SMALLPOX 



5410 



SMELL 



Rifles for hunting purposes have kept pace 

 with the improvements effected in military 

 weapons. Smokeless powder at once found 

 universal favor among hunters, and a jacketed 

 bullet, that is, a bullet with a lead core, has 

 been found the most effective. On striking 

 game this bullet expands and inflicts a terrible 

 wound. The Winchester repeating rifle with a 

 .405 caliber, used by sportsmen throughout the 

 world, fires a cartridge containing a 300-grain 

 bullet with a charge developing a muzzle ve- 

 locity of 2,204 feet per second. Shooting with 

 the many different makes of revolvers has also 

 greatly improved since the general use of 

 smokeless powder, which does not readily foul 

 the barrel. During recent years the revolver 

 has been partially superseded by automatic 

 pistols, of which there are many patterns using 

 smokeless powder and steel-covered bullets. 

 Numerous small-bore rifles are popular, the .22 

 caliber repeater being an excellent weapon for 

 hunting small game. F.ST.A. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Blunderbuss . Revolver 



Bullet Rifle 



Cartridge Shotgun 



Musket Smokeless Powder 



SMALL 'POX, one of the most contagious 

 diseases known. Formerly epidemics of small- 

 pox carried off thousands of victims, but its 

 ravages are now checked by vaccination, which 

 is an almost certain preventive of the disease 

 in severe form (see VACCINATION). Unlike 

 many diseases, smallpox spares none, for tiny 

 babies and aged persons are alike susceptible 

 to it. The typical symptom is an eruption of 

 the skin that sometimes leaves the victim with 

 permanent scars, called pockmarks. 



About twelve days after exposure the patient 

 feels the first symptoms severe chill, pains in 

 the back, limbs and head, and nausea, with 

 temperature rising to 103 F. or higher. On 

 the third day small, red pimples, which feel like 

 bits of shot, appear on the face, spreading rap- 

 idly to the other parts of the body. In some 

 cases a preliminary rash appears on the sec- 

 ond day, but it fades away before the true 

 eruption breaks out. On about the sixth day 

 the pimples fill with matter, and a depression 

 appears on the center of each. In the interval 

 between the first rise in temperature and the 

 formation of pus the temperature falls practi- 

 cally to normal, but there is a high fever from 

 I the time the ulcers appear until the rash dries 

 up. This period lasts about a week and is 



marked by headache and sleeplessness and in 

 some instances by delirium. 



Treatment is directed chiefly toward keeping 

 down the temperature, relieving pain, and pre- 

 venting infection of the eyes and disfigurement 

 of the face. Permanent scars, however, cannot 

 be prevented if the ulcers reach the true skin. 

 Various methods are employed to avoid pit- 

 ting, such as keeping the face covered with lint 

 soaked in an antiseptic preparation, and pro- 

 tecting it from the light. No specific drug is 

 known which has definite curative effects, but 

 the disease is kept in check in all civilized 

 countries by means of vaccination and sanitary 

 measures. C.B.B. 



SMELL, the special sense which enables one 

 to distinguish odors. The sensation of smell 

 results when the olfactory lobes of the brain 

 are stimulated, but one always thinks of the 

 nose rather than the brain in this connection 

 (see NOSE). Both are essential, for the brain 

 contains the smell center, while the nose con- 

 tains the cells in which the nerves of smell 

 terminate. These olfactory cells are distrib- 

 uted through the mucous membrane in the up- 

 per part of the nasal cavities. They end on 

 the surface in tufts of hairlike processes that 

 are stimulated by odorous gases drawn up 

 through the nostrils. The nerves leading from 

 the cells transmit the impulse to the brain 

 center, and it is there registered as an odor. 

 Only those substances which are in the form of 

 a vapor or a gas can give off odor. When we 

 sample a fragrant toilet water we really smell 

 the vapor arising from it. Air must pass 

 through the nostrils before an odor can be per- 

 ceived, so a person in smelling a substance 

 "sniffs" to draw air into the upper part of the 

 nose. 



The sense of smell is diminished when one 

 has a cold, because the nerve endings are cov- 

 ered with too much mucus. The victim of a 

 cold often complains that he cannot taste any- 

 thing or that all foods taste the same. This is 

 because taste and smell are very closely re- 

 lated. In fact, the enjoyment of many foods 

 comes from the fact that they stimulate the 

 sense of smell. While the sense of smell is very 

 delicate, it is not of long duration. Most peo- 

 ple can detect the odor of camphor when it is 

 diluted in the proportion of 1 to 400,000, and 

 one drop of strong perfume will scent the air 

 of an entire room. At the same time, persons 

 remaining in the room would soon cease to be 

 aware of the odor, though it would be per- 

 ceptible to one on entering. The sense of smell 



