_References to Authors._--The notices of this complaint given by authors, to which I have been enabled to refer, are few, and generally too scanty to supply much means of forming a satisfactory judgment, or a practice in which confidence can be reposed. They consist, principally, of the mere mention of an affection resembling that of which we treat; and, in some instances, it is even doubtful whether they are describing the same disease. No notice is taken of this affection in any of our common books; with the exception of the last edition of COOPER'S Surgical Dictionary,[1] and of UNDERWOOD'S work on diseases of children. It is there described under the erroneous title of _cancrum oris_. A reference is given to PEARSON'S Surgery; and the article in the Dictionary is taken exclusively from that work. As this is the only authority with which I am acquainted, that gives a tolerably full account of a disease somewhat similar to that of which we are treating, I have concluded to extract the whole passage, in the words of the author. "The canker of the mouth is a deep, foul, irregular, foetid ulcer, with jagged edges, which appears upon the inside of the lips and cheeks; and is attended with a copious flow of diseased saliva. "This disease is seldom seen in adults; but it most commonly attacks children, from the age of 18 months, to that of 6 or 7 years. When the ulceration begins at the inner part of the lip, it exhibits a deep, narrow, sulcated appearance, and quickly spreads along the inside of the cheek; which becomes hard, and tumefied externally. The gums are very frequently interested in this complaint, and, in such cases, the teeth are generally found in a loose and diseased state; matter is often found in their sockets, and abscesses sometimes burst externally through the cheek, the lip, or a little below the maxilla inferior: and it is not uncommon to see an exfoliation of the alveolar processes, or even of the greater part of the lower jaw. Among the children of poor people, where this disease is neglected or mismanaged at the beginning, a dreadful gangrene will sometimes supervene. "The remote causes that give origin to this disease are not very obvious. I think it occurs most frequently among children that live in a marshy situation; that are sustained by unwholesome food; and where a due attention to cleanliness has been wanting. The cancrum oris has been described by some writers, as a complaint very common in England and Ireland, where it is sometimes epidemical among infants. It, however, is commonly seen in other kingdoms, and prevails more especially in those houses where a great number of children are crowded together. I am not able to determine whether it is or is not contagious.