=CROUP.=--Croup is an acute laryngitis of childhood, usually occurring between the ages of two and six years. The nervous element is more marked than in adults, so that the symptoms appear more alarming. The trouble frequently arises as part of a cold, or as a forerunner of a cold, and often is heralded by some hoarseness during the day, increasing toward night. The child may then be slightly feverish (temperature not over 102 deg. F., usually). The child goes to bed and to sleep, but awakens, generally between 9 and 12 P.M., with a hard, harsh, barking cough (croupy cough) and difficulty in breathing. The breathing is noisy, and when the air is drawn into the chest there is often a crowing or whistling sound produced from obstruction in the throat, due to spasm of the muscles and to dried mucus coating the lining membrane, or to swelling in the larynx. It is impossible to separate these causes. The child is frightened, as well as his parents, and cries and struggles, which only aggravates the trouble. The worst part of the attack is, commonly, soon over, so that as a rule the doctor arrives after it is past. While it does last, however, the household is more alarmed than, perhaps, by any other common ailment. Death from an attack of croup, pure and simple, has probably never occurred. The condition described may continue in a less urgent form for two or three hours, and very rarely reappears on following nights or days. The child falls asleep and awakens next morning with evidences of a cold and cough, which may last several days or a week or two. The only other disease with which croup is likely to be confused is membranous croup (diphtheria of the larynx), and in the latter disorder the trouble comes on slowly, with hoarseness for two or three days and gradually increasing fever (103 deg. to 105 deg. F.) and great restlessness and difficulty in breathing, not shortly relieved by treatment, as in simple croup. In fifty per cent of the cases of membranous croup it is possible to see a white, membranous deposit on the upper part of the throat by holding the tongue down with a spoon handle and inspecting the parts with a good light. Croup is more likely to occur in children suffering from adenoids, enlarged tonsils, indigestion, and decayed teeth, and is favored by dry, furnace heat, by exposure to cold, and by screaming and shouting out of doors.