EPILEPSY FITS FALLING SICKNESS. 261 



atmosphere stagnant and contaminated in a thousand ways, and in little dark 

 ill-ventilated rooms in narrow streets. They are badly clothed, and insufficiently 

 cted from the injurious effects of cold and wet. They are ill-fed, their diet 

 1't-in^ t'n-quriitly, and indeed generally, of a kind quite unsuited to their growing 

 years. 



The glands often begin to enlarge during the condition of debility left by some 



illness, such as whooping-cough or scarlet-fever. Often enough the skin breaks 



r hrin, giving rise to the formation of a number of little abscesses, which may go 



on discharging week after week and month after month, and are very difficult to heal. 



In these cases much may usually be done in the way of treatment. The diet 

 must be specially attended to, none but the lightest and most nourishing food being 

 given. It is a great mistake to overload the stomach, for it must be remembered 

 that the little patient's digestive powers are usually none of the best. The use of 

 stimulants, whether wine or beer, should be very sparing, and the milder and 

 weaker should be preferred to the heavier and stronger kinds of malt liquor. The 

 ut should be made to take plenty of exercise in the open air, not however 

 carried to the point of fatigue ; and it would be very desirable, if funds could be 

 obtained for the purpose, for him to have a change of air from time to time, 

 alternating a sea with an inland climate. The clothing should be warm, and should 

 cover the whole of the body, no part being left unprotected. Bathing also, whether 

 in sea or river, with the habitual use of the tepid or cold sponge bath, and friction 

 of the skin with horsehair gloves or a rough towel, should be frequently practised. 

 The bowels must be kept regular, but only the mildest aperients should be 

 administered, anything like active purgation being scrupulously avoided. 



The best medicine for this condition is sulphide of calcium. One of the little 

 sulphide of calcium pills (Pr. 68) should be taken every hour or every alternate 

 hour for a couple of weeks, and then less frequently for some time longer. They 

 at once arrest the formation of fresh lumps in the neck, and abscesses if present 

 usually dry up and disperse, the wounds quickly healing. Even in those very bad 

 cases where there is disease of the bones of the fingers or wrists, this mode of 

 treatment will do a great deal of good. After the second or third week some 

 form of tonic may be administered in conjunction with the sulphide of calcium. 

 Cod-liver oil, quinine, and iron all do good in this condition. The dose of cod- 

 liver oil should not exceed a tea-spoonful to begin with, and it may be taken 

 alone or in combination with steel wine or an equal quantity of the syrup 

 of iodide of iron. Often enough Parrish's Chemical Food answers as well as 

 anything. In prolonged cases the syrup of hypophosphite of lime taken in a 

 tr;i-spoonful dose night and morning does good. But the treatment on which most 

 reliance is to be placed in these cases is the sulphide of calcium. 



EPILEPSY FITS FALLING SICKNESS. 



This complaint has been known from the earliest times. The ancients super- 

 stitiously ascribed it to the malice of demons, or to the anger of their offended deities. 

 If a person had a fit in the forum, it was considered an ill omen, and the meeting 



