Diphtheria is a disease of children, but it also can be fatal to adults and to children old enough to receive the last Sacraments. It is caused by the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, and it most frequently attacks the throat and nostrils. It can start in a cut in the skin, or on any mucous surface, as the inside of the eyelid. The contagion is not in the breath, but it can be coughed out. It is in the saliva of the patient and it gets on his hands and on what he and the nurse touch. It is not nearly so infectious as smallpox and scarlet fever. In visiting such a patient the priest should be careful not to touch anything in the room, and he should wash his hands in the bichloride solution after a visit. He must also wet the soles of his shoes with the solution. He should be very careful lest a child suddenly cough fine sputum containing the bacillus into his eyes. Diphtheria in the eyes would destroy sight, and I have seen a pair of spectacles save a man in a case like that. A detailed description of the disinfection in diphtheria is given in the chapter on Infectious Diseases in Schools. Glanders is sometimes transmitted from beasts to man, and it is almost always fatal in the human subject. The disease is caused by the glanders bacillus. Horses, asses, dogs, cats, goats, and sheep are susceptible to the disease; pigs are somewhat susceptible; cattle and birds are immune. The infection is in the discharge from the nose of the patient and on the skin eruptions. The same precautions are to be taken as are needed in a diphtheria case. Influenza, called popularly the grippe, is caused by the bacillus influenzae, which was isolated by Pfeiffer in 1891. The bacillus is found in the nasal secretions and in sputum; it dies in from twelve to twenty-four hours when dried. The disease is contagious, and it is often fatal in alcoholics, the overworked and harassed, and in those that have chronic diseases. In any case it is a serious malady. Disinfect the hands after visiting a case. Dengue becomes epidemic at times, especially in the Southern States. The disease is very severe, painful, and depressant, but the mortality is quite low except in complication with other maladies. Its cause is not known. It is {182} very contagious and has symptoms which belong to the class of disease in which are scarlatina and measles. The priest should act as in a case of scarlatina. There is a form of pneumonia which spreads so widely and rapidly that it is called epidemic pneumonia. In visiting patients afflicted with this disease the priest should act as in a diphtheria case. Epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis is a very fatal disease at times in America. Even those patients that survive are frequently made blind or deaf, or are left injured otherwise. The malignant type is nearly always fatal. In some epidemics the mortality is as high as 75 per centum. The visiting priest should act as in a case of diphtheria, although the danger of direct infection is not great.