Page:Diphtheria - a lecture delivered at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (IA b22345656).pdf/5



attention has rarely of late years, excepting perhaps in the case of cholera, been more forcibly arrested by the contemplation of any disease, than by one which has been very prevalent and fatal during the last two or three years, and which is known even to unprofessional persons under the name of "Diphtheria." This is scarcely to be wondered at, when we consider either the sad fatality by which, in many families, child after child has been carried off, in spite of every attention which medical skill could devise, or the distressing nature of the symptoms, and the insurmountable difficulties which too often oppose themselves to the treatment. Cause enough, indeed, has there been, that the word diphtheria should conjure up in every family a vision full of dismay, and that every trifling discomfort in the throat should give rise to the most painful forebodings.

Epidemic sore throat is an affection which has long been familiar under different aspects. It has been known to practitioners of all ages and degrees of experience as an attendant upon scarlatina, and also under the titles of "angina maligna," "putrid sore throat," "malignant sore throat," but there is much reason to