Treatment.—This is a disease in which, on account of its different forms and the complications likely to arise, it is best to send for a physician at once. But pending his arrival give the child a warm (95° to ioo° Fahr.) bath, in which keep it for six to ten minutes. Wipe the child thoroughly dry with hot towels, then wrap a hot blanket around it, and put it to bed. The tempera ture of the room must be kept up to 65° Fahr., and the atmosphere moistened by means of a croup-kettle, which should be kept boiling over the fire or on a gas-stove. Diphtheria antitoxin will always be administered by the physician.
During the attack give to a child, one year of age, 5 drops of the wine of ipecacuanha ; two years, io drops ; three years to five years, half a teaspoonful, and repeat every fifteen minutes until vomiting sets in.
The feet should be placed in hot water with or without a handful of dry mustard. A croup-kettle or a cresoline lamp is indispensable. Both should be bought of a druggist and used according to directions. If these are not available, a quart of hot water should be used in a kettle or in a bowl, to which is added a teaspoonful of the compound tincture of benzoin (Friar's balsam), and the child should inhale the steam through a paper funnel, which can be easily constructed. Rubbing the throat with very warm vaseline is also
advisable, or the administration of half a teaspoonful of warm albolene (fluid vascline) internally.
Hot linseed poultices help to relieve both the cough and the difficulty of breathing. They should be continuously applied on the back of the neck and between the shoulders. In the earlier stages of the disease, keep the child on a low diet such as milk, barley-water, and arrom-oot. When the vitality begins to fail, and the patient is losing ground, the phy,,ichin may order that beef-tea and wine be administered freely, but this is often done too late.
In some cases it becomes necessary to perform tracheotomy to save life, and when this is imperative it is the duty of parents immediately to accept the surgeon's advice. The operation is commonly simple and safe, and not attended with much loss of blood. The surgeon merely makes an artificial breathing hole in the child's windpipe, and introduces a tube through which it may get air. The hole closes again when the child recovers.