VERATRUM has already been mentioned as a remedy in inflammation. If good extract or tincture is used it can always be relied on to reduce the force and frequency of the pulse. It is frequently applicable because in most of our diseases the force and frequency of the pulse is increased. The pulse should be counted when it is first given, and counted occasionally afterwards, and when the pulse becomes less frequent the dose must be diminished or omitted. If an overdose is given it is commonly vomited, otherwise it might be dangerous. Ordinarily half a drop every two hours of the fluid extract is sufficient, but for adults two drops may sometimes be given and repeated in an hour. We have so many maladies that are inflammatory, where the pulse is full and hard, that the indications for its use are frequent. Even in the commencement of fevers, when the pulse is full and quick—where it was formerly the practice of physicians to bleed, veratrum should be given till it has a decided effect upon the pulse. In intermittent fever the effect of this sedative upon it, given at the commencement of the fever or hot stage, is as salutary as is the effect of quinine given during the intermission. Moderate doses are not liable to do harm except to those who have become quite weak and low. A convenient way of administering it is to prepare twenty drops of the extract in twenty teaspoonfuls of water, and the dose can be easily regulated. Croup may generally be cured if veratrum is given early and in efficient doses. It is of no avail to administer it at an advanced stage when there is apnœa; the pulse becoming feeble and intermitting, the lips blue, the skin losing its heat; and when drowsiness, coma or other fatal symptoms are coming on. When cough, hoarseness, catarrh, and loss of voice are noticed in a young child, it should be narrowly watched and protected against all circumstances likely to aggravate inflammation; it should be kept in the house, and a warm, moist air should be kept in the room (about 65°), its diet should be milk or farinaceous food; the functions of the bowels and skin should be attended to; some aconite should be given; if there is a slight, ringing cough, place the patient in a warm bath for ten minutes, then confine it to bed; keep the air of the room moist by the evaporation of boiling water; give castor oil or other physic, and small doses of syrup ipecac, and spirits nitre. If the respiration becomes sonorous and difficult, the voice hoarse and gruff, the cough croupy and brassy as it is called, you have the characteristic symptoms of croup. But the peculiar breathing, making a sort of crowing sound with each inspiration, will always distinguish it, and there will always be some fever attending it. Croup sometimes commences with sore throat, and I believe that the sanguinaria powder will usually be efficacious in its cure; but prompt doses of veratrum are still more effectual.