MISCELLANIES. 



607 



medical and clerical visitors of 

 the sick to perform their im- 

 portant duties with safety to 

 themselves, are printed by the 

 Society with a view to their 

 being distributed, so that a 

 copy may be put up in every 

 house where there is an infec- 

 tious fever.'' 



" It maif beprtyper previously to 

 observe that an iiijf'ectiousjever, in 

 a small, close, and dirty room, is 

 caught by a very great proportion 

 of mankind ; not less than 22 out 

 nf23, or a still higher proportion ; 

 hut in a large, airy, clean apart- 

 ment, even putrid Jevers are seldom 

 or never infectious. When this 

 poisonous vapour is much diluted 

 with fresh air, it is not noxious. 

 From a large collection, and an 

 attentive consideration, oj' facts 

 relative to this distemper, have 

 heen formed the Jbllorving Rules. 



" 1. As safety from danger en- 

 tirely depends on cleanliness and 

 fresh air, the room-door of a 

 patient ill of an infectious fever, 

 especially in the habitations of the 

 poor, should never be shut; a 

 window in it during the day 

 ought to be frequently opened. 

 In bad cases, a current of air, 

 between a window and door both 

 wide open, may be proper: if the 

 air be very cold or damp, the 

 curtains of the patient's bed may 

 be drawn close during this ven- 

 tilation, should peculiar circum- 

 stances require such caution. 

 These regulations would be highly 

 useful, both to the patient and 

 nurses; but are particularly im- 

 portant, previous to the arrival of 

 any visitor.* 



• Might not a leaden casempnt or 

 ether cheap contrivance be fixed in 



" 2. The bed-curtains should 

 never be close drawn round the 

 patient; but only on the side next 

 the light, so as to shade the face: 

 except while thei'e is a current of 

 air between a window and door. 



" 3. Dirty clothes, utensils, 

 &c. should be frequently changed, 

 immediately immersed in cold 

 water, and washed clean. 



" 4. All discharges from the 

 patient should be instantly re- 

 moved. The floor near the pa- 

 tient's bed should be rubbed clean 

 every day with a wet mop, or 

 cloth. 



«' 5. The air in a sick room 

 has, at the same time, a more in- 

 fectious quality in some parts 

 than in others. Visitors and at- 

 tendants should avoid the current 

 of the patients breath, — the air 

 which ascends from his body, es- 

 pecially if the bed curtains be 

 closed, — and the vapour arising 

 from all evacuations. When me- 

 dical or other duties require a 

 visitor to be placed in these sltua- 



a window of each room, at the ex- 

 pense of the landlord, or society, to 

 supply fresh air, which is most es- 

 sential for the prevention of infec- 

 tion? or, might not visitors, and in 

 some mild cases, the inmates of the 

 poorest cottage, be preserved from 

 contagion, by taking out a pane of 

 glass from the top of a window, and 

 replacing it after all danger of fever 

 had ceased ? A paper attached by a 

 wafer atthefourcorners, might cover 

 as much of this opening as the cold- 

 ness of the season may require, and 

 occasionally during the night, the 

 whole opening; an attentive and in- 

 telligent Inspector, by such dilution 

 of typhous miasms with fresh air 

 would render them innoxious, if 

 strict Rules of cleanliness in the in- 

 fectious house be executed. 



tions 



