My knowledge of it came about in this wise. At about the age of sixteen I developed a rose-cold that began in June and extended into September. A few years later it began in April and lasted until October. By one of those ironical tricks that fate plays on the great ones of the earth, rosin-weed, the family remedy that cured everybody else, gave me only partial relief. It is unnecessary to follow in detail the various experiments made. This was long before the days of Dunbar's pollantin, Holbrook Curtis' ambrosia, adrenalin, and the modern vaccines. I did not think cocaine a safe drug and never used it, preferring the hay fever to the cocaine habit. About this time ichthyol was introduced by Merck for the treatment of catarrh of all mucous membranes and I found that ichthyol, used in a certain manner, relieved the symptoms completely. On swabbing the naso-pharynx with pure ichthyol, there was a severe burning sensation for a minute or so, but, when the burning subsided, there was great relief, not only of the itching throat but also of the itching of the eyes and nose. That is, in the customary swabbing of the naso-pharynx, we touch a point that controls the whole group of symptoms of the eyes, nose, and throat. In those days the laryngeal and pharyngeal tonsils were very much to the fore in medical discussions, and at first I thought that this point was probably the pharyngeal tonsil of Luschka. However, judging from the location of the most severe burning, the controlling point is rather on the upper surface of the soft palate. The exact location of this point is not of practical importance. If you swab each side of the naso-pharynx with plenty of ichthyol, the reflex contraction of the pharynx while the swab is in it will spread the ichthyol over the right territory. CHAPTER IV _MENTHOL AND EUCALYPTOL_ The ichthyol treatment described in the last Chapter is very effective, but it burns severely for a few minutes and, for this reason, some patients will not endure it. With children, it is impossible. Another disadvantage to the patient and, sometimes, to the doctor, too, is that it requires the patient to come to the doctor every day for the application, though Dr. Hollister tells me that he had one patient who learned to apply the ichthyol to her own naso-pharynx and, what is more wonderful still, kept up the treatment long enough to get well. In recent years I have hit on a treatment that is more comfortable than ichthyol and in many cases equally effective, though a little slower in giving relief. It can be carried out by the patient with little trouble and requires no skill in handling nasal swabs, an important matter with nervous patients and children.