. This, and not the
use of anti-toxins, will guarantee a speedy return to normal conditions.

_Diet_: The importance of the diet in all of these diseases has been
indicated on several occasions. Its application is treated extensively
under the fever diet; exceptions to be determined by the physician.

_Dech-manna-Compositions_: The compositions to be used in case of
children's diseases will, as indicated above, consist mainly of
Plasmogen and Tonogen. Small doses of Eubiogen will be of great
advantage in promoting the general condition of the patient. These three
compositions should always be available in a family where there are
children, as their application will prove very beneficial in any case,
even before the arrival of the physician.

_Physical_: The correct application of ablutions of vinegar and water,
of partial and other packs and various baths, must be left to the
prescription of the physician, depending on the nature of the individual
case, and the effect on the patient, with the exception of the abdominal
pack. This should always be applied immediately: cold in positive, and
warm in negative diseases.

THE TONSURE OF THE TONSILS.

Though not strictly within the scope of my intention in the present
booklet, I feel that no treatise, however brief, which purports to be a
free and candid expression of the ills that child-life is heir to, could
afford to ignore the burning and much debated question of the tonsils
and their significance, present and future, to the well-being of the
child, or could deem the task accomplished without raising a warning and
protesting voice on behalf of the helpless victims, whose recurrent name
is legion, against the callous and persistent violation and destruction
of the functions of vital organs, the only shadow of justification of
which is, on the one hand, a fashionable popular delusion on the part of
parents and, on the other, interested complacency on the part of their
medical advisers, accentuated by a strong and dangerous tendency towards
operation and empiric surgery generally.

This is a strong and sweeping indictment, perhaps. Let us therefore
pause for a moment whilst we consult other sources of opinion for
confirmation or refutal.

And, in the wide range of American and English criteria, what
corroboration do we find? We find, as regards America, the venerable
Professor Alexander H. Stevens, M.D., a member of the New York College
of Physicians, writing as fol