d, or in inflammation
on the other. Either of these terminations, however, is so rare in the
previous healthy child, that I shall confine my remarks entirely to
congestion of the brain, an affection specially liable to occur in
children during teething. A certain degree of feverishness almost always
accompanies teething. It is, therefore, not difficult to understand how,
when the circulation is in a state of permanent excitement, a very
slight cause may suffice to overturn its equilibrium, and occasion a
greater flow of blood to the brain than the organ is able to bear.
Congestion of the brain, however, is not by any means limited to this
season, but may occur at other times without any obvious exciting cause,
and with no other explanation than is furnished by the well-known fact
that all periods of development such as childhood, are periods during
which the growing organs are most apt to become disordered.

In the great majority of cases the symptoms of congestion of the brain
come on slowly; and for the most part, general uneasiness, or disordered
state of the bowels, which are usually, though not invariably
constipated, and feverishness precede for a few days the more serious
attack. The head by degrees becomes hot, the child grows restless and
fretful, and seems distressed by light, or noise, or sudden motion, and
children who are old enough sometimes complain of their head. Usually
too, vomiting occurs repeatedly; a symptom of the greatest importance,
since it may exist before there is any well-marked sign of head
affection. Causeless frequently repeated vomiting in a child not ill but
ailing, is nine times out of ten a sign of mischief in the head. The
degree of fever which attends this condition varies much, and its
returns are irregular; but any one who knows how to feel the pulse will
find it permanently quickened, and if the head is unclosed the
pulsations of the brain may be seen and felt distinctly. The sleep is
disturbed, the child often waking with a start, while there is
occasional twitching of the muscles of its face, or of the tendons of
its wrist.

The child may continue in this condition for many days and then recover
its health without any medical interference. This is especially likely
to be the case with children while teething, the fever subsiding, the
head growing cool, and the little one appearing quite well so soon as
the tooth has cut through the gum, but the approach of each tooth to the
su