CROUP AND DIPHTHERIA IX CHILDREN. 125 



partially formed was dissolved. Another noticeable re- 

 sult of the use of the microbe-killer in such cases has 

 been that rarely was the child affected with the disease 

 again, but if so it yielded still more easily to the gas- 

 impregnated water. 



The trouble with many people is that either through 

 carelessness or ignorance they do not have at hand the 

 necessary remedies when they are most needed. I 

 knew once of a wealthy manufacturer whose child was 

 dying with croup. Those who were with him said that 

 he wrung his hands and cried, ^^ My fortune, my pros- 

 pects, my very life for something that will cure my 

 child." But the child died. Had the microbe-killer been 

 in that household, and instantly used, recovery would 

 have been certain. This illustration only shows how 

 important it is to have the right thing at the right time, 

 as an ounce of prevention is well worth a pound of cure. 



Diphtheria is a most singular as well as dangerous 

 disease. It develops much slower than croup and yet 

 much more effectively. It is contagious and malignant, 

 and the special microbe (see Plate IX., No. 36) which 

 causes it does not require a seed bed of long development, 

 but assists in making its own seed bed. The microbes 

 attack the lining of the throat, producing fermenta- 

 tion, which is shown in the little pustules or festers 

 which make their appearance. The microbes, of course, 

 are in the blood, and there are few microbes more poi- 

 sonous than the microbes of diphtheria. The whole 

 system is saturated with poison, and even if the patient 

 recovers months will elapse before this poison is driven 

 out of the system. In many cases death does not occur 

 until after the fermentation has practically left the 

 throat. The physician then attributes death to Bright's 

 disease or some other ailment — and indeed those organs 

 are affected, but the main cause of death was the diph- 

 therial poison in the system. It attacked the weakest 

 portion of the system. If that portion happened to be 

 the kidneys, as is often the case, then the cause of death 

 was attributed to Bright's disease. 



