TREATMENT.--Antiphlogistic treatment of every sort has been recommended against this dread disease. Its frequently rapid course usually necessitates primarily topical measures. Even fifty years ago, when bleeding and tartar emetic were in vogue, Ryland entirely discountenanced these, and said: "Our chief reliance must be placed on the local detraction of blood by means of a large number of leeches applied in the vicinity of the larynx; on the use of blisters, which should never be put on the front of the neck, as their operation will interfere with the subsequent performance of tracheotomy should such a step be necessary, but on the back of the neck or the upper part of the chest; and on the internal administration of large doses of calomel, which, either by their purgative effect or by their specific action on the general system, tend to check the inflammation in the glottis and to promote the absorption of the effused fluids. These remedies can only be of use during the early stages of the disease, and experience shows but too plainly that even then we have far more reason to anticipate failure than success." Many years ago it was proposed to catheterize the trachea for the purpose of allowing air to reach the lungs in this and other diseases in which the larynx is obstructed; and more recently Hack has shown the great benefit of using, under sight by means of the laryngoscopic mirror, Schrötter's dilating hard-rubber tubes in acute as well as chronic laryngeal oedema. According to him, they do good not only symptomatically, but also curatively.