t 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.

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 teacupful 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 center in chicken-pox, and in small pox they do not.

SYMPTOMS.--Nine to seventeen days elapse after the exposure, before
symptoms appear. Slight fever, a sense of sickness, the appearance of
scattered pimples, some itching and heat. The pimples rapidly change
into little blisters, filled with a watery fluid. After five or six
days they disappear.

HOME TREATMENT.--Milk diet, and avoid all kinds of meat. Keep th