Fighting Orders.

1.	Mild sulphur fumes almost constantly in the sick-room.
2.	Occasional inhalation of steam from warm water.
3.	Occasional poultices or warm fomentations to throat.
4.	Gargle to be used frequently, and then a little swallowed.
5.	A calomel pill at once, to be followed by castor-oil if necessary.
6.	A chlorate of potash powder to be dissolved in a tumbler of water, and used up in small draughts in twenty-four hours.
7.	Finally, and most important, should any one member of the household feel the slightest touch of sore throat, to use at once gargle, fumes, and steam, and send for me.

Note.—I applied no caustic, under the impression that it can scarcely destroy the fungi, but may screen them from what is able to destroy them.

I then left, and promised to call to-morrow.

Oct. 17.—When Cæsar described some of his immortal victories, it was in three graphic and most telling words, 'Veni, vidi, vici;' a specimen of thrilling historical eloquence only equalled in the first chapter of Genesis. Fain to save time would I adopt such a pæan of triumph as my own. But it won't do. The battle still rages fiercely on both sides; victory doubtful, but I think slightly inclining to the page 37 side of right. The enemy in no respect dislodged from his strongholds. Both tonsils much swollen, and still covered with sloughs, held out by the adversary as flags of triumph. It strikes me that the right side flag is not quite so audaciously displayed to-day. A shot of spray from Dewar's tremendous cannon having again given great relief, I left the piece of ordnance in the hands of my Lieutenant, with orders to be used very frequently till my visit to-morrow. I ordered also the whole house to be fumigated once a day, lest the insidious foe might be lurking in ambuscade in some hole little thought of.

Oct. 18.—Visited to-day the Crimean field. Signs of victory in Sebastopol at any rate! which means, of course, the patient's throat. The shots of spray have been frequent and effective, dislodging the enemy from one Malakoff Tower or tonsil, while his force is decidedly weakened in the other. A medico-clerical friend accompanied me today, who was highly satisfied both with the relief afforded by the spray, the energy displayed in the 'fighting orders,' and manner in which Lieutenant T. was carrying them into effect. Ordered wine and beef-tea, and a continuation of all the former tactics. Pulse still very quick; face flushed, and skin hot.

Oct. 19.—Progress still satisfactory. The fever of war quite abated; its pulse of excitement quiet and steady; the citadel of health out of danger from the enemy's brisk but futile onset, though he still shows a feeble flag on the left Malakoff. My Lieutenant thinks he can deal with the foe now without my help. 'Well,' said I, 'see and watch him well; and for the sake of the other citadels not yet threatened, don't neglect to give the whole "Castra Quadrata" a smell of gun-powder once or twice a day at any rate.' This he promised faithfully to do; and this indefatigable officer, though strong in mind, having been rather weakly in body for several years, my final advice was—'In covering yourself with fumes, you may not only cover yourself with glory, but perhaps with a bloom of health besides, that your cheeks have not seen for many years.' A. 'Indeed, Doctor, it strikes me I am a little the better of them already.'

Oct. 20.—Latest despatch from the seat of war. Lieutenant T. writes:—'J. keeps on improving.' 'Getting rather a better appetite.' 'Still two small spots in the throat.' 'Getting out of bed.' Answer. Told him to keep brushing the spots with sulphurous acid, and for the safety of the rest, not to neglect fumigating the whole house for a time. Lesson.—Fumes are harmless, and don't increase fever at any rate. For it was while the sick-room was almost constantly filled with them, that the fever abated in a marked degree.

Nov. 4.—The patient's recovery satisfactory, and up to this date no threatening of attack on any other inmate. The enemy apparently slain.

Practical Conclusion.—People of Elsrickle, and of every hamlet in the land! attend to this case. Clean your houses; see to your ditches; dry up your dubs; look to your drains; and if diphtheria again invade your village, why not scare him from your hearths by lurid burnings systematically adopted, and choke him to death by sulphur fumes?