TREATMENT of the common cold is difficult to evaluate, for obvious reasons. One important obstacle is the fact that it is not often possible to keep a large group of patients under observation in anything approaching a controlled environment. At the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, in Philadelphia, there are approximately 600 students in residence from October to the middle of June. While these children are divided into upper, middle and lower schools as far as class work goes, they live, eat and play together, and in the dormitories there are approximately 30 students to each room. With these conditions, colds are naturally a major problem; these circumstances also, however, offer a favorable testing ground for treatment of colds.
In the past thirteen years, a variety of nasal sprays too numerous to mention have been used here in an attempt to cut down the spread of infection and the duration