In children who are too young to express their sufferings by words, the violence of their cries, coupled with the absence of any sign of disease in the chest or the bowels, naturally leads to the suspicion of something being wrong in the head. There are several facts, however, which may satisfy you that the case is not one of water on the brain--the child does not vomit, its bowels are not constipated, there is but little fever, the cries are loud and passionate, and are attended with shedding tears. If you watch closely, you will notice the dread of movement and the evident relief afforded by resting one side of the head, and always the same side, while often the movement of the hand to the head, and the redness of the ear, with the swelling at its entrance, will all serve to point to that organ as the source of the trouble. Sometimes, when in doubt, you will be able to satisfy yourselves that the cause of the suffering is in the ear by pressing the gristle of the organ slightly inwards, which will produce very evident pain on the affected side, while on the other side it will not occasion any suffering. The treatment of this painful affection is very simple. In many instances the suffering is greatly relieved by warm fomentations, or by applying to the ear a poultice of hot bran or camomile flowers, while at the same time a little warm oil and laudanum are dropped into the ear. When these means do not bring relief, a leech applied on the bone directly behind the ear seldom fails to give ease; while the disposition to the frequent return of the attack is often controlled by a series of small blisters, not larger than a sixpence, behind the ear. As soon as the tendency has sufficiently abated to admit of it, the ear should be syringed out twice a day with warm water, or with equal parts of warm water and Goulard lotion; but if pain or discharge still continues, medical advice must in all cases be sought for. =Chronic Water on the Brain.=--There is still another form of inflammation of the brain, concerning which a few words will suffice. It constitutes what is termed _chronic water on the brain_, and in this instance the term is a correct one, for the disease usually depends on a slow form of inflammation of the lining membrane of the cavities of the brain, often beginning before, still oftener very soon after, birth, which ends in the pouring out of a quantity of fluid into them sufficient to enlarge the head to three or four times its natural dimensions. Such cases are very sad and very hopeless, and the great resource, which is sometimes adopted by medical men, of puncturing the head and letting out the fluid, is very seldom successful.