When the child loses its appetite and the stomach and bowels become deranged, the tongue generally becomes coated. Children who are overfed and in whom the food is not digested, may have a thick fur over the tongue, but as a rule only on the back of the tongue there is a whitish coat. In diseases of the mouth that are purely local, the tongue is sometimes coated, quite independently of any disease of the stomach, as for instance in thrush, in catarrhal inflammation of the mouth, diphtheria, burns and other injuries. (_a_) Catarrh of the mouth is an inflammation of the mucous membrane and is recognized by redness and increased secretion. It is most intense on the tongue, which presents the appearance as though it were coated with raspberry syrup. Sometimes the redness is most on the inside of the cheeks and soft palate, while the tongue is covered with soft fur. The inflammation of the mucous membrane of the mouth, extends in aggravated cases to the throat and nasal passages and along the Eustachian tube into the ear. There is many a baby suffering, no one knows from what, when it has an earache due to this cause. When the catarrh has existed for some time, clear, minute water-vesicles rise upon the tongue, gums and mucous membrane of the lips and cheeks. These burst and leave behind them small, flat ulcers, which in the first few days run together and present large, flat, ulcerated surfaces. The children become feverish and refuse to eat and drink for days, partly because to do so, pains them and partly from a loss of appetite. The most common cause is the eruption of the teeth. Mothers of experience know that when the baby drools, it is teething, and if she examines a little closer she will discover the catarrhal condition described. Another cause is the old-fashioned sugar teat with its souring contents; so is the nursing food, when either too hot or too cold, and in older children irregular or improper food has the same effect, for instance, sour ripe fruit eaten in excess. The treatment for catarrh of the mouth is simple and successful if directed to the removal of the causes that we have enumerated. The mouth should be cleansed every few hours with a little borax water, and the febrile symptoms generally subside with a dose of mild laxative.