5630. Quinsy

5630.      Quinsy. Inflammation of the tonsils, or common inflammatory sore throat, commences with a slight feverish attack, with considerable pain and swelling of the tonsils, causing some difficulty in swallowing; as the attack advances these symptoms become more intense, there is headache, thirst, a painful sense of tension, and acute darting pains in the ears. The attack is generally brought on by exposure to cold, and lasts from 5 to 7 days, when it subsides naturally, or an abscess may form in the tonsil and burst, or the tonsil may remain enlarged, the inflammation subsiding.

5631. Treatment of Quinsy

5631.     Treatment of Quinsy. The patient should remain in a warm room, the diet chiefly milk and good broths, some cooling laxative and diaphoretic medicine may be given; but the greatest relief will be found in the frequent inhalation of the steam of hot water through an inhaler, or in the old-fashioned way, through the spout of a teapot. Relief will also be experienced from the following treatment: Roast 3 or 4 large onions. Peel them quickly, and beat them flat with a rolling-pin. Immediately place them in a thin muslin bag that will reach from ear to ear, and about 3 inches deep. Apply it speedily as warm as possible to the throat. Keep it on day and night, changing it when the strength of the onion appears to be exhausted, and substituting fresh ones. Flannel must be worn around the neck after the poultice is removed.

5632. Treatment of Whooping Cough

5632. Treatment of Whooping Cough. The attack generally begins as a common cold, with slight feverish symptoms. In 8 or 10 days the fever partially subsides, and the child gets attacks of convulsive coughing, accompanied by the peculiar whoop which gives the disease its name. The number of attacks varies from 1 or 2 to 10, or even 15 in the 24 hours, according to the severity of the disease. The child should be kept in a warm room. He ought to be clothed in flannel ; his diet should be light and nourishing, such as fish, milk, light puddings, and new-laid eggs. The following prescription is strongly recommended by Dr. Valentine Mott: Hydrocyanic acid, 6 drops; extract of belladonna, 2 grains; paregoric elixir, 3 drachms; syrup of balsam of tolu, 1 ounce; and water, 3 ounces. Mix. 1 tea-spoonful 3 or 4 times daily. When the severity of the disease has passed off, change of air will he found most useful; and if the child has become debilitated, tonics, with nutritious diet, should he given. This disease being very infectious, great care should be taken to prevent communication of any kind with houses where there are children who have not already had whooping-cough.

5633. Syrup for Whooping-Cough

5633.    Syrup for Whooping-Cough. Onions and garlics, sliced, of each 1 gill; stew them in 1 gill sweet oil, in a covered dish, to obtain the juices; then strain and add honey, 1 gill; paregoric and spirits of camphor, of each 1/2 ounce; bottle and cork tight for use. Dose, for a child of 2 or 3 years, 1 tea-spoonful 3 or 4 times daily, or whenever the cough is troublesome, increasing or lessening, according to age.