172 



POPULAR SCIEKOE KEWS. 



[November, 1888. 



the severer the attack, the sooner the peculiar cough 

 will be heard. 



After the catarrh has existed for a longer or 

 shorter time, the cough changes. It may at once 

 take on that peculiar spasmodic character which 

 gives the disease its name; but more often it 

 changes gradually, and after a few days, very likely 

 a week, it becomes the true whooping-cough. Then, 

 and not until then, are all doubts about the nature 

 of the existing aifection dispelled. 



After the characteristic cough has appeared, it 

 increases in severity for about three or four 

 weeks — that is, up to about the fifth or sixth 

 ■week from the commencement of the disease, or 

 the beginning of the catarrhal inflammation. Cases 

 vary much, however, and in not a few the 

 cough persists for a much longer period. Finally 

 a change is noted. During the paroxysms of cough- 

 ing the patient suffers less ; they are shorter, and 

 the disease is unmistakably on the decline. After 

 the improvement is noted, and the cough begins 

 to abate, it generally ceases completely in two or 

 three weeks. If it continues much longer than 

 the time stated, some associated disease of the 

 lungs may be suspected. Relapses, however, are 

 not infrequent; but they are generally of short 

 duration. 



But very little can be said upon the subject of 

 treatment in whooping-cough. There is scarcely 

 a disease in which a greater variety of remedies 

 have been tried, and it is safe to say that but a few 

 among them all have proved in any degree effec- 

 tive. During the first stage the treatment should 

 be much the same as in an ordinai-y catarrhal at- 

 tack, the consequence of taking cold. If there is 

 much cough previous to the appearance of the true 

 whooping-cough, the treatment indicated would be 

 the same as in a mild attack of bronchitis. When 

 the character of the cough changes, and all doubts 

 about the nature of the disease are set at rest, all 

 attempts of the parents to treat, on their own re- 

 sponsibility, their little ones with medicines, should 

 then cease. The reason for this statement is ob- 

 vious to those familiar with the disease. There 

 is no drug or mixture of drugs which is appro- 

 priate in all cases, nor is there one which is ap- 

 propriate even in the minority of cases. There 

 are very many medicines still in use in whooping- 

 cough which are totally worthless in any case. 

 There are a few which act well upon some children, 

 and yet, when given to others, do no good whatever. 

 A perfect knowledge of drugs and their physio- 

 logical effects, also the individual peculiarities of 

 patients, is absolutely essential in the treatment 

 of whooping-cough, and none but intelligent phy- 

 sicians can possess them. Even the best medicinal 

 treatment which can be instituted will be somewhat, 

 at least, disappointing. The disease will run its 

 course, no matter what is given or done. Under 

 proper treatment the severity of the cough will be 

 considerably controlled, and the duration of it 

 may be shortened. There will also be less liability 

 of other diseases being associated. By a judicious 

 selection of remedies, also, the strength of the 

 patient will be maintained, and thus will one 

 of the dangers of whooping-cough be averted. 

 There are so many things to consider, so many 

 emergencies to be prepared for, that it is absolutely 

 impossible to mark out a line of treatment for 

 parents to follow. 



In every case of whooping-cough a physician 

 should be consulted early in the attack. He can 

 then give full instructions as to management. 

 After the first consultation, if the child does well, 

 it may not be necessary for him to call again ; but 

 every unfavorable symptom demands immediate 

 attention. A child with whooping-cough should 

 be well nourished, and food nutritious in character 



and sufficient in quantity should be urged upon it. 

 It must be remembered that mental disturbance 

 and physical exertion excite paroxysms : therefore 

 to protect a child as much as possible against all 

 such causes is of great importance. As one writer 

 says, "The children should be commanded to eat 

 slowly and quietly; they should not run nor be- 

 come heated, and are to be spared all mental dis- 

 turbances as far as possible. As the witnessing of 

 a paroxysm will also immediately induce one in a 

 child suffering from whooping-cough, it is there- 

 fore advantageous to separate such children when- 

 ever it is possible. During a fit of coughing, 

 the child's head, as he bends forward, may be 

 supported by the hand. In some cases putting 

 the finger back into the mouth will induce vom- 

 iting, and so shorten the paroxysm. Aside from 

 this, there is very little that the mother can do to 

 assist the patient during his distressing attack. — 

 Boston Journal of Health. 



MEDICAL MEMORANDA. 



