*^ PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 



is sometimes symptomatic of disease in the urethra, and remittent 

 fever of worms and accumulations of sordes in the alimentary canal. 



CLASSIFICATION OF FEVERS. 



1. Intermittent. 7. Vaccine disease. 



2. Remittent. 8. Chicken pox. 



3 Yellow fever. 9. Measles or rubeola. 



4. 1 yphoid or enteric fever. 10. Scarlatina. 



^- J^Ph»^«- ]1. Erysipelas. 



b. bmall pox or variola. 12. Plague. 



Of several of these there are varieties, as, for instance, we may 

 have inflammatory, or congestive intermittents or remittents Some 

 are propagated by contagion, and are hence called contagious ; some 

 have the property in common that they are attended with an erup- 

 tive affection, and are denominated eruptive, or exanthematom fevers 

 Ihese are, in many instances, interchangeable terms; most con- 

 tagious fevers bemg exanthematous, and most of the exanthemata 

 contagious. Each, however, is distinct individually. 



INTEBMITTENT FEVERS, OR AGUES. 



These are characterized by febrile paroxysms, recurring at stated 

 times, and by the absence of fever between the paroxysms. 



Causes.— .T\iQj are commonly produced by a subtle atmospheric 

 poison, which has received the name o^ malaria, or marsh miasma 

 It has been said that this poison is produced by the putrefaction of 

 vegetable substances ; but it seems that a certain amount of heat and 

 moisture are sufficient, without any vegetable matter. Thus it is 

 very abundant on many sandy soils, where there is no vegetation 

 at all ; and— it must be noticed, that it does not proceed from lands 

 which are inundated, so much as from those which have been flooded 

 and are drying. It is more virulent in hot climates than in tempe- 

 rate— in low situations than in high ; the upper stories of a house 

 being much more healthy in aguish districts than the lower. It is 

 carried about by winds, but interrupted by trees ; and is always 

 more dangerous by night than by day. It is far more likely to at- 

 tack persons exhausted by fatigue, intemperance, or illness, than the 

 healthy : these, therefore, are predisposing causes. Cases sometimes 

 occur, which proceed obviously from some temporary irritation, such 

 as the introduction of instruments into the urethra, indigestible food 

 m the stomach, worms in the intestinal canal, &c. 



Varieties. ^■T\\.Q three most common varieties are — 

 ^ 1. The quotidian, in which the fit comes on every day, generally 

 m the morning, and lasts about ten or twelve hours. 



2. The tertian, which comes on alternate days, generally about 

 noon, and lasts till evening. ./ o j 



3. The quartan, which comes on once in three days, usually in 



