Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 1: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
History
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 1: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
2. Cool air is of the utmost consequence in the eruptive fever. The
use of this remedy in fevers marks an æra, not only in the management
of the small-pox, but in medicine. The degrees of cold should always
be increased in proportion to the violence of the fever. Stove-rooms,
so common in this country, should be carefully avoided. The more we
oblige our patients to sit up and walk in the open air, the better. Even
in those cases where they languish most for the bed, they should be
encouraged rather to lie upon, than _under_ the bed-clothes. Children
should be stript of flannel petticoats that come in contact with their
skins; and even clouts should be laid aside, if possible without great
inconvenience, and at any rate they should be often removed. Great and
obvious as the advantages of cold air appear to be in the eruptive
fever, it has sometimes been used to an excess that has done mischief.
There are few cases where a degree of cold below fifty of _Fahrenheit's_
thermometer is necessary in this stage of the small-pox. When it has
been used below this, or where patients have been exposed to a damp
atmosphere some degrees above it, I have heard of inflammations of an
alarming nature being produced in the throat and breast.
3. The bowels, more especially of children, should be kept open with
gentle laxatives. And,
4. Cool subacid drinks should be plentifully used until the eruption be
completed.
Sometimes the small-pox comes on with a fever the reverse of that which
we have described. The heat is inconsiderable, the pulse is weak, and
scarcely quicker than ordinary, and the patient complains of but
slight pains in the back and head. Here the treatment should be widely
different from that which has been mentioned when the fever is of the
inflammatory kind. Bleeding in this case is hurtful, and even cool air
must be admitted with caution. The business of the physician in this
case is to excite a gentle action in the sanguiferous system, in order
to produce the degree of fever which is necessary to the eruption of the
pock. For this purpose he may recommend the use of warm drinks, and even
of a warm bed with advantage. If the eruption delay beyond the third
day, with all the circumstances of debility that have been mentioned, I
have frequently ordered my patients to eat a few ounces of animal food,
and to drink a glass or two of wine, with the most desirable success.
The effects of this indulgence are most obvious where the weakness
of the fever and the delay of the eruption in children, have made it
necessary to allow it to mothers and nurses.
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