CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 249 



every planet of our system being frittered away into heat by friction 

 on the ethereal medium, they shall find their way, one by one, into the 

 sun's mass, thus giving him the energy by which he will work on for 

 long ages after they are defunct ; while he, in his turn, with all his 

 accumulated mass, will precipitate himself into the center of some 

 larger system : and this process will go on till, after various oscilla- 

 tions throughout, perhaps, infinite ages, the whole material universe is 

 accumulated in a single mass, which will then go on radiating its heat 

 into space till it becomes a black, cold, and lifeless mass. 



This universal tendency of energy to concentrate, or rather to scat- 

 ter itself into the least available form, is simply what has been called 

 " the dissipation of energy,'''' and may be said to be the complement of 

 the availability of energy, and, like it, finds its basis and explanation 

 in that molecular constitution of the material universe which renders 

 it impossible for any amount of energy, which has once distributed 

 itself among the immense number of molecules in any body, ever, of 

 itself, to rise again to a more tangible and available condition. 



-- 



THE INFECTIOUS AND CONTAGIOUS . DISEASES OF 



CHILDREN* 



T 



By Dr. DELPECH. 



HE teacher or director of the school is urged to give immediate 

 personal attention to any child in the school who may appear ill, 

 or who complains of feeling unwell. In such a case the teacher should 

 specially note the presence of one or more of the following signs : 



1. Increased temperature of the child's body, discovered by the 

 teacher placing his hand upon the sick child's skin, particularly on the 

 chest, armpit, face, or forehead. 



2. Quickening of the pulse, as measured by the aid of a watch, to- 

 gether with hardness of beat. 



3. Shivering. Increased or exaggerated sweating, not being the 

 after-result of exercise, etc. 



4. Great thirst, with loss of appetite. 



5. Tongue more or less white ; dry, or red. 

 G. A flushed or pallid face. 



7. Increased or diminished brilliancy of the eye. 



8. General weariness and indisposition ; sense of fatigue, with ach- 

 ing in the loins ; headache ; drowsiness or excitement ; delirium. 



* Instructions regarding the early symptoms of the infectious and contagious diseases 

 of children, prepared by Dr. Delpech for the use of teachers of infant and elementary 

 schools in the Department of the Seine. Abridged and translated by J. Lawrence Ham- 

 ilton, M. R. C. S. 



