DIPHTHERIA.
This disease is usually ushered in by complete lassitude or loss of strength. The patient appears to lose intelligence, has no disposition to fret or laugh, the nervous powers seem to be blunted, with complete loss of appetite.
The chances of recovery are more favorable when the disease is rightly understood in the onset. This can seldom be the case, especially among the indigent, for in those instances the true nature of the complaint is overlooked, till it is too late to change the course of the malady.
Treatment.—Medicines and external baths tending to reduce and brighten the blood, are of great importance. Of the medicines, bromide of potassium, given in from three to four grain doses, or two drachms dissolved in four ounces of water, given by tablespoonful doses three or four times a day for an adult. If the body is kept wrapped in a wet blanket, and changed every twenty-four hours, having it warm when first applied, it will greatly assist the recovery. Every means possible should be employed to keep the throat open. As this dreadful disease appears to arise from cold, irritation, and poisons in the blood, affecting the whole system, it may be a question if whiskey and such stimulants are beneficial in the first stage. Stimulants may be employed throughout the disease externally with great satisfaction, alternating with water baths, for if they are going to revive the powers at all, they will do so more readily and permanently by absorption from without.
As yet the treatment of diphtheria appears to be undecided by the medical faculty; an ailment must be well understood to insure decided treatment.