To make a Mixture. Two tablespoonfuls to be taken three times a day. Iron medicines ought always to be taken _after_ instead of _before_ a meal. The best times of the day for taking either of the above mixtures will be eleven o’clock, four o’clock, and seven o’clock. 368. _You had a great objection to a mother administering calomel either to an infant or to a child, have you the same objection to a boy or a girl taking it when he or she requires an aperient?_ Equally as great. It is my firm belief that the frequent use, or rather the abuse, of calomel and of other preparations of mercury, is often a source of liver disease, and an exciter of scrofula. It is a medicine of great value in some diseases, when given by a _judicious_ medical man; but, at the same time, it is a drug of great danger when either given indiscriminately, or when too often prescribed. I will grant that in liver diseases it frequently gives temporary relief; but when a patient has once commenced the regular use of it, he cannot do without it, until, at length, the _functional_ ends in _organic_ disease of the liver. The use of calomel predisposes to cold, and thus frequently brings on either inflammation or consumption. Family aperient pills ought never to contain, in any form whatever, a particle of mercury. 369. _Will you give me a list of remedies for the prevention and for the cure of Constipation?_ If you find it necessary to give to your son or to your daughter aperient medicine, the mildest ought to be selected; for instance, an agreeable and an effectual one is an electuary composed of the following ingredients: Take of—Best picked Alexandria Senna, one ounce; Best Figs, two ounces; Best Raisins (stoned), two ounces: All chopped very fine. The size of a nutmeg or two to be occasionally eaten. Or, one or two teaspoonfuls of compound confection of senna (lenitive electuary) may occasionally, early in the morning, be taken. Or, for a change, a teaspoonful of Henry’s magnesia, in half a tumblerful of warm water. If this should not be sufficiently active, a teaspoonful of Epsom salts should be given with the magnesia. A Seidlitz powder forms another safe and mild aperient; or one or two compound rhubarb pills may be given at bedtime. The following prescription for a pill, where an aperient is absolutely necessary, is a mild, gentle, and effective one for the purpose: Take of—Extract of Socotrine Aloes, eight grains; Compound Extract of Colocynth, forty-eight grains: Hard Soap, twenty-four grains; Treacle, a sufficient quantity: To make twenty-four Pills. One or two to be taken at bedtime occasionally.