TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 81 



out, or leave you the worse for wear." Repeat at intervals of a week, 2 or 3 

 times; and in nearly every case a permanent cure will be effected, if the medi- 

 cine is taken for 3 or 4 days at each repetition. 



[Note. — This is not an easy remedy to prepare. For a good many it will 

 be cheaper to send fl.OO to the Chase Medicine Co., Detroit, Mich., and get a 

 bottle already prepared.] 



Bilious Remittent Fever— Symptoms.— The attack is generally 

 sudden and well marked. Some writers say it has no prexnonitory symptoms; 

 others, that it has. The more general understanding is, that for a day or two, 

 or even longer, before the onset, there is a sense of languor and debility, slight 

 headache, lack of appetite, furred tongue, bitter taste in the mouth in the 

 morning, pains in the joints and general uneasiness. 



The formal onset is nearly always marked by a distinct chill or rigor, — 

 sometimes slight and brief; at other times severe and prolonged. The chill 

 may begin at the feet, or about the shoulder blades, or in the back, and thence 

 run like small streams of cold water poured in every direction through the 

 whole body. There is generally but one well-marked chill, the returns of the 

 paryoxysms of fever being seldom, after the first, preceded by the cold stage. 



During the hot stage the pulse is up to one hundred and twenty, or one 

 hundred and thirty. There are pains in the head, back and limbs, of a most 

 distressing kind. 



The tongue is generally covered with a yellowish, or dirty white fur; and 

 in bad cases, in the advanced stage, is frequently parched brown or nearly 

 black in the center, and red at the edges. There is no appetite for food, and 

 generally nausea and vomiting; and usually there is pain and tenderness in the 

 epigastrium. The bowels are at first costive, but afterwards become loose, and 

 there are frequent evacuations of dark, offensive matter. 



Causes. — This disease is produced by malarial exhalations from the decom- 

 position of vegetable matter. It is most prevalent in hot climates, and in 

 the summer and autumn. 



Treatment. — If the fever be in the formative stage, and has not fully 

 developed itself, give an emetic (see page 180), and follow it with a mild 

 cathartic— rochelle salts, 2 drs.; bi-carbonate of soda, 2 scruples; water, ^ pt. 

 Mix. To this mixture add 35 grains of tartaric acid, and take the whole 

 foaming. This is the recipe for Seidlitz powders. 



If the disease be already developed, sponge the body all over several times 

 a day with cold or tepid water, according to the feelings of the patient, and 

 give cooling drinks. To moderate the fever give 3 to 10-drop dose:; of tincture 

 or fluid extract of veratrum viride. The compound powder of Ipecac and 

 opium is a valuable preparation for the same purpose. Give cold water as 

 drink, if desired by the patient, or let him eat ice. 



When the headache is very severe, let wet cups be applied upon the 

 temples, or behind the ears; and the same remedy to the pit of the stomach, 

 when there is great tenderness, is often desirable; though a mustard plaster 

 ■will sometimes do better. 



