and
damp air, but keep in the open air as much as possible. A strong tea made
of the tops of red clover is highly recommended. A strong tea made of
chestnut leaves, sweetened with sugar, is also very good.

1 teaspoonful of powdered alum.
1 teaspoonful of syrup.

Mix in a tumbler of water, and give the child one teaspoonful every two or
three hours. A kerosene lamp kept burning in the bed chamber at night is
said to lessen the cough and shorten the course of the disease.

_MUMPS._

DEFINITION.--This is a contagious disease causing the inflammation of the
salivary glands, and is generally a disease of childhood and youth.

SYMPTOMS.--A slight fever, stiffness of the neck and lower jaw, swelling
and soreness of the gland. It usually develops in four or five days and
then begins to disappear.

HOME TREATMENT.--Apply to the swelling a hot poultice of cornmeal and bread
and milk. A hop poultice is also excellent. Take a good dose of physic and
rest carefully. A warm general bath, or mustard foot bath, is very good.
Avoid exposure or cold drafts. If a bad cold is taken, serious results may
follow.

_MEASLES._

DEFINITION.--It is an eruptive, contagious disease, preceded by cough and
other catarrhal symptoms for about four or five days. The eruption comes
rapidly in small red spots, which are slightly raised.

SYMPTOMS.--A feeling of weakness, loss of appetite, some fever, cold in the
head, frequent sneezing, watery eyes, dry cough and a hot skin. The disease
takes effect nine or ten days after exposure. {335}

HOME TREATMENT.--Measles is not a dangerous disease in the child, but in an
adult it is often very serious. In childhood very little medicine is
necessary, but exposure must be carefully avoided, and the patient kept in
bed, in a moderately warm room. The diet should be light and nourishing.
Keep the room dark. If the eruption does not come out promptly, apply hot
baths.

COMMON TREATMENT.--Two teaspoonfuls of spirits of nitre, one teaspoonful
paregoric, one wineglassful of camphor water. Mix thoroughly, and give a
teaspoonful in half a tea-cupful of water every two hours. To relieve the
cough, if troublesome, flax seed tea, or infusion of slippery-elm bark,
with a little lemon juice to render more palatable, will be of benefit.

_CHICKEN POX._

DEFINITION.--This is a contagious, eruptive disease, which resembles to
some extent small-pox. The pointed vesicles or pimples have a depression in
the cent