A CORRECTION.

Manawatu Herald, 25 April 1896, Page 3

A CORRECTION.

to The editor of the ilanawatc Behald. Sii'i— Your paragraph in to-day's issue is calculated to produce an unfavorable impresuion Upon the unprofessional mind, re my connection with the case of the child of Renata Hemera. That the child was suffering from a form of Croup was patent to anyone who had ever seen a case before, , and in fact I told Mr Alzdorf; who brought the Maoris and acted as interpreter 1 , that I had very poor hopes of the child's recovery, because the disease had invaded the wind pipe. But Croup is of vaiious kiuds,* and from the statement of tho mother that " swallowing was painful " lat once examined the throat, and saw the dreaded "wash-leather" appearance which too plainly showed its nature to be Diphtheritic. I told the Maoris, through Mr Alzdorf, the , grave nature of the case, and said the child would .need to be seen each day. It was arranged that the father would be in next day to tell me how the child was. But he never came, and on the following day I learned to my horror that they had taken the child to Otaki. No doubt deatli was due to Croup, but I affirm it was Diphtheritic Croup, which in this case was an extension of the diphtheritic process from the gullet (or pharynx) into the windpipe (or larynx.) As your paragraph reads it appears as if the doctor at Foxton was altogether wrong iv his opinion as to the nature of the case on the assertion of the doctor at Otaki. If the child " only suffered from Croup," why did it die ? Children don't die from simple or Catarrhal Croup, but from the justly dreaded Membranous Croup. I will conclude by quoting from Dr Burney Yeo, the great London doctor, who says in his work " A Manuel of MfdicaTl Treatment " published by Cassell & Co. in I 1994, p. 5G2, vol. 4:— ll Lari/ngenl Diph-l theiia is attended by the same symptoms as Membranous Croup, and there is a very general disposition to regard cases of so-called Membranous Croup as really cases of laryngpal Diphtheria." Laryngeal Diphtheria and Diphtheric Croup are the same. I am, <fee, Win. Lamd. April 23rd, 1896. [We thank Dr Lamb for the careful explanation of the disease of the child. We merely reported what the doctor atl Otaki bad said. Ed. M.H.I I