Bad and imperfect drainage; want of ventilation; overflowing privies; low neighborhoods in the vicinity of rivers; stagnant waters; indeed, every thing that vitiates the air and thus depresses the system, more especially if the weather be close and muggy; poor and improper food; and last, though not least, contagion. “Now all my carefully conducted inquiries induce me to believe that the disease comes from drain-poison. All the cases into which I could fully inquire have brought conviction to my mind that there is a direct law of sequence in some peculiar conditions of atmosphere between diphtheria and bad drainage; and if this be proved by subsequent investigations, we may be able to prevent a disease which, in too many cases, our known remedies cannot cure.”—W. Carr, Esq., Blackheath. _British Medical Journal._ Bear in mind, too, that a delicate child is much more predisposed to the disease than a strong one. 209. _What is the treatment of Diphtheria?_ _What to do._—Examine well into the ventilation, for as diphtheria is frequently caused by deficient ventilation, the best remedy is thorough ventilation. Look well both to the drains and to the privies, and see that the drains from the water-closets and from the privies do not in any way contaminate the pump water. If the drains be defective or the privies be full, the disease in your child will be generated, fed, and fostered. Not only so, but the disease will spread in your family and all around you. Keep the child to his bed-room and to his bed. For the first two or three days, while the fever runs high, put him on a low diet, such as milk, tea, arrow-root, etc. Apply to his throat every four hours a warm barm and oatmeal poultice. If he be old enough to have the knowledge to use a gargle, the following will be found serviceable: Take of—Powdered Alum, one drachm; Simple Syrup, one ounce; Water, seven ounces: To make a Gargle. The best medicine for the first few days of the attack, is one of the following mixtures: Take of—Chlorate of Potash, two drachms; Boiling Water, seven ounces and a half; Syrup of Red Poppy, half an ounce: To make a Mixture. A tablespoonful to be taken every four hours. Or, Take of—Diluted Sulphuric Acid, one drachm; Simple Syrup, one ounce and a half; Infusion of Roses, four ounces and a half; To make a Mixture. A tablespoonful to be given every four hours. Let the infusion of roses be made merely with the rose-leaves and boiling water.