In the case of children the same treatment may be carried out, only Morphia or Opiates should not he given. Young patients will, however, bear almost as large a dose of Antimony and Ipecac. as an adult. For a child two years old the following may be given in teaspoonful doses every 2 hours: • R . Virzi _4 ntim. 5ij Vini I pecac. 3ij.
Aqua' .4 inmon. Acet. 5iv. Sir. Tolu.
Aqua ad .11isce.
A previous hot bath assists the action of the expectorant; a smart purge is of use, and in gouty subjects affords marked relief. _1 teaspoonful of Rochelle Salt, preceded by i or 2 grs. of Grey Powder for children. and for adults a 5-gr. Blue Pill. followed by a wineglassful of Rubinat Water, may be given.
The dry, harassing cough under this treatment gives place to a moist, easy, and loose expectoration, after which the Antimony may be dis continued, and the following administered in teaspoonful doses after meals: Pot. Iodidi, r dr.; Vini Ipecac., 3 drs.; Spt. Chlorof., drs.; Inf. Senege ad 4 oz.; misce. Or, Ammon. Carb.. I dr.; Spt. Ammon. _from.. 4 drs. Aqux Chlorof. ad 6 oz.; misce. A tablespoonful, with water, every four hours.
Carbonate of Ammonia in full doses may also be given in the first stage of the affection with advantage. if there be any indication for a stimulant. Should the cough appear to be out of proportion to the amount of expectoration present, it can be allayed with anodynes. but no greater mistake can be made by the physician than simply to order Morphia or Chloral to quiet cough when the tubes are filled with secretion. In young and also in aged patients this practice may be followed by fatal results. It checks the expectoration, and renders it more tenacious; at the same time the sensitiveness of the mucous surface and of the respiratory centre being diminished, the cough does not occur, and the secretion gathers in the tubes.
Murrell gave 5 gr. doses of Terpene Hydrate in combination with Tar
Syrup and flavouring ingredients, and Ringer advocated Tincture of Belladonna in io min. doses.
If these measures fail and the accumulation of mucus in the smaller divisions threatens asphyxia, an emetic dose of Carbonate of Ammonia may be given, and Strychnine hypodermically will be indicated with Alcoholic stimulation; Oxygen inhalations may be resorted to. The prominence of suffocation symptoms will probably be due to extension of the catarrhal inflammation to the finest ramifications of the bronchial tree, when the treatment indicated for the capillary type of the disease must be promptly instituted. Galli-Valerio has shown the great efficacy of Arsenic and Salyarsan in the acute spirochete bronchitis of the East.
The preventive treatment of acute catarrhs is an important matter; perhaps quite as much mischief is done by the coddling system as by the craze of " hardening " children by indiscriminate cold bathing and in discreet exposure in all weathers. The medical adviser should strike the happy mean and insist upon a rational amount of warm clothing and an abundant supply of pure air. The dread of " draughts " is the most serious difficulty to contend against, as may be continually witnessed by those who travel much in crowded public conveyances where many timid individuals insist upon tightly closed windows, and are ignorantly happy and content in breathing a vitiated atmosphere laden with the microbes which inevitably produce catarrh of the nasopharynx and bronchi. In very susceptible individualS the use of the Combined Vaccine for colds every 3 or 6 months is a most effective preventive, and when injected at the commencement of an attack often speedily causes its abortion or modifies its intensity considerably. Doses of 3 million ill. Catarrhalis have been given.