MILIARY FEVER.

141

can hardly escape this disease in childbed. Hence it proves ex-tremely fatal to women of fashion, and likewise to those womenin manufacturing towns, who, in order to assist their husbands, sitclose within doors for almost the whole of their time. But amongwomen who are active and laborious, who live in the country,and take sufficient exercise without doors, this disease is very littleknown.

Symptoms. — When this is a primary disease, it makes its attack,like most other eruptive fevers, with a slight shivering, which issucceeded by heat, loss of strength, faintishness, sighing, a lowquick pulse, difficulty of breathing, with great anxiety and oppres-sion of the breast. The patient is restless, and sometimes delirious ;the tongue appears white, and the hands shake, with often a burn-ing heat in the palms ; and in childbed-women the milk generallygoes away, and the other discharges stop.

The patient feels an itching or pricking pain under the skin,after which innumerable small pustules of a red or white colourbegin to appear. Upon this the symptoms generally abate, thepulse becomes more full and soft, the skin grows moister, and thesweat, as the disease advances, begins to have a peculiar foetidsmell ; the great load on the breast, and oppression of the spirits,generally go off, and the customary evacuations gradually return.About the sixth or seventh day from the eruption, the pustules be-gin to dry and fall off, which occasions a very disagreeable itchingin the skin.

It is impossible to ascertain the exact time when the pustuleswill either appear or go off. They generally come out in the thirdor fourth day, when the eruption is critical ; but when symptomat-ica!, they appear at any time of the disease.

Sometimes the pustules appear and vanish by turns. Whenthat is the case, there is always danger ; but when they go in allof a sudden, and do not appear again, the danger is very great.

In childbed-women the pustules are commonly at first filled withclear water ; afterwards they grow yellowish. Sometimes theyare interspersed with pustules of a red colour. When these onlyappear, the disease goes by the name of a rash.

Regimen. — In all eruptive fevers, of whatever kind, the chiefpoint is to prevent the sudden disappearing of the pustules, and topromote their maturation. For this purpose, the patient must bekept in such a temperature as neither to push out the eruption toofast, nor to cause it to retreat prematurely. The diet and drinkought therefore to be in a moderate degree nourishing and cor-dial ; but neither strong nor heating. The patient's chamberought neither to be kept too hot nor cold ; and he should not betoo much covered with clothes. Above all, the mind is to be kepieasy and cheerful. Nothing so certainly makes an eruption go inas fear, or the apprehension of danger.

The food must be weak chicken broth, with bread, panado, sago,or groat-gruel, &c. to a gill of which maj be added a spoonful ortwo of wine, as the patient's strength requires, with a few grains of