ying to stand or to walk; it
uses its hands clumsily, and has difficulty in speaking. The movements of
the hands are peculiar, the hands move like in chorea, the speech is slow
and drawling.

Recovery.--Very doubtful, but they may last for years.

[NERVOUS DISEASES 307]

INFANTILE PARALYSIS. (Acute Anterior Polio Myelitis).--This is an acute
disease occurring almost exclusively in young children with paralysis,
followed by rapid dwindling of the muscles of the parts affected by the
paralysis.

Causes.--Found in children under three years old. It is more common in
summer than in winter. It often follows scarlet fever, measles, and
diphtheria.

Symptoms.--The onset is usually sudden; often the child is put to bed at
night seemingly well and in the morning is found paralyzed in one or more
limbs. High fever or chills, general feeling of illness, pain all over the
body, decided brain symptoms, like delirium or convulsions and
intermittent contractions of the muscles may usher in the disease. These
forerunning symptoms may last a short time or for several weeks, after
which the paralysis is noticed, being extensive as a rule, and affecting
one, two, or all of the extremities and sometimes the muscles of the
trunk. This general paralysis soon disappears being left permanently in
only one extremity, chiefly in one leg. The other symptoms disappear. The
paralyzed part atrophies (wastes) rapidly. The disease is very rare in
adults. If the paralysis does not show a decided change within the first
few months, full recovery is doubtful.

Treatment.--During the acute stage there must be absolute quiet and rest
with a diet that is not stimulating, one that is easily digested; ice to
the head or cold cloths, counter-irritation to the spine; electricity
should be used after a few weeks. There is quite a good deal of this
paralysis, and the case should receive careful attention from the start.

TASTE.--Taste-Buds.--There are three kinds of papillae or eminences on the
human tongue,--the circumvallate, the fungiform and the filiform. The
circumvallate are from seven to twelve in number and lie near the root of
the tongue, arranged in the form of a V, with its open angle turned
forward. Each one is an elevation of the mucous membrane, covered by
epithelium and surrounded by a trench. On the sides of the papillae,
embedded in the epithelium, are small oval bodies called taste-buds. These
taste-buds consist of a sheath of flatte