THE DREADED DIPHTHERIA.
By D. T. Taylor
Previous to 1860, this fatal scourge was scarcely known in our country. That year, however, it swooped down upon the little ones, and its victims were 10,000. Physicians said its visit was transient, and, like the Asiatic cholera, it would in time depart. But time shows the error of this medical prognosis. The scourge came to stay. It cuts down the darlings of three, five, and eight, with relentless hand. Whole households are swept away by it. Medical men say it is caused by some strange and unknown affection of the air. It is on the increase most alarmingly. Five years ago, in 1872, it stood the nineteenth on the list of fatal diseases in Massachusetts. In 1873 it was the same; in 1874, the eleventh; in 1875, the seventh; in 1876 it stood the second. In deadly action it now ranks next to consumption in all the old Bay State. The faculty are in alarm at its ravages. Parents tremble at its visitation.—D. T. Taylor.