As regards the doses of these agents required in acute rheumatic arthritis, practitioners are not agreed; Maclagan, Stricker, Fagge, Broadbent, Ringer, Flint, Sée, recommend large doses at short intervals at the outset, with the view of getting the patient rapidly under the influence of the drug. Maclagan gives salicine scruple i-ij at first hourly, then every two hours {59} as the acute symptoms begin to decline; after the second day he allows 20 to 30 grs. every four hours for two or three days; "and for a week or ten days more that quantity should be taken three times a day." Stricker, Fagge, Broadbent, and Sée recommend about 20 to 30 grs. of salicylate of sodium every hour or two for six doses (= drachm ij-iij in the day), and Ringer would employ 10 grs. hourly, and if in twenty-four hours this dose has not either modified the disease or produced its characteristic symptoms, he would increase it to 15 and then to 20 grains hourly. On the other hand, Owen's[180] results show practically no difference in the duration of pain and pyrexia and in the average duration of illness from the commencement, whether drachm iij or drachm ij or drachm iss were given every twenty-four hours; and C. G. Young[181] found that 10 to 15 grs. every one, two, or three hours are sufficient. [Footnote 180: _Lancet_, ii., 1881.] [Footnote 181: _Dub. Journ. Med. Sci._, Sept., 1880, 193.] Indeed, exceptionally good and exceptionally indifferent results are reported under similar doses. No such good results are reported as those of the Boston City Hospital under doses of drachm ij to drachm iv per diem, the average residence in hospital being only eighteen days if four cases which became chronic are excluded, or 21.9 days if they are included. The plan in vogue at our hospital here and in my own private practice is to give about 15 grains every two or three hours, according to the severity of the case and until the articular pain and pyrexia are relieved. After the pain and pyrexia have yielded, the remedy should be continued in smaller doses, say 10 to 15 grs., three or four times a day, according to the severity of the case, for eight to ten days longer, to prevent relapse, and during this period exposure, exercise, and dietetic excesses must be carefully guarded against.