All  medication  should  be  abandoned  in  this  stage,  and  the  patient  should
be  stimulated  and  nourished.  My  guide  to  the  employment  of  stimulants
is  the  effects  which  they  have  upon  the  pulse  and  temperature.  If  they
tend  to  bring  both  nearer  to  the  standard  of  health,  I  continue  their
administration.  I  believe  that  many  patients  die  from  the  lack  of  stimu-
lants in  a  crisis  of  disease,  especially  in  inflammatory  conditions  of  the
meninges.  Champagne,  brandy,  and  whiskey,  are  preferable  to  port  and
sherry.  I  am  in  tiie  habit  of  giving  stimulants  often  in  small  doses  and
in  combination  with  systematic  feeding  at  short  intervals.  Beef-tea,
beef-juice,  milk,  pure  cream,  and  a  raw  egg  beaten  in  milk  are  my  favorite
methods  of  giving  nourishment  in  these  cases.  In  the  aged,  the  use  of
stimulants  is  indicated  early  in  the  course  of  the  disease.
Finally,  the  condition  of  the  bladder  and  the  bowels  should  be
carefully  watched  in  this  stage,  especially  in  the  case  of  extremely  old
subjects.  Retention  of  urine  in  comatose  patients  is  liable  to  be  over-
looked by  the  attendants  and  to  cause  great  distress.  A  catheter  should
be  introduced  into  the  bladder  of  patients  so  afflicted  at  regular  intervals
during  the  day  and  night.
SUBACUTE  CEREBRAL  MENINGITIS.
This  variety  differs  from  the  acute  in  that  it  is  a  secondary  condition
(being  the  result  of  some  exhausting  disease),  nnd  also  in  that  the
duration  of  the  attack  is  longer,  tlie  brain-symptoms  less  marked,  and
the  prognosis  proportionately  less  grave.
