WHOOPING COUGH. 73 



diseases have been so variously " drugged " as whooping cough, and the number of 

 specific remedies which at one time or another have been put forward for its cure 

 ! prodigious. Syrup of chloral has been much in fashion of late, and although it 

 is of undoubted service, we should deprecate the employment of so powerful a 

 remedy by unpractised hands. Bromide of ammonium, bromide of potassium, 

 belladonna, camphor, and prussic acid have all been useful. More important than 

 drugs, however, is it to bear in mind to abstain from all things that are likely 

 to induce a fit of coughing ; and, as we have said before, the child should be rather 

 " spoilt " than otherwise for a time. 



In the third stage, tonic medicines, combined with anti-spasmodics, are of great 

 service, and it should be borne in mind that a good supply of wholesome and 

 digestible food and an abundance of fresh air are the best of all tonic medicines. 

 If the circumstances of the child allow of a supply of both of these, recovery is 

 usually rapid. We do not mean to say, however, that drugs are not of very great 

 service, and if the child be pale and weak, and has lost flesh during its illness, 

 a tea-spoonful of cod liver oil combined with an equal quantity of steel wine 

 will be found a most excellent means of restoring the vigour which has been lost. 

 The nervine tonics are also of great service, and first among these we should place 

 quinine, which may be given in doses of a grain or less. If the whooping noise 

 persist obstinately, belladonna combined with sulphate of zinc is perhaps the most 

 generally-approved remedy. The dose of each of these should be very small to 

 begin with, and after a few weeks may be increased. Sulphate of zinc is a 

 powerful emetic, and if any injudicious attempt be made to give large doses from 

 the first, the object will be defeated by the vomiting of the patient, but by 

 gradually increasing the dose the recipient can ultimately be made to tolerate 

 enormous quantities. The same remarks apply to belladonna, and by gradually 

 increasing the dose we are enabled to give it in quantities sufficient to arrest 

 the spasm of the windpipe. It should be remembered, however, that zinc and 

 belladonna are both poisonous drugs, and when they are administered it would 

 be well to keep the patient under the supervision of one who is well ac^j^tomed 

 to the observation of disease. If the child be still much disturbed at night by the 

 cough, a dose of bromide of ammonium or bromide of potassium (ten grains of 

 either) may be given at bedtime. Nitric acid is a remedy which has been regarded 

 with favour, and from two to ten minims of the dilute acid given with a little syrup 

 of orange-peel is often of great benefit ; and it has this advantage over some other 

 medicines, that the child does not object to it, and swallows it without difficulty. 

 By some, the application of a solution of nitrate of silver at regular and frequent 

 intervals to the larynx itself has been recommended, and it has been stated that 

 this is often sufficient to arrest the cough at once. The application of caustic 

 solutions to the throat is a somewhat severe measure, requiring considerable skill 

 on the part of the operator, and should not be attempted by an amateur. The 

 liability of a child recovering from whooping cough to fall into bad states of health, 

 and to fall a victim to tuberculosis or scrofula, must be always borne in mind, 

 and the greatest care must be exercised in the general hygienic arrangements 

 of the convalescent. A short sojourn at the seaside, at the southern coast in 



