IN THE SMALL-POX. 349 



to throw cold water on their naked bodies every four or six 

 hours. The consequence was a truce from the fever, from 

 the headach, and pain in the back ; a glow succeeded, wjlh a 

 kindly perspiration. The eruption after this was for the most 

 part favourable. 



" In other cases, where the small-pox had made their ap- 

 pearance, and by their quantity, and the continuance of the 

 fever, a confluent pock was apprehended, the cold bath not 

 only abated the fever, but diminished the number of pustules, 

 and the patients went through the disease easier. I do not 

 recollect more than one person out of five hundred, treated 

 in this manner, but what agreed perfectly well with the cold 

 affusion. 



" So soon as the eruption was completed, and the fever 

 gone, I desisted from the external application of cold water ; 

 I kept my patients in cool air, and allowed them cold water 

 through the whole course of the disease. 



" The secondary fever was prevented, or greatly mitigat- 

 ed, by timely purging the patient: and so soon as the pus- 

 tules were at the height, by discharging the contents by a 

 needle or some sharp pointed instrument *, by the bark, and 

 sometimes epispastics. But where the fever run high, anti- 

 monial wine, or James's powder, was given ; but in common 

 cooling laxatives, small doses of emetic tartar, with or with- 

 out opiates, were sufficient ; and, lastly, the bark and port- 

 wine.' 1 



Extract of a Letter from Dr Gairdner, dated St James's, 

 October 24. 1778. 



" The small-pox made their appearance in this parish, and 

 it became necessary to inoculate the Negroes on Green Park, 

 and Castle Wemyss estates, and also those of the small 

 settlements. The practice was the same as Baron Dimsdale 



* A practice common on the coast of Guinea. 



