lly dependent upon the entrance of
germs, associated with indigestion or general weakness following some
fever or other disease. Unclean nipples of the mother or of the
bottle, or unclean bottles, allow entrance of germs, and are frequent
causes. Irritation of a sharp tooth, or from rubbing the gum, or from
too vigorous cleansing of the mouth, may start the disease. Some
chemicals, especially mercury improperly prescribed, produce the
disease. The germs may gain admission in impure milk in some cases.
Inflammation of the mouth is essentially a children's disease, only
the ulcerated form being common in adults.

=Symptoms.=--In general, the mouth is hot, very red, dry, and tender;
the child is fretful and has difficulty in nursing, often dropping the
nipple and crying; the tongue is coated, and there may be fever and
symptoms of indigestion, as vomiting; sometimes the disease occurs
during the course of fevers; later in the course of the disorder the
saliva often runs freely from the mouth.

=Simple Form.=--In this there are only redness, swelling, and
tenderness of the inside of the mouth. The tongue is at first dry and
white, but the white coating comes off, leaving it red in patches.
After a while the saliva becomes profuse. The treatment consists in
washing the mouth often in ice water containing about one-half drachm
of boric acid to four ounces of water by means of cotton tied on a
stick, and holding lumps of ice in the mouth wrapped in the corner of
a handkerchief. It is well also to give a teaspoonful of castor oil.

=Aphthous Form.=--In this there are yellow-white spots, resulting in
little shallow depressions or ulcers, on the inside of the cheeks and
lips, and on the tongue and roof of the mouth. These occur in crops
and last from ten to fourteen days. The disease is often preceded by
vomiting, constipation, and fever, with pain in the mouth and throat,
and is accompanied by lumps or swelling of the glands under the jaw
and in the neck. The treatment consists in the use of castor oil, and
swabbing the mouth, several times a day, after each feeding, with
boric-acid solution, as advised before, or better with permanganate of
potash solution, using ten grains to the cup of water.

=Thrush= (_Sprue_).--This form is due to the growth of a special
fungus in the mouth, causing the appearance of white spots on the
inside of the cheeks, lips, tongue, and roof of the mouth, looking
like flakes of curdled milk, but n