202. _When is a mother to know that a cough is not a “tooth-cough,” but one of the symptoms of Inflammation of the Lungs?_ If the child has had a shivering fit; if his skin be very hot and very dry; if his lips be parched; if there be great thirst; if his cheeks be flushed; if he be dull and heavy, wishing to be quiet in his cot or crib; if his appetite be diminished; if his tongue be furred; if his mouth be _burning_ hot and dry; if his urine be scanty and high-colored, staining the napkin or the linen; _if his breathing be short, panting, hurried, and oppressed; if there be a hard, dry cough; and if his skin be burning hot_; then there is no doubt that inflammation of the lungs has taken place. If you put your finger into the mouth of a child laboring under inflammation of the lungs, it is like putting your finger into a hot apple-pie, the heat is _so_ great. No time should be lost in sending for medical aid; indeed, the _hot, dry mouth and skin, and short hurried breathing_ would be sufficient cause for your procuring _immediate_ assistance. If inflammation of the lungs were properly treated at the _onset_, a child would scarcely ever be lost by that disease. I say this advisedly, for in my own practice, _provided I am called in early, and if my plans are strictly carried out_, I scarcely ever lose a child from inflammation of the lungs. You may ask—What are your plans? I will tell you, in case _you cannot promptly obtain medical advice_, as delay might be death. _The treatment of Inflammation of the Lungs, what to do._—Keep the child to one room, to his bed-room, and to his bed. Let the chamber be properly ventilated. If the weather be cool, let a small fire be in the grate; otherwise, he is better without a fire. Let him live on low diet, such as weak black tea, milk and water, and toast and water, thin oatmeal gruel, arrow-root, and such like simple beverages, and give him the following mixture: Take of—Wine of Ipecacuanha, three drachms; Simple Syrup, three drachms; Water, six drachms: Make a Mixture. A teaspoonful of the mixture to be taken every four hours. Be careful that you go to a respectable chemist, in order _that the quality of the ipecacuanha wine may be good, as the child’s life may depend upon it_. If the medicine produces sickness, so much the better; continue it regularly until the short, oppressed, and hurried breathing has subsided, and has become natural.