Do not depress the system by aperients, for diphtheria is an awfully depressing complaint of itself, the patient, in point of fact, is labouring under the depressing effects of poison, for the blood has been poisoned either by the drinking water being contaminated by faecal matter from either a privy or from a water-closet, by some horrid drain, by proximity to a pig-sty, by an overflowing privy, especially if vegetable matter be rotting at the same time in it, by bad ventilation, or by contagion.
"Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children"
Pye Henry Chavasse