And where the practitioners themselves may see reason to doubt of the event, yet few or none of them have attempted, I believe, to do much towards preventing the danger; for, unless some pressing symptoms call for immediate relief, it is the general practice to wait till maturation comes on, and brings with it such a train of dreadful complaints, as are more than enough to employ, and too often baffle the best abilities. In this neglected interval, from the eruption being completed, to the accession of the fever of maturation, and its concomitants (an interval which, in point of duration, is very different in different constitutions and kinds of small-pox); I will venture in general to recommend the same mercurial antimonial medicine as was prescribed in the eruptive fever, to be repeated at proper intervals, till the maturation advances; at which time it must certainly be discontinued: and these circumstances can be regulated only by those who attend, according to the urgency of the symptoms, and the strength of the patients: a cupful of the following apozem should, if necessary, be now-and-then taken after the mercurial medicine; often enough to procure three or four stools a day, especially if the patient is costive. Take cream of tartar, two drachms; of manna, one ounce; dissolve them in one quart of barley water, or the pectoral drink. How far it may be safe or advisable for the patients to venture out into the open air during this stage of the disease, I will not yet pretend to say; but they will certainly be both refreshed and invigorated, by being kept out of bed as much as they can bear, without being over-fatigued; and by fresh air let in sometimes through an open window. As the violence of the eruptive fever, with its attendant complaints, must necessarily exhaust the strength and spirits, both should in this interval be recruited, by as much proper nourishment (such as has been mentioned in the former part of this chapter) as can be taken down without offending the stomach; and also, if occasion requires, with medicines of a cordial and anodyne quality: for this is the time to recover as much strength as possible, in order to be better able to encounter and bear the pain and fever, which will most certainly happen, as the state of maturation advances. Medicines, except what have been already mentioned, seem at this time unnecessary; and they would interfere with, and prevent the true relish for, food. But for the best method of treating the small-pox in its most dangerous stage, I mean that of maturation, I must refer to the several learned and eminent practitioners who have professedly written upon the subject, whose opinions and practice I neither pretend to correct or amend. I shall however take the liberty to recommend one medicine to be used in that stage of the disease, which I have found to abate heat, and allay thirst, in such a manner as to afford a very pleasing refreshment.