se tends much to assist the
convalescence; but, if given unadvisedly, there will be great hazard of
exciting internal inflammatory disease.

Relapses are sometimes caused by the child getting about too soon, and
by indulgence of the appetite, particularly for food: a proper degree
of restraint, therefore, must be placed upon the child by the parent,
who cannot too strictly carry out the directions of the medical
attendant upon the diet and regimen during this period.

Great attention must still be paid to the state of the bowels, and,
indeed, to all the secretions and excretions.

PEELING OFF OF THE CUTICLE, AND FALLING OFF OF THE HAIR.--To promote
the more easy separation of the cuticle from the surface of the body, a
warm or tepid bath may be usefully employed at the close of the
disease. It will, moreover, greatly contribute to the comfort of the
child, and induce a more healthy condition of the skin. Occasionally
the cuticle of the whole hand and fingers will peel off unbroken, when
it will resemble precisely a glove in shape.

As is the case in all fevers, more or less, so particularly after
scarlet fever, there is a great tendency to the falling off of the
hair. It will be always well, therefore, to shave the head at this
time, and exhibit daily a tepid shower bath, as early as the strength
of the child will permit.

CAUTIONS, ETC.--The contagious character of this disease requires the
separation of the invalid from the rest of the family; and, when it is
practicable, the children should be removed to a distance. This measure
is imperatively called for, when the form of the disease is very severe
in its character.

Great caution must also be exercised, after the convalescence of the
patient, that the other children are not brought into too early contact
with him: for infection may be thus produced, though several weeks may
have elapsed from the period of the peeling off of the skin.

The period at which the disease shows itself after the exposure of an
individual to sources of contagion, is exceedingly various. One child
will be seized within a few hours; another, not for some days; and now
and then (though rarely), five or six weeks have intervened between the
period of exposure and the manifestation of the disease.

When this disease is rife in a family, it will frequently affect the
individuals composing it very differently. Some escape altogether;--
others have the mild form of the complaint;--oth