The Menace of Soothing Sirups
By Daniel H. Kress
THE dire effects of the many so-called "soothing sirups" upon thousands of innocent babes can scarcely be imagined. The awful crime of Herod, who slew the little ones of Bethlehem, does not compare with the evil wrought by these drugs upon the infants in civilized countries. The essential ingredient of these sirups is invariably some form of opium. To its influence the tender infants are especially susceptible. Soothing sirups soothe the restless, suffering babe, not by removing the cause of the pain nor by healing the disease, but by simply deadening the nerves and benumbing the delicate nerve-cells of the brain. The sleep produced is unnatural. It is a stupor from which the child may or may not awake. Serious injury is always sustained by the little one, altho the full results may not be seen until later in life.—Dr. D. H. Kress, in Life and Health, Washington, D. C.