SMALL-POX.

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pearance about the spring. It is very frequent in summer, less soin autumn, and still less in winter. Children are most liable tohave it ; and those whose food is unwholesome, who want properexercise, and abound with gross humours, run the greatest hazardof catching it.

The disease is distinguished into the distinct and confluent kind;the latter of which is always attended with danger. There arelikewise other distinctions of the small-pox; as the chrystalline,the bloody, &c.

Causes. — The small-pox is commonly caught by infection.Since the disease was first brought into Europe, the infection hasnever been wholly extinguished, nor have any proper methods, asfar as I know, been taken for that purpose ; so that now it hasbecome in a manner constitutional. Children who have overheat-ed themselves by running, wrestling, &c. or adults after a debauch,are most apt to be seized with the small-¡Jox.

Symptoms. — This disease is so generally known, that a minutedescription of it is unnecessary. Children commonly look a littledull, seem listless and drowsy for a few days before the more vio-lent symptoms of the small-pox appear. They are likewise moreinclined to drink than usual, have little appetite for solid food, com-plain of weariness, and, upon taking exercise, are apt to perspire.These symptoms are succeeded by slight fits of cold and heat inturns, which, as the time of the eruption approaches, become moreviolent, and are accompanied with pains of the head and loins, vom-iting, &c. The pulse is quick, with a great heat of the skin, andrestlessness. When the patient drops asleep, he wakes in a kindof horror, with a sudden start, which is a very common symptomof the approaching eruption ; as are also convulsion-fits in veryyoung children.

About the third or fourth day from the time of sickening, thesmall-pox generally begin to appear ; sometimes, indeed, theyappear sooner, but that is no favourable symptom. At first theyvery nearly resemble flea-bites, and are soonest discovered on theface, arms, and breast.

The most favourable symptoms are a slow eruption, and anabatement of the fever as soon as the pustules appear. In a milddistinct kind of small-pox the pustules seldom appear before thefourth day from the time of sickening, and they generally keepcoming out gradually for several days after. Pustules which aredistinct, with a florid red basis, and which till witli thick purulentmatter, first of a whitish, and afterwards of a yellowish colour, are *the best.

A livid brown colour of the pustules is an unfavourable symp-tom ; as also when they are small and flat, with black specks inthe middle. Pustules which contain a thin watery ichor are verybad. A great number of pox on the face is always attended withdanger. It is likewise a bad sign when they run into one another. \

It is a most unfavourable symptom when petechias, or purple,brown, or black spots are interspersed among the pustules. Theseare signs of a putrid dissolution of the blood, and show the danger

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