Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/261

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CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF CHILDREN.
249

every planet of our system being frittered away into heat by friction on the ethereal medium, they shall find their way, one by one, into the sun's mass, thus giving him the energy by which he will work on for long ages after they are defunct; while he, in his turn, with all his accumulated mass, will precipitate himself into the center of some larger system: and this process will go on till, after various oscillations throughout, perhaps, infinite ages, the whole material universe is accumulated in a single mass, which will then go on radiating its heat into space till it becomes a black, cold, and lifeless mass.

This universal tendency of energy to concentrate, or rather to scatter itself into the least available form, is simply what has been called "the dissipation of energy," and may be said to be the complement of the availability of energy, and, like it, finds its basis and explanation in that molecular constitution of the material universe which renders it impossible for any amount of energy, which has once distributed itself among the immense number of molecules in any body, ever, of itself, to rise again to a more tangible and available condition.

THE INFECTIOUS AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF CHILDREN.[1]

By Dr. DELPECH.

THE teacher or director of the school is urged to give immediate personal attention to any child in the school who may appear ill, or who complains of feeling unwell. In such a case the teacher should specially note the presence of one or more of the following signs:

1. Increased temperature of the child's body, discovered by the teacher placing his hand upon the sick child's skin, particularly on the chest, armpit, face, or forehead.
2. Quickening of the pulse, as measured by the aid of a watch, together with hardness of beat.
3. Shivering. Increased or exaggerated sweating, not being the after-result of exercise, etc.
4. Great thirst, with loss of appetite.
5. Tongue more or less white; dry, or red.
6. A flushed or pallid face.
7. Increased or diminished brilliancy of the eye.
8. General weariness and indisposition; sense of fatigue, with aching in the loins; headache; drowsiness or excitement; delirium.

  1. Instructions regarding the early symptoms of the infectious and contagious diseases of children, prepared by Dr. Delpech for the use of teachers of infant and elementary schools in the Department of the Seine. Abridged and translated by J. Lawrence Hamilton, M.R.C.S.