436 TREATMENT. 



and occupied both night and day at the hospital, or in 

 attendance on their own private patients. Harassed inces- 

 santly, and deprived of their natural rest, the medical men 

 looked like spectres ; and though they all exposed themselves 

 personally in every quarter, and with the most perfect devo- 

 tedness, yet their exertions were necessarily confined to 

 comparatively few out of the thousands who at the time 

 required their assistance. 



The more the plague spread, the more fierce and un- 

 manageable it became. Infected persons were generally 

 carried off in six to eight hours, and the deaths in this small 

 population amounted at one time to about three hundred a 

 day ! " The progress of the disease was so rapid, and the 

 necessity of prompt interment so great," writes another 

 friend, " that a young relative, for whom I was guardian, 

 sickened, died, and was buried even before I could hear of 

 her seizure, although I was in town daily." 



The usual symptoms of the cholera were livid countenance, 

 contraction of features, sunken eyes, cramp of the stomach 

 and legs, vomiting and diarrhoea. In the hospitals, the first 

 thing done with the patient when in this state, after putting 

 him into bed, and administering the needful medicines, was 

 to have his limbs constantly rubbed or shampooed, by one 

 or more persons, until the cramps diminished and profuse 

 perspiration ensued; when this was the case, the disease 

 usually abated, the eyes resumed their natural appearance, 

 and the skin its proper colour. In spite of every care and 

 attention however, fully half of the sick perished. This, 

 indeed, seems to have been the case in all places.* 



* Farther particulars respecting the symptoms and treatment of the cholera 

 will be found in the Appendix. 



