DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 307 
Nave bean carried away by it. The reason for its great 
mortality is the want of intelligent and vigorous treatment at 
the first discovery of it. The symptoms by which it is 
ushered in are similar to scarlet fever; some hold that it is 
only a modification of that disease. There is a feeling of 
weariness, headache, chills, the tongue is furred, a deep 
redness at the back of the mouth, the glands of the throat are 
enlarged, the skin dry and hot, the pulse is quickened. 
The second stage is marked by the formation of a bluish 
white patch or patches on the mucous membrane of the soft 
palate, tonsils or sides and back of the throat. The third stage 
is when this false membrane degenerates into ulcers. The 
first step in the treatment, if it can be had, and the patient is 
in the first or second stage, is a full Thompsonian course. 
‘The vapour bath may be given in bed by the hot brick and 
vinegar cloth, but the emetic and injection must not be 
omitted. The course may be repeated every other day. A 
hot stimulating poultice should be prepared and applied to 
the throat , wormwood, mugwort, ragwort, an ounce of each. 
Boil the herbs in one and a half pints of water in a covered 
vessel half an hour, ring out the herbs, sprinkle a little cayenne 
over them and apply as hot as possible; renew every half 
hour by heating the liquor and dipping the poultice in it. A 
local steam bath to the throat may be prepared by boiling for 
five minutes one ounce each of ragwort, wormwood, and 
cudweed. Throw boiling hot into abowlor jug, over which place 
an inverted funnel, and let the patient inhale the steam for a 
quarter of an hour, four times a day. Keep up the perspira- 
tion by cembining diaphoretics stimulants, and diuretics. 
A good combination will be— 
FET OW vow sin bay v3 ws Od $4 ped gen One ounce. 
FL OVERO UNS jen a4» sckih dog vend pate io CIR eee 
RANG el rls steed, tore wat ee toe seeeess One ounce. 
Simmer 19 minutes in a quart of water, take off the fire, and 
Stir in diuretic powder, one ounce: cayenne, half a teaspoon- 
ful; let cool, strain through a fine cloth, and give according 
