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107 [1900
other parts of the body and the limbs. The tongue is often furred, and the papillae
are large and red, the throat is red, and the rash may consist of a uniform blush, or
of a number of red spots. At a later date the skin peels, and the child cannot be
regarded as free from infection until this process is fully completed.
Diphtheria.—This affection often comes on less suddenly and severely than
scarlet fever. There is no eruption, but one or more white patches appear on the
back of the throat, on the soft palate, or on the tonsils.
Measles. - This disease makes its appearance in the same manner as a severe
cold, the child becoming ill and shivering, sneezing, and having a running from the
eyes and nose, and often a sore throat. An eruption appears later, usually after a
child has been ill three days. It consists of a number of raised red spots upon
the face, chest, and often on other parts of the body and the limbs, usually
arranged in a crescentic form. The symptoms of German measles, however, are
somewhat different, and there is an absence of the indications of a severe cold.
Small-Pox.—This illness usually begins with shivering, vomiting, headache,
pains in the limbs, and particularly in the back. After the child has been ill two
days, a pimply eruption appears on the face, chest, wrists, and often on other parts
of the body. A little later the pimples become watery, and have a depression in
their centre; later still the eruption becomes mattery, and a scab forms on each
pimple. In mild cases there may be only a few points of eruption present.
The child is not free from infection until all the scabs have been shed.
Chicken-Pox.—The child is ill for a few hours, usually twenty-four, and a
number of glistening watery pimples appear on the face, chest, and often on other
parts of the body and the limbs, The whole of the eruption does not come out at
once, but it usually appears in successive crops. The eruption scabs over in a day
or two, and the child is not free from infection until all the scabs have fallen.
Whooping-Cough.—The child has a severe cough, which comes on in
paroxysms, and it coughs until it is out of breath. After some days' illness, the
crowing noise or "whoop," which is characteristic of this disease, is heard, this
sound being produced by the child drawing in its breath at the end of a paroxysm
of coughing.
Mumps.—The child becomes ill and feverish, and at the end of a few days
complains of aching of the jaw. A swelling then appears on the side of the face,
lasting for more than a week.
Typhus Fever.—This disease is now seldom seen in London. The child
becomes ill, shivers, and complains of severe headache. After a few days, a rather
indistinct, dark, mottled eruption appears on the abdomen, and often on the wrists,
and other parts of the body.