By the time a mammary abscess has been fairly opened, the strength of the patient is considerably lowered, not only from the quantity of discharge, but also from the nature of the previous symptoms and treatment; her food should now be more nutritious, she should take a little wine or porter; and if the appetite be delicate, two pills, consisting of equal parts of Extr. Gentianæ and Extr. Hyoscyami should be given night and morning; she will thus be enabled to sleep better, and the general irritability arising from her state of weakness will be relieved. If, however, the appetite fail entirely, and she has a pale flabby tongue, or if it is brown and dry in the centre; if the bowels are deranged, and she has a disposition to profuse perspiration, with much pain in the front or summit of the head, and other signs of debility, the Hydr. c. Cretâ and Dover's powder should be given at night followed by a rhubarb and manna draught the next morning, and if these have acted sufficiently, she may be put upon the use of quinine and sulphuric acid with Tinct. of Hyoscyamus two or three times during the day. _Excoriated nipples._ When the nipples are merely excoriated, or there are fissures in them, they should be bathed with tepid Lotio Plumbi or a solution of Zinci Sulph. in rose water, which must be carefully washed off before applying the child to them. If they are too tender to permit being drawn by the child, they should be covered by the shield, to which is attached a cow's udder or some form of artificial nipple, through which the child can draw the milk without pain to the mother; the udder should be kept very clean, and there should be one or two spare ones soaking in water, in order that they may be changed from time to time. Excoriation of the nipples frequently arise from the extreme thinness of the skin which covers them, and from their unnatural softness. Whatever renders the nipples soft and tender, makes the operation of sucking difficult, because the child can draw them out too easily: we should rather be careful to have them firm, and less sensitive of irritation, just as they would be if they had not always been covered by the dress from the earliest childhood, and thus rendered perfectly unfit to perform the office designed them by nature. The best means of attaining this end is to expose them frequently to the air during the latter months of pregnancy, and by dabbing them occasionally with cold water mixed with a little lavender water or eau de Cologne. (_Boer._)[75]