Catarrh is a name that properly applies to all inflammations or any part of the mucous membrane, such as catarrh of the stomach or of the bladder, but by common usage, unless qualified by another word, has come to mean a chronic inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane. It is a very troublesome disease, and is often very difficult to treat. Patients are frequently seen who have suffered from the disease for years. The inflammation is apt to extend through the eustachian tube to the ears, and sometimes with not only the effect to impair the hearing, but to quite destroy it. The odor is, in bad cases, most penetrating, rendering the patient very offensive to his associates.

Treatment

In the beginning the most effective treatment is that recommended for coryza. Later, tonics should be given. Quinine in two-grain doses, three times a day; laudanum in small doses and iodide of potassium in five-grain doses three times a day. In the beginning powders and solutions snuffed up the nose usually do harm, and it is a question whether they ever do good in any stage. The most effective treatment for a chronic case is, perhaps, a change of climate. Some excellent cures have been known to result from a residence in Northern Wisconsin, or in the region of Lake Superior.