food for the germs to grow upon. It should also be kept in mind that cold in the head is the first sign of measles and of grippe. Colds are more common in the spring and fall.

Symptoms.-Colds begin with chilliness and sneezing, and, if severe, there may be also headache, fever, and pain in the back and limbs, as in grippe. The nose at first feels dry, but soon becomes more or less stopped with secretion. The catarrh may extend from the back of the nose through the Eustachian tube to the ear, causing earache, noises in the ear, and deafness (see p. 41). This unfortunate result may be averted by proper spraying of the nose, and avoidance of blowing the nose violently.

Treatment. Treatment must be begun at the first suspicion of an attack to be of much service. The bowels should be opened with calomel or other cathartic; two-fifths of a grain for an adult, half a grain for a child. Rest in bed for a day or two, after taking a hot bath and a glass of hot lemonade containing a tablespoonful or two of whisky, is the most valuable treatment. The Turkish bath is also very efficacious in cutting short colds, but involves great risk of increasing the trouble unless the patient can return home in a closed carriage directly from the bath. Of the numerous remedies which are commonly used to arrest colds in the first stages are two which possess special virtue; namely, quinine and Dover's powder, given in single dose of ten grains of each for an adult.

Both of these remedies may be taken, but while the Dover's powder is most effective it is often necessary for the patient to remain in bed twelve to eighteen hours after taking it on account of nausea and faintness which would be produced if the patient were up and moving about. Rhinitis tablets should never be used. They are generally abused, and, indeed, some fatal cases are on record in which they caused death. Drugs are of little value except in the beginning of a cold, when they are given with the hope of cutting short an attack.

The local applications of remedies to the inflamed region is of service. At the onset of the cold, Seiler's solution (conveniently made from tablets which are sold in the shops) or Dobell's solution should be sprayed from an atomizer, into the nostrils, every half hour, and, when the discharge becomes thick and copious, this is to be discarded for a spray consisting of alboline (four ounces) and camphor and menthol (each thirty grains), used in the same manner as long as the cold lasts. Containing bottles should be stood in hot water, in order that all sprays for the nostrils may be used warm.

It is well to give babies a teaspoonful of castor oil and a warm bath, and keep them in bed. If there is fever with the cold, five drops of sweet spirit of niter may be given in a teaspoonful of sweetened water every two hours. Liquid vaseline, or the alboline mixture advised for adults, may be dropped into the nostrils

with a medicine dropper more conveniently than applied by spray.

TOOTHACHE.-When there is a cavity in an aching tooth it should be cleaned of food, and a little pledget of cotton wool wrapped on a toothpick may be used to wipe the cavity dry. Then the cavity should be loosely packed, by means of a toothpick or one prong of a hairpin, with a small piece of absorbent cotton rolled between the fingers and saturated with one of the following substances, preferably the first: oil of cloves, wood creosote, or chloroform.

If wood creosote is used the cotton must be well squeezed to get rid of the excess of fluid, as it is poisonous if swallowed, and will burn the gum and mouth if allowed to overflow from the tooth.

ALVEOLAR ABSCESS (improperly called " Ulcerated Tooth ").-An " ulcerated tooth" begins as an inflammation in the socket of a tooth, and, if near its deepest part, causes great pain, owing to the fact that the pus formed can neither escape nor expand the unyielding bony wall of the socket.

This explains why an abscess near the tooth is so much more painful than a similar one of soft parts. There may be no cavity in the tooth, but the tooth is commonly dead, or its nerve is dying, and the tooth is frequently darker in color. It often happens that threatened abscess at the root of a tooth, which has been filled, can be averted by a dentist's boring down into the root of the tooth, or removing the filling. It is

not always possible to locate the troublesome tooth, from the pain, but by tapping on the various teeth in turn with a knife, or other metal instrument, special soreness will be discovered in the "ulcerated" tooth. The ulcerated tooth frequently projects beyond its fellows, and so gives pain when the jaws are brought together in biting.

Treatment. The treatment for threatened abscess near a tooth consists in painting tincture of iodine, with a camel's hair brush, upon the gum at the root of the painful tooth, and applying, every hour or so, over the same spot a toothache plaster (sold by all druggists). The gum must be wiped dry before applying the moistened toothache plaster. Water, as hot as can be borne, should be held in the mouth, and the process repeated for as long a time as possible. Then the patient should lie with the painful side of the face upon a hot-water bag or bottle. The trouble may subside under this treatment, owing to disappearance of the inflammation, or to the unnoticed escape of a small amount of pus through a minute opening in the gum. If the inflammation continues the pain becomes intense and throbbing; there is often entire loss of sleep and rest, fever, and even chills, owing to a certain degree of blood poisoning. The gum and face swell on the painful side, and the patient often suffers more than with many more serious diseases.

After several days of distress, the bony socket of the tooth gives way, and the pus makes its exit, and,

bulging out the gum, finally escapes through this also, to the immediate relief of the patient. But serious results sometimes follow letting nature alone in such a case, as the pus from an eyetooth may burrow its way into the internal parts of the upper jaw, or into the chambers of the nose, while that from a back tooth often breaks through the skin on the face, leaving an ugly scar, or, if in the lower jaw, the pus may find its way between the muscles of the neck, and not come to the surface till it escapes through the skin above the collar bone. Pulling the tooth is the most effective way of relieving the condition, the only objection being the loss of the tooth, which is to be avoided if possible.

If the pain is bearable and there are no chills and fever, the patient may save the tooth by remaining in bed with a hot-water bottle continually on the face, and taking ten drops of laudanum to relieve the pain at intervals of several hours. Then many hours of suffering may be prevented if the gum is lanced with a sharp knife (previously boiled for five minutes) as soon as the gum becomes swollen, to allow of the escape of pus. The dentist is, of course, the proper person to consult in all cases of toothache, and the means herein suggested are to be followed only when it is impossible to obtain his services.

MOUTH-BREATHING

(including Adenoids, Chronic Tonsilitis, Deviation of the Nasal Septum, Enlarged Turbinates, and Polypi).-Any obstruction