Treatment.--The patient should be kept in the house and isolated in bed as long as the symptoms last. When there is much pain, laudanum diluted one-third with water may be applied continually with a soft warm cloth. Oil of hyoscyamus applied twice daily to the sore parts is good if laudanum is not used. When the swelling goes down I know of nothing as good as a hot bean poultice, which must be changed often so as to keep hot. Bean poultice.--Simply boil the beans in water until they are soft and thick enough to use as a poultice. The bowels should be kept open with salts. The food must be liquid, such as milk, soups and gruels. If there is not much fever, soft boiled eggs and milk toast from the beginning. Do not use vinegar, acids or astringents. [INFECTIOUS DISEASES 181] WHOOPING-COUGH (Pertussis).--Whooping cough is an acute specific infectious, disease caused by a micro-organism. It is characterized in a majority of cases by a spasmodic cough, accompanied by a so-called whoop. It is not only infectious, but very contagious. It is propagated through the atmosphere in schools and public places; the air of which is contaminated with the specific agent of the disease. This agent is thought to reside in the sputum and the secretions of the nose and air passages of the patient. It is very contagious at the height of the attack. The sputum of the first or catarrhal stage is thought to be highly contagious. The sputum in the stage of decline is also thought to be capable of carrying the disease. It prevails in all countries and climates. During the winter and spring months it is most frequent. At times it prevails as an epidemic. It occurs most frequently in infancy and childhood, but a person can take it at any age. Second attacks are rare. It is most frequent between the first and second year; next most frequent between the sixth and twelfth month. After the fifth year the frequency diminishes up to the tenth year, after which the disease is very infrequent. Not everyone who is exposed contracts the disease. It seems that whooping-cough, measles, and influenza frequently follow one another in epidemic form. This is one of the diseases much dreaded by parents. It is very tedious and endangers the life of weak and young children by exhaustion. It is a terrible thing to watch one with this disease, day in and day out. It can be known by the impetuous, continuous and frequent coughing spells, following each other rapidly until the patient is out of breath, with a tendency to end in vomiting. When it comes in the fall or winter months there will likely be spasmodic coughing until summer through the usual colds contracted. Summer is the best time to have it. Symptoms.--There is an incubation stage, but it is hard to determine its length. After the appearance of the symptoms there are three stages; the catarrhal, the spasmodic, and the stage of decline.