h and have weak digestive ability. The slightest
irregularity or error in diet will cause an attack in these children.

Symptoms.--The attack may come on suddenly or it may develop slowly.
The important constitutional symptoms are fever, prostration, and a
general nervous irritability. The child is seized with pain in the
abdomen. The pain is referred to the region around the navel. It is
sharp, colicky, and severe, causing the child to cry out and draw up its
legs in an effort to lessen its severity. The child is exceedingly
restless and acts as if it were on the verge of a dangerous illness. Gas
in the bowel is not present as a rule as frequently as it is in infants
under the same circumstances. In a few hours diarrhea sets in, the
stools may number from four to twelve or more in twenty-four hours. The
stools are acid, sour, and the odor may be very foul. They are thinner
than usual and frothy from the presence of gas.

In very young infants suffering from a sudden attack of intestinal
indigestion, the stomach, as well as the bowels, is invariably upset. If
the indigestion is the result of a slower process, the stomach does not
participate in the process. The color of the stools in infancy is yellow,
then yellowish-green, and later grass-green. Undigested food is
always present and in infants the curdled casein of the milk appears
as white specks or lumps in the movements.

The fever is high in the sudden cases and lower in the cases of gradual
onset. The prostration is more severe when the onset is sudden and in
infants may be very marked.

The termination of the disease depends upon the cause, the treatment,
and the previous health of the child. In healthy children promptly and
properly treated it may be all over in a week. In delicate, poorly
nourished children, and especially in the summer time, it may be the
beginning of trouble that may eventuate in death.

Treatment.--There is no condition in the whole realm of diseases of
childhood where the knowledge of the mother may have such important
results as this condition. The most effective time to treat these cases
of intestinal indigestion is before the physician is called. There are
few diseases in which time is so valuable, so far as final results are
concerned, as it is here. Every mother should know the significance of a
loose, green stool. She should be taught that it means danger and
consequently demands prompt treatment. The first indication is to empty,