Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Health, Narcotics, Gender, Government, Commerce

    Notes that 'A paternal Government [...] permits the anxious mother to physic' sickly babies, and since the 'syrup is sanctified by a stamp [tax]', the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George C Lewis, smiles every time a mother administers the medicine. Having likened men to 'mischievous, roaring babies' in the introduction, the author describes wives in Bolton who administer certain substances to their 'inebriated' husbands and one wife who 'accelerated the death' of her husband in this way and is now 'awaiting an inquiry'. Explains that the substances are called 'quietners' and that wives 'were constant customers'. Urges the government and druggists to 'put out an external sign of their interior traffic'.