Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ADVERTISEMENTS.
MALT
WIXH
REPRESENTS THE MOST
VALUABLE COMBINATION
OF TONIC AND RESTORATIVE
KNOWN TO MEDICINE
EISNER,- MENDELSON CO., NewYork
should not be Kiveii. The neck should be packed
externally with ice bags in order to relieve the pain.
The author uses a douche of warm water which has
been rendered faintly alkaline with sodium bicarbonate
in order to diminish absoriHion of the toxines
from the fauces. The object of this procedure
is flushing and not disinfection. The patient should
lie on bis stomach with the head projecting over
the edge of the bed. the forehead supported by one
hand of the nurse. At least two pints should be
used for each irrigation. C.entle swabbing with a
solution of borax is sometimes u.seful in adults, but
the application of germicidal solutions should not
be used, and neither the spray nor the paint brush
has any legitiuiale place in the treatment of the
throat A separate nozzle should be used for each
patient. In toxic cases he discusses the use of
serum, which should be polyvalent, sterile, and not
more than six months old. From. 50 to kkj c.c.
should be given, and he has never seen any harmful
result therefrom. In septic cases, germicides
should be used in as concentrated a form as possible,
in small quantity and should be applied with a
swab. The doUche also should be constantly used
as before recommended. It is not advisable to incise
enlarged and tender cervical glands unless
definite evidence of fluctuation is obtained, so long
as the skin over them is not affected. In septic, as
distinguished from toxic cases, streptococcus serum
should be avoided, .\lcohol in Dr. Gordon's experience
is usually both unnecessary and harmful
in septic cases.—The London Practitioner.
Tbe Home Treatmenl ol Scarlet Fever.
The line of prophylaxis indicated by the pathology
of scarlet fever is for clinical purposes the same
a.s ill a series of fatal diseases such as diphtheria
measles, and whooping-cough, and of less serio
affections such as influenza, mumps, and others,
writes Wm. Ewart, of London. It is admitted that
in all of them the upper respiratory tract is the
headquarters of infection ; yet are we ever taught
that the entire stress of our efforts at disinfection
should be concentrated upon that region?
Whether we are dealing with scarlet fever or with
any of the other diseases mentioned, we should
bear in mind that cleanliness is the simplest and
most efficient of our antiseptics, and that our patient's
disease is unwashed until the entire upper
mucous tract is systematically and frequently
cleansed. The author gives as a simple and painless
method, which he has long advocated and
practiced in all these conditions, frequent instillations
of jasmin oil through the nostrils, to spread
above and behind to regions iiiacce.ssible to sprays,
douches, and gargles, to be continued from the
onset through the entire duration of the period of
observation. —British Med. Jour.
Treatment ol Severe Arlbrilis.
Schawlow, physician at one of the prominent
watering-places for rheumatism and allied joint
affections, speaks highly of the beneficial effects of
sulphur waters, in combination with massage, gymnastics,
stasis, and electricity, in the treatment of
the chronic forms. Acute articular rheumatism is
usually' cured by thirty baths, though the same
number of baths and more taken at home may
have no effect. In arthritis deformans and chronic
articular rheumatism the treatment is naturally
extended over a longer period, though the good effects
do not admit of dispute.
The third group includes chronic progressive
arthritis, a much more serious disease, which is not