The British Medical Association has twelve 

 thousand members, and a balance-sheet in its favor 

 of over #158,000. 



Fatal Seasickness. — It is not often that 

 seasickness proves fatal, and yet that it may do so 

 under aggravated circumstances can easily be 

 imagined. Such an instance recently occurred on 

 the steamer " Dunara Castle," on the trip from 

 Tiree to the Clyde. The patient was a girl aged 

 eight years, in whom the seasickness terminated 

 in a convulsion which proved fatal. 



Poisoning by Bismuth. — The British Medical 

 Journal says a case recently occurred in France, in 

 which it is alleged that the application of pure 

 subnitrate of bismuth to ulcers following a burn, 

 at intervals of two days, caused sore throat, with 

 false membrane on the uvula, palate, and tonsils, 

 foul breath, vomiting, and loosening of the teeth. 



Marson's Test for Sugar in the Urine. — 

 Dissolve two grains of ferrous sulphate in about 

 a hundred and fifty minims of the urine, add five 

 grains of caustic potassa, and boil. A dai'k-green 

 precipitate forms if sugar is present, and the super- 

 natant liquid is reddish brown or black according 

 to the amount of sugar. When sugar is absent, 

 the precipitate is greenish brown in color, and the 

 liquid is colorless. 



Value of Raw Meat. — Instead of raw minced 

 beef, often recommended, scraped beef is far more 

 easily digested, as it is free from sinews, and it is 

 more palatable. It may be prepared as follows : 

 Take a piece of steak cut like a little block, scrape 

 the surface with a silver spoon until all the pulp 

 is extracted, then cut a slice off the steak, and 

 scrape the newly cut surface again. A dessert- 

 spoonful of the pulp for one meal may be given to 

 children, mixed with red-currant jelly, or spread 

 as a sandwich between bread. In the latter case 

 it requires a sprinkling of salt and some pepper. 

 Pulp thus prepared has been taken with great 

 benefit in diarrhoea and debility from any other 

 cause. The above has also been given to con- 

 sumptive patients with great advantage. 



A False Diagnosis. — When the policemen 

 of Philadelphia discover a case of hydrophobia 

 running at large, they seize the unfortunate victim 

 and bind hira with a rope to a convenient tree. 

 They then summon the patrol-wagon, and bear him 

 away to the police station. This is unquestionably 

 a judicious procedure, but it involves the necessity 

 of greater powers of diagnosis than are possessed 

 by the average cop. In the latest reported in- 

 stance in which it was resorted to, it turned out 

 that the sufferer had simply an attack of old- 

 fashioned colic. 



C{)e popular Science ^tlao^. 



PUBLISHED MONTULT BY THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS COMPANY, 



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A LIST ot the newest scientific and literary books 

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Ridge's Food continues to increase in popularity, 

 and its large sales bear witness to the esteem in which 

 it is held by those requiring a reliable and nutritious 

 artificial food, where, from sickness or other cause, 

 the coarser forms o£ nutriment cannot be properly as- 

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No form of writing instrument is better adapted 

 for every-day use than the old-fashioned lead-pencil. 

 Those manufactured by the Dixon Crucible Comtany 

 are made from the best American graphite, and are 

 superior in quality to those of European manufac- 

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The first Boyle Ice Machine was built in 1873. In 

 1877 two more were finished, and in 1883 thirty ma- 

 chines were sold, of an aggregate value of $512,000. 

 Up to 1888 one hundred and thirty-one machines were 

 built. The output of the factory is constantly increas- 

 ing, and the ice-maliing and refrigerating apparatus 

 is being sent to all parts of the coimtry. 



The preparations of the Health Food Company 

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 • 



Baltimore, Jan. 22, 1875. 

 I have the pleasure to state that I have for some 

 time past been in the habit of using Colden's Liquid 

 Beef Tonic in my private practice, and have also 

 tested its qualities in cases under my care at Mount 

 Hope Retreat. I have found it an admirable nutritive 

 tonic and stimulant; and in a great variety of cases ac- 

 companied by serious vital depression, and in tedious 

 convalescence from want of appetite and inability to 

 digest the more common articles of aliment, Colden's 

 Liquid Beef Tonic will be found the very best piep- 

 aiation used, and I therefore confidently recommend 

 it to the medical profession. 



Wm. H. Stokes, M.D., 

 Physician to Mt. Hope Retreat, near Baltimore. 

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