disease, will
blaze up into a fatal bronchitis or pneumonia.

The rash takes about two or three days to get out, then it begins to
fade and the skin to peel off in tiny, branny scales, so small and thin
as to be almost invisible--unlike the huge flakes of scarlet fever. At
the same time all the other symptoms recede.

But, as in scarlet fever, all cases should be treated alike, by rest,
sponging and packing for the fever, light diet with plenty of milk and
fruit, and confinement to the room for at least ten days after the
disappearance of the fever. The very mildest and most insignificant of
attacks may be followed, through carelessness or exposure, by a fatal
bronchitis. Indeed, in view of the distressing frequency with which our
histories of tuberculosis in children contain the words, "Came on after
measles," it is highly advisable to watch carefully every child as
regards abundant feeding, avoidance of overwork or overstrain, and of
all unnecessary exposure to infection, wind, or wet, for two months
after an attack of measles instead of the customary two weeks. As the
disease is acutely infectious, the little victim should be isolated for
at least three weeks after the disappearance of the fever; but this
again, as in the case of scarlet fever, is emphatically a blessing in
disguise from his point of view, as well as a protection to the rest of
the community.

Should the "little fever" prove to be whooping-cough, it will be later
still in positively declaring its definite intentions. The cold or
catarrhal stage will be much milder, the fever lower, the cough a trifle
more marked, but will drag on for from a week to ten days before
anything definite happens. Usually the child is supposed to be suffering
with a slight cold, hence the prevailing impression that colds run into
whooping-cough, if neglected. Then one day the child is suddenly seized
with a coughing fit, consisting of from ten to fifteen short coughs in
rapid succession of increasing intensity, until all the air seems
literally pumped out of the lungs of the poor little patient; then, with
a tremendous whoop, the youngster gets his breath again and the
diagnosis is made. This distressing performance may occur only four or
five times a day, or it may be repeated every half-hour or so. So
violent is the paroxysm that the eyes of the child protrude, it becomes
literally black in the face, and runs to its mother or nurse, or
clutches a chair, to keep from f