DIPHTHERIA DIPPEL 127 larynx escapes, the immediate cause of death is exhaustion. Paralysis frequently occurs as a sequel. The muscles of the throat are those most likely to become more or less paralyzed, rendering deglutition difficult and sometimes impossible. With or without paralysis in this situation, the muscles of the lower limbs may be paralyzed, or the muscles of an upper and a lower limb on one side. Occasionally the muscles of both the upper and lower limbs are aifected. Vision may be impaired by pa- ralysis of the external rectus muscle, causing strabismus or squinting ; and not infrequently far-sightedness, or more rarely near-sighted- ness, takes place; and amaurosis occurs in some cases. The other special senses, hearing, taste, and smell, are sometimes affected. These varied paralytic affections generally occur with- in a few weeks after convalescence from the diphtheria. They are as likely to follow in cases where the disease was mild as where it was severe. As a rule complete recovery takes place, showing that the paralysis does not pro- ceed from structural changes. The disease, when paralysis does not follow, generally leaves the patient feeble and anaemic for a consider- able period. Sudden death from syncope has repeatedly occurred after convalescence had been declared, as a consequence of some mus- cular effort ; hence the importance of enjoining quietude until the strength is in some measure restored. The treatment has been supposed to embrace, as a highly important measure, cauterizing applications to the throat and to the local affection in other situations ; the ob- jects being to destroy or modify the special character of the inflammation, to limit its ex- tension, and prevent the absorption of septic matter. Those who consider the efficient cause of the peculiar inflammation to be the presence of cryptogamic formations, are of course led to attach importance to applications which destroy vegetable life. For the most part, however, in this country, physicians have abandoned severe topical measures, limiting themselves to antiseptic and soothing applica- tions. Clinical experiences seem to establish the propriety of this plan. The chief objects in the treatment are to palliate symptoms, and support the powers of life by the judicious employment of tonic remedies, conjoined with alimentation and alcoholic stimulants. The latter are in some cases given in large quantity without inducing their excitant effects; and there is reason to believe that they are some- times the means of saving life. In the cases in which the larynx becomes affected, the mea- sures are indicated which belong to the treat- ment of true croup, and tracheotomy is to be resorted to if necessary to avert death from suffocation. The prospect of success from this operation is extremely small; yet, as it un- doubtedly sometimes rescues a patient from impending death, it is the duty of the phy- sician not to withhold the chances of life, how- ever small, which tracheotomy affords. 265 VOL. vi. 9 DIPLOMATICS (Gr. dtVAo/za, a doubling ; hence anything folded double, as a written docu- ment), the science of the knowledge of ancient documents, and especially of their age and au- thenticity. The charters of grants from sov- ereigns to individuals and corporations were formerly called diplomas, and the word is ap- plied to all letters, documents, and pieces of writing of a public nature that have come down to us from the middle ages and the sub- sequent centuries. The ancient public docu- ments of the Greeks and Romans have per- ished, except such as were inscribed on stone or metal. But a vast mass of manuscripts of the middle ages exists in Europe, whose dates and authenticity can only be settled by careful and skilful investigation. The quality of the parchment or paper and of the ink, and the style of the handwriting, are the means chief- ly relied upon to determine the age of the document. Formerly ink was made of soot, and red ink made of vermilion was sometimes used. Those who apply themselves to the study of diplomatics can easily distinguish the ink and the parchment and paper of one epoch from those of another. The variations in handwriting are also so great that by the character alone it is possible to pronounce within 40 or 50 years when any diploma was written. In Europe the study of diplomatics has been much cultivated. The standard book of reference on the subject is the Nouveau traite de diplomatique, par deux Benedictins (6 vols. 4to, Paris, 1750). DIPPEL, Jolianu Konrad, a German mystic and rationalist, born at the castle of Frankenstein, Hesse, Aug. 10, 1673, died at Berleburg, April 25, 1734. He was the son of a clergyman, and at an early age showed a strong interest in religious matters. He studied theology at Giessen and philosophy at Wittenberg, and went subsequently to Strasburg, where he led a disorderly life, and had to leave the city, it is said, on account of being implicated in a bloody affray. He frequently appeared as a preacher, and also as a lecturer on astrology and chiro- mancy, and published in 1697 a pamphlet en- titled Orthodoxia Orthodoxorum, and in 1698 another, called Papismus Protestantium vapu- lans, in which he attacked the orthodox party, rejecting the doctrines of the atonement and of the efficacy of the sacraments. He was con- sequently obliged to lead a wandering life to avoid prosecution. Having squandered his property in experiments in alchemy, he went to Ley den, obtained the degree of doctor of medi- cine, and began to practise as a physician. He published subsequently some other pamphlets, one of which, entitled Alea Belli Mmelman- nici (Amsterdam, 1711), caused his exile from Holland. He went to Denmark, where he continued to declaim against the clergy and. the churches, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. After his release he went to Sweden, where he practised as a physician with considerable success; but having pub-
