CHAPTER XV 



MEASLES 



DEFORE the time of Sydenham (1685) measles 

 ^ and scarlet fever were not, as a rule, recognised 

 as distinct diseases and both of these eruptive fevers 

 were commonly confounded with smallpox. Indeed 

 it not unfrequently occurs even at the present day 

 that cases of smallpox are diagnosed as measles at 

 the outset of the attack ; but the development of 

 the characteristic eruption of smallpox soon makes it 

 evident that a serious mistake has been made. The 

 period of incubation in measles is from ten to twelve 

 days, and the eruption usually appears on the third 

 day after the initial symptoms are developed. These 

 consist of fever and catarrhal symptoms, attended 

 with cough and a watery discharge from the con- 

 gested mucous membrane of the eyes and nose. 



Measles, like scarlet fever, is a disease which has 

 not been materially influenced by modern sanitary 



measures. The sanitary statistics of England and 



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