LUNGS INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 3 ( JU 



by profuse perspiration or an abundant discharge of urine, and occasionally by 

 diarrhoea, bleeding from the nose, or the development of a skin eruption. 



The symptoms we have enumerated will, we trust, enable our readers to 

 recognise the nature of the affection. This is a disease in which the attendance 

 of a medical man is very necessary. It is always serious, especially in the 

 very young, and those advanced in life. Other circumstances which increase the 

 danger are the fact of the patient being a woman, the occurrence of pregnancy, 

 the existence of debility from any cause, previous habits of intemperance, or 

 previous disease of the heart, lungs, or kidneys. 



When it is really impossible to obtain medical advice, the following hints as 

 to treatment may prove of service. In the first place, the patient must be 

 confined to bed. A fire should be kept burning night and day, even in summer. 

 It is a good plan to have a kettle of water on the hob, the steam from which 

 will serve to maintain the air at a proper degree of moisture. The window or 

 windows should be opened for an inch or two at the top, to insure proper 

 ventilation, although care should be taken to avoid draughts. The bed-cover- 

 ings should be light, and the patient should be well wrapped up, if, from 

 any cause, it is necessary to get out of bed. With the prevalence of a high tem- 

 perature it is of little or no use trying to give solid food. The diet should 

 consist chiefly of milk, of which from two to three pints, or even more, should 

 be given in the course of the day. Many people find that milk is not only 

 more palatable, but is more readily digested, if flavoured with just a dash of 

 brandy, although anything like excess in the administration of stimulants is to 

 be avoided. It is not a bad plan to dilute the milk with an equal quantity of 

 lime water or soda water. There is no objection to a sponge cake or two, or a 

 few biscuits. Beef tea may be taken once or twice a day, although it is less 

 nutritious than is generally supposed. Should the bowels be confined, a simple 

 aperient, such as castor oil, may be given, but it is well to avoid anything like 

 active purgation. Large linseed-meal poultices applied over the chest and 

 back, and renewed every two hours, or as often as they get cold, prove very 

 grateful. Moderate quantities of wine, or brandy, somewhat in accordance with 

 the patient's ordinary habits, may be given, should signs of weakness become 

 apparent. Ice to suck, and frequent sips of cold water, are useful in allaying 

 thirst. 



In quite the early stage, aconite is useful in this as in so many other febrile 

 diseases. A drop of the tincture should be given every ten minutes for the first hour, 

 and subsequently hourly for ten or twelve hours; or Pr. 38 may be employed. It is 

 most suitable for the first invasion of the cold when feverish symptoms, restlessness, 

 malaise, pain between the shoulders or in the chest, and short cough are the prominent 

 symptoms. A little later, or when the symptoms are more severe, phosphorus is pre- 

 ferred by many. It is considered to be of most value when there are signs of exhaus- 

 tion. A saturated solution of phosphorus in ether (Pr*53) may be used, and of this 

 a drop or half a drop may be given every hour for ten or twelve hours. It is not 

 unfrequently administered alternately with aconite first a dose of one, and then of 

 the other. When the symptoms point to pleurisy as well as pneumonia, bryony 



