SMALL-POX.
171
His food must consist of apples roasted or boiled, preservedcherries, plums, and other fruits of an acid nature.
The bark and acids are not only necessary when the pete-chias or putrid symptoms appear, but likewise in the lym-phatic or crystalline small-pox, where the matter is thin, andnot duly prepared. The Peruvian bark seems to possess asingular power of assisting nature in preparing laudable pus,or what is called good matter ; consequently it must be bene-ficial, both in this and other diseases, where the crisis dependson a suppuration. I have often observed where the small-pox were flat, and the matter contained in them quite clearand transparent, and where at first they had the appearanceof running into one another, that the use of a few drams ofthe Peruvian bark, acidulated as above, changed the colorand consistence of the matter, and produced the most happyeffects.
When the eruption subsides suddenly, or, as the good wo-men term it, when the small-pox strike in, before they havearrived at maturity, the danger is very great. This is oftenthe effect of a hot regimen, or medicines which, at the begin-ning, push out the matter before it has been properly prepared.When this happens, blistering plasters must be immediatelyapplied to the wrists and ankles, and the patient's spirits sup-ported with cordials.
Sometimes bleeding has a surprising effect in raising thepustules after they have subsided ; but it requires skill toknow when this is proper, or to what length the patient canbear it. Sharp cataplasms however may be applied to thefeet and hands, as they tend to promote the swelling, of theseparts, and by that means to draw the humors towards the ex-tremities.
The most dangerous period of this disease is what we callthe secondary fever. This generally comes on when thesmall-pox begin to blacken, or turn on the face, and mostof those who die of the small-pox are carried off by thisfever.
Nature generally attempts at the turn of the small-pox torelieve the patient by loose stools. Her endeavors this wayare by no means to be counteracted, but promoted, and thepatient at the same time supported by food and drink of anourishing and cordial nature.
If at the approach of the secondary fever the pulse be veryquick, hard, and strong, the heat intense, and the breathing