The question of the advisability of strychnin is a constant subject for discussion. Strychnin is overused in the cases of most patients who are seriously ill. In a patient in whom we are trying to cause nervous and muscular rest, strychnin is certainly contraindicated. On the other hand, if the heart is acting sluggishly, the peripheral circulation is imperfect, and atropin is not acting well, it is advisable to give strychnin in a dose not too large and not too frequently repeated. Strychnin should be avoided, if possible, in the evening in order that the patient may sleep. Whether it should be given by the mouth or hypodermically would depend entirely on the seriousness of the condition. Once in six hours is generally often enough for strychnin to be administered unless the dose is very small. ALCOHOL It is rarely, if ever, advisable to use alcohol. In certain instances, however, especially in older patients who are accustomed to alcohol, a little whisky administered several times a day may act only for good, both as a food and as a peripheral dilator. But it must be remembered that alcohol is not a cardiac stimulant, and that a large dose will be followed by more cardiac depression. Nitroglycerin may act as well as whisky in the kind of cases mentioned. Caffein stimulation in any form is generally inadvisable during inflammation of the heart. PROGNOSIS AND CONVALESCENCE The duration of acute endocarditis varies greatly; it may be two or three weeks, or the inflammation may become subacute and last for several months. Although mild endocarditis rarely causes death of itself, it may develop into an ulcerative endocarditis, and then be serious per se. On the other hand, it may add its last quota of disability to a patient already seriously ill, and death may occur from the combination of disturbances. As soon as all acute symptoms have ceased, rheumatic or otherwise, and the temperature is normal, the amount of food should be increased; the strongly acting drugs should be stopped; the alkalies, especially, should not be given too long, and the salicylates should be given only intermittently, if at all; iron should be continued, massage should be started, and iodid should be administered, best in the form of the sodium iodid, from 0.1 to 0.2 gm. (1 1/2 to 3 grains), twice in twenty-four hours, with the belief that it does some good toward promoting the resorption of the endocardial inflammatory products and can never do any harm. Prolonged bed rest must be continued, visitors must still be proscribed, long conversations must not be allowed, and the return to active mental and physical life must be most deliberate.