Class II. i. 3. 9. OF SENSATION. 20$ 



When the inoculated fmail-pox is given under all the moil fa- 

 vourable circum fiances, I believe lei's than one in a thoufand 

 mifcarry, which may be afcribed to fome unavoidable accident, 

 fuch as the patient having previoufly received the infection, or 

 being about to be ill of fome other difeafc. Thofe which have late- 

 ly mifcarried under inoculation, as far as has come to my knowl- 

 edge, have been chiefly children at the bread ; for in thefe the 

 habit of living in the air has been confirmed by fo (hort a time, 

 that it is much eafier deftroyed, than when thefe habits of life 

 have been eftablilhed by more frequent repetition. See Sect. 

 XVII. 3. Thus it appears from the bills of mortality kept in 

 the great cities of London, Paris, and Vienna, that out of every 

 thoufand children above three hundred and fifty die under two 

 years old. (Kirkpatrick on Inoculation.) Whence a ftrong 

 reafon againft our hazarding inoculation before that age is paff- 

 ed, efpecially in crowded towns ', except where the vicinity of 

 the natural contagion renders it neceiiary, or the convenience of 

 inoculating a whole family at a time ; as it then becomes better 

 to venture the lefs favourable cireumftances of the age of the pa- 

 tient, or the chance of the pain from toothing, than to rilk the 

 infection in the natural way. 



The mod favourable method confilts in, nrft, for a week be- 

 fore inoculation, reftraining the patients from all kinds of fer- 

 mented or fpirituous liquor,' and from animal food ; and by giv- 

 ing them from one grain to three or four of calomel every oth- 

 er day for three times. But if the patients be in any the leafl 

 danger of taking the natural infection, the inoculation had bet- 

 ter be immediately performed, and this abitinence then begun ; 

 and two or three gentle purges with calomel fhould be given, 

 one immediately, and on alternate days. Thefe cathartics 

 (hould net induce more than two or three (tools. I have feen 

 two inftances of a confluent fmall-pox in inoculation following 

 3 violent purging induced by too large a dofe of calomel. 



Secondly, the matter ufed for inoculation fhould be in a fmall 

 quantity, and warm, and fluid. Hence it is befl when it can 

 be recently taken from a patient in the difeafe ; or otherwife it 

 may be diluted with part of a drop of warm water, fince its flu- 

 idity is likely to occafion its immediate abforption *, and the 

 wound mould be made as fmall and fuperficial as poffible, as 

 otherwife ulcers have been fuppofed fometimes to enfue with 

 fubaxiilary abiceiies. Add to this, that the making two punc- 

 tures either on the fame or one on each arm, fecures the i 

 of the operation in reipect to communicating the infection. 



Thirdly, at the time of the fever or eruption, the application 

 of coci air to thofe parts of the (kin which are too warm, or ap- 

 pear 



