If the fontanelles are tense when the doctor arrives, a spinal puncture may relieve the tension. A specimen of the blood is drawn through a needle and sent to the laboratory for examination. The cause must be found, if possible, and removed. A change of food may be all that is required. Cod-liver oil may be added to the diet in dram doses, three times a day, and milk curds, suspended in arrow-root water. For the acute condition, chloral hydrate is best. It is given by rectum, one or two grains in an ounce of water, and may be repeated in four hours. =Atelectasis= is the name given to a failure of the lungs wholly to expand during the efforts at respiration. The child may live for weeks with this affection, but usually it expires within a few days. In this condition, the child has a constant tendency to get blue, the color deepens, and death may occur in spite of every aid. The treatment may be permanently efficacious in some cases, but in most, the revival is only temporary. Again, the child may live, but in a weakly, declining state for days, until death comes. Aside from the physical signs of dullness elicited by percussion over the lungs, the most conspicuous _symptoms_ are the cyanosis and the intermittent but persistent whining cry. [Illustration: Fig. 121.—Method of giving gavage. (Grulee.)] _Treatment_ is by daily or hourly spanking, and by alternating hot and cold baths, by sprinkling with cold water or by massage to stimulate the skin reflexes. The treatment may have to be repeated every twenty or thirty minutes, and the earlier it is instituted, the more persistently carried out, the _more chance of success_. =Exercise= is just as important to the infant as to the adult. The kicking of the legs, moving of the arms and lusty cry are all means of stimulating the circulation, the muscular development, and the expansion of the lungs. The position should be changed occasionally in the crib from back to side and from side to back. Also the child’s legs and back should be rubbed and massaged until the skin is red every time the bath is given. =Flushings.=—The child is laid across the lap, or on a table. A rubber sheet is so arranged that the discharge will drain away. A soft rubber catheter, No. 18–20 French scale, is attached to a small funnel. The apparatus is boiled and filled with normal saline, or sterile water, at a temperature of 85° F. to 95° F. Half a pint to a pint may be required. The catheter is oiled and passed into the rectum just beyond the sphincter. It must not go farther. The funnel is then raised and the fluid flows into the bowel. This flushing must not be confused with the administration of an enema for constipation, for which, however, it is often an excellent substitute.