ACUTE TONSILITIS. (Follicular Inflammation of the Tonsils). Causes.-- Authors regard this as an infectious disease. It is met with more frequently in the young; infants may take it. Some authors state it can be communicated either through the secretions or by direct contact, as in the act of kissing (Koplik). It is frequent in children from the second to the fourth year, but it is more common after than before the fourth year. Sex has no influence. In this country it is more common in the spring. The predisposing causes are exposure to wet and cold and bad hygienic surroundings. One attack renders a person more susceptible. It spreads through a family in such a way that it must be regarded as contagious. The small openings (Lacunae) of the tonsils become filled with products which form cheesy-looking masses, projecting from the openings of the (Crypts) hidden sacs. These frequently join together, the intervening tissue is usually swollen, deep red in color and sometimes a membrane forms on it in which case it may look like diphtheria. [188 MOTHERS' REMEDIES] Symptoms.--Chilly feelings or even a chill and aching pains in the back and limbs may precede the onset. The fever rises rapidly and in the young child may reach 105 degrees in the evening of the first day. The infant is restless, peevish and wakeful at night; it breathes rapidly, and there is high fever and great weakness. Nursing is difficult, not only on account of the pain in swallowing, but because in the majority of cases there is more or less inflammation of the nose. The bowels are disturbed as a result of swallowing infectious secretions from the mouth with the food. The tonsils are enlarged and studded with whitish or yellowish white points. The glands at the angle of the jaws may be enlarged. In older children the tonsils are enlarged and the crypts plugged with a creamy deposit. The surface is covered with a deposit and the pillars of the fauces, uvula and pharynx may all be inflamed. The tongue is coated, the breath is bad, the urine high colored, swallowing is painful; the pain frequently runs to the ear and the voice sounds nasal, as if one had mush in his mouth when talking. In severe cases the symptoms all increase, and the parts become very much swollen. Then the inflammation gradually subsides, and in a week, as a rule, the fever is gone and the local conditions have greatly improved. The tonsils, though, remain somewhat swollen. The weakness and general symptoms are often greater than one would suppose. The trouble may also extend to the middle ear through the eustachian tubes.