water
of that portion of the 'slip' in immediate contact with the stucco, and
the crucible is either thicker or thinner in proportion to the time this
absorbent action has been allowed to go on. 70 or 80 crucibles may thus
be easily made in less than 15 minutes. The moulds and their contents are
next placed in a stove or slow oven. In a short time, from the contraction
of the clay in drying, the crucibles may be removed, and the moulds, as
soon as they have become dry, may be again filled; by care they will last
for years.
Earthen crucibles are used both in the burnt and unburnt state. Small
crucibles are generally kiln-burnt before they are used, but the large
Stourbridge clay 'casting-pots,' which are extensively employed in brass
foundries, are never previously burnt.