pensably necessary to life,
requires the most prompt and decided treatment.

The following observations of Dr. Cheyne are so strikingly
illustrative, and so pertinent to my present purpose, that I cannot
refrain inserting them:--"In the approach of an attack of croup, which
almost always takes place in the evening, probably of a day during
which the child has been exposed to the weather, and often after
catarrhal symptoms have existed for several days, he may be observed to
be excited, in variable spirits, more ready than usual to laugh than to
cry, a little flushed, occasionally coughing, the sound of the cough
being rough, like that which attends the catarrhal stage of the
measles. More generally, however, the patient has been for some time in
bed and asleep, before the nature of the disease with which he is
threatened is apparent; then, perhaps, without waking, he gives a very
unusual cough, well known to any one who has witnessed an attack of the
croup; it rings as if the child had coughed through a brazen trumpet;
it is truly a tussis clangosa; it penetrates the walls and floor of the
apartment, and startles the experienced mother,--'Oh! I am afraid our
child is taking the croup!' She runs to the nursery, finds her child
sleeping softly, and hopes she may be mistaken. But remaining to tend
him, before long the ringing cough, a single cough, is repeated again
and again; the patient is roused, and then a new symptom is remarked;
the sound of his voice is changed; puling, and as if the throat were
swelled, it corresponds with the cough," etc.

How important that a mother should be acquainted with the above signs
of one of the most terrific complaints to which childhood is subject;
for, if she only send for medical assistance during its first stage,
the treatment will be almost invariably successful; whereas, if this
"golden opportunity" is lost, this disease will seldom yield to the
influence of measures, however wisely chosen or perseveringly employed.

SECT. III.--OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH WILL ASSIST IN THE EARLY DETECTION
OF DISEASE.

1. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEASONS IN PRODUCING PARTICULAR FORMS OF
DISORDER.--The recollection of the fact, that at the different seasons
of
the year some diseases are more prevalent than at other periods, will
greatly aid a judicious parent in the early detection of the presence
of disorder, and its kind, in her child.

Thus, in the early part of the winter, what is call