nd bright light; in many cases reddish spots appear beneath the
skin, and these are usually tender on pressure. In some cases the muscles
of the neck become very stiff, and contract so that the head is drawn
backward. The temperature is somewhat irregular, but is always above
normal in the beginning, and sometimes goes very high; the pulse as a
rule is normal, or but little accelerated. After the patient remains in
this condition for a period varying from a few hours to several days, he
generally becomes unconscious, and in a comparatively short time dies. In
some cases the symptoms after starting off very violently quickly
subside, and the patient makes a comparatively rapid recovery. In other
instances the disease begins more mildly, the patient having more or less
of the usual symptoms, but not so severely as is ordinarily the case; in
such cases the patient may die, after lingering weeks or months; or may
make a protracted recovery, frequently with partial paralytic conditions
that permanently remain.

Unfortunately we possess no specific for this disease. Recently
there has come into vogue a treatment by a serum supposed to have
antitoxic power against this disease, but its exact value is, as
yet, by no means settled; it must be used early if any good is to
be expected from it. In addition to the antitoxin all that can be
done is to keep the patient quiet with anodynes, and to minister to
his comfort in every way possible. Ice applications to the head
sometimes alleviate the intense headache. As the disease is
practically an abscess around the brain and cord, perhaps the most
rational treatment would be to open up the skull and let the pus
drain away.

_Mode of Infection._--As this disease is one that is due to a specific
germ it is obvious that it cannot exist without the presence of this
organism; the malady is therefore infectious, and must necessarily be to
a certain extent contagious, notwithstanding the fact that it is
generally thought not to be so. The reason that the affection has not
been thought to be contagious may be explained by the following facts:
Recent investigation has shown that in many, if not all, instances of
this disease, the germ may be found in the nose and throat, where, as
has already been explained, it sets up a condition resembling an ordinary
cold. In all probability the infection takes place in the nasal cavity
first, and the ge