LEPROSY. EPIDEMIC CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS. PERTUSSIS. INFLUENZA. DENGUE. RABIES AND HYDROPHOBIA. GLANDERS AND FARCY. MALIGNANT PUSTULE. PYÆMIA AND SEPTICÆMIA. PUERPERAL FEVER. BERIBERI. {231} SIMPLE CONTINUED FEVER. BY JAMES H. HUTCHINSON, M.D. DEFINITION.--A continued, non-contagious fever, varying in duration from one to twelve days, and in temperate climates almost invariably ending in recovery. It may arise from any non-specific cause capable of producing a temporary derangement of one or more of the important functions of the body, is generally easily distinguished from the other continued fevers by the absence of the characteristic symptoms of these diseases, and presents in fatal cases no specific lesions. SYNONYMS.--Synocha, vel Synochus Simplex, Febricula, Ephemera or Ephemeral Fever, Irritative Fever, Ardent Continued Fever, Sun Fever. HISTORY.--Much difference of opinion continues to prevail, even at the present time, in regard to the existence of a simple continued fever, which, on the one hand, occurs independently of local inflammations or traumatic causes, and, on the other, is distinct from typhoid, typhus, and relapsing fevers; many observers contending that the condition to which this name is given is only a mild or modified form of one or other of the graver varieties of continued fever, from which the characteristic symptoms are absent. Prominently among modern writers, Dr. Tweedie[1] has taken this view of the subject, for, after reviewing the arguments for and against the recognition of simple continued fever as a distinct disease, he asserts that there is not sufficient evidence to justify us in encumbering our nosology with a doubtful novelty. If, however, there is room for doubt as to its right to a place in the list of diseases, there is certainly no good reason for characterizing it as a novelty, since it has been referred to, according to Murchison,[2] by many authors from the time of Hippocrates down to the present day, who not only separate it from the graver forms of fever, and give a very accurate description of its symptoms, but seem to have been perfectly familiar with the causes which give rise to it, and to have had very correct notions as to its proper management. Thus, Riverius[3] was aware of the existence of two forms of simple fever--the ephemeral, which lasts, as its name implies, only a single day, and the Synochus Simplex, arising from the same causes, but in which the fever continues for from four to seven days. Strother[4] and Ball[5] also allude to this fever in terms that leave no doubt upon the mind but that they distinguished it clearly from other forms of continued fever. {232} Among more recent writers who have made this distinction may be mentioned Lyons,[6] Jenner,[7] G. B. Wood,[8] Flint,[9] Murchison,[10] and J. C. Wilson.[11] Indeed, the weight of authority is decidedly on the side of those who claim