348 EXTERNAL USE OF COLD WATER 



I beg leave to present you with this copy, that, if you 



think proper, you may give it a place in your useful Medical 



Journal. 



Edinburgh, \ 

 1 bth September 1807- J" 



" In the year 1768, the small-pox was in a manner epide- 

 mic in Jamaica ; it proved fatal to a number of people who 

 took it in the natural way, but only to a few who were ino- 

 culated and properly treated. 



" This disease became general about the months of April, 

 May, and June, in the parish of St James's. Such as had the 

 disorder in the natural way, had a load of pustules, and often 

 of the confluent kind. Sydenham's cool method of treat- 

 ment was called to our remembrance, by the success of the 

 Messrs Suttons, and of Dr Dimsdale. But although a li- 

 beral use of cold drinks were allowed the sick, little benefit 

 could be expected from cool air, in such a climate and season 

 of the year. 



" It is well known, that the quantity and quality of small- 

 pox depends on the duration and violence of the eruptive 

 fever ; — any expedient, then, to mitigate the one, would of 

 course render the other more favourable. 



" The Maroon Negroes * in Jamaica, and some nations on 

 the coast of Guinea, have a custom of plastering the bodies 

 of such of themselves as are taken ill of the small- pox, and 

 especially during the eruptive fever, with xvet clay, and with 

 such good effects as determined me to try the cold bath. 



" So soon as a person was seized with the variolous fever, 

 whether from inoculation or otherwise, I caused an assistant 



• " Maroon Negroes — Soon after the English settled in Jamaica, a 

 number of runaway Negroes assembled in the mountainous places. They 

 became formidable, and committed such ravages and depredations on the 

 white inhabitants, as greatly obstructed the settlement of the country. 

 Governor Trelawny obliged them to capitulate in 1739." 



