The science and art of prescribing / by E. H. Colbeck and Arnold Chaplin.

  • Colbeck, Edmund Henry, 1865-
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The science and art of prescribing / by E. H. Colbeck and Arnold Chaplin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    prescribes the fraction of the adult dose that is obtained by dividing the age of the child in years by the age in years plus twelve. Thus the dose of a drug for a child of four years would be 4 Z =< of the adult dose. Fora child of eight 4 +12 tO years the dose would be — -.: of the adult 8 + 12 dose, and so on. Between the ages of twelve and twenty-one years the dose will vary between one half and the full dose. The fact must not be lost sight of that f young children tolerate and frequently benefit by | relatively large doses of certain drugs, to wit, | iron, arsenic, belladonna, and antitoxins, &c. On } the other hand they are particularly susceptible to the action of opium, which must be prescribed with care to infants and young children. The periods of puberty, menstruation, preg- nancy, lactation and the menopause have to be taken into consideration in prescribing drugs for women. Idiosyncrasy or increased susceptibility to the influence of drugs should be enquired into and allowed for, more especially before exhibiting certain drugs, notably the bromides and iodides, arsenic, iron, belladonna and so forth. The particular diseases, or rather disease pro- cesses, that require treatment are of influence in regulating the dosage. Thus the presence of kidney disease or of acute bronchitis calls for great discrimination in the use of opium. Again, digitalis must be employed with caution in aortic disease, and in certain morbid conditions of the cardiac walls. The effects produced by a drug vary in accord- ance with the dosage that is employed, and this
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