FEBRILE AND SPASMODIC DISEASES. H7 





dry out of hot water, and applied of such a degree of heal as 

 to hf pleasing to the patient, afforