r gradually falls after the second day and becomes
normal in almost a week. However, the temperature varies in different
cases.

~Complications.~--Measles is not considered dangerous in itself, but
the after-effects sometimes prove fatal. This is especially the case
in broncho-pneumonia, which frequently develops during or after the
attack.

The gastro-intestinal, as well as the respiratory, tract is attacked
in measles, diarrhea being especially common. Very weak children have
been known to develop gangrenous stomatitis; paralysis and
tuberculosis[91] likewise develop in some cases as the direct result
of measles.

Thus it is demonstrated that measles is not to be lightly treated.
Even if it is not in itself fatal, the results of the disease are so
dangerous that the care of the nurse is especially necessary. The
great trouble is that so often a nurse is not in attendance and the
child suffers through ignorance of the mother.

~Dietetic Treatment.~--The dietetic treatment of measles is important.
For infants milk is the exclusive diet, the formula for bottle-fed
babies having to be weakened on account of the catarrhal condition of
the gastro-intestinal tract. For older children it is necessary to
confine the diet to fluids as long as the fever lasts, and at times
longer if the stomach gives evidence of digestional disturbances. Milk
is the chief food, with milk soups, buttermilk, and koumiss used to
vary the diet. Orangeade and lemonade may be given to allay thirst. A
return to normal diet must be made gradually, giving cereal gruels,
milk toast, and broth before the more solid articles of diet suitable
to the age of the child. When there are complications they must be
treated, as in whooping cough, according to their symptoms.

SUMMARY

~Gastro-intestinal Disturbances~ are responsible for much of the fever
manifested during infancy and childhood.

~Infectious Diseases~ are all more or less accompanied by an elevation
of temperature.

~Incipient Diseases~, especially tuberculosis and scurvy, may likewise
cause a rise of temperature. The relief of either disease or the fever
depends largely upon how quickly the conditions are discovered and the
means instituted to overcome them.

~Metabolism in Febrile Conditions~ of children, as well as of adults,
is rapidly increased, hence the energy output is greater, and for this
reason the fluid intake must be augmented in order to eliminate the
toxic substances pro