18 Sketch of the Medical Topography, &c. 



During the paroxysm of the fever, I give small 

 doses of nitre and tartar combined ; say eight grains 

 of the former, and one of the latter, for an adult, every 

 one, two, or three hours, as the case may require. 

 During the intermissions of the fever, I give wine and 

 water, wine-toast, chicken broth, &c. With this 

 treatment, we often obtain a solution of the fever by the 

 fifth day, or, at most, the ninth day of the complaint. 

 If we fail to effect this purpose then, the disease is 

 apt to assume the type of a nervous or putrid fever, and 

 carries off the patient, sometimes, between the four- 

 teenth and eighteenth day. These putrid and nervous 

 symptoms never take place in patients who have been 

 sufficiently bled and purged in the first stages of the 

 fever. 



There appear to be such a heat and irritation through 

 the whole course of the fever, that I have not used 

 one pound of Peruvian Bark in my attendance upon 

 more than one hundred patients, this present season. 

 Bark, calomel, and jalap, the medicines which were 

 once altogether relied upon, are now very little used 

 in the bilious fever of this country. The means that 

 are employed are simple, but the practice is successful. 



Onondaga, October 16th, 

 1803. 



used as a substitute for the Sarsaparilla (Smilax Sarsaparilla) of 

 the shops. Of the comparative useful powers of the two plants, I 

 am unable to say any thing certain. Editor. 



t No doubt, Aralia racemosa. This, also, is a very common 

 plant in the United-States, growing chiefly in the hilly countries, 

 and in very rich soil. Editor. 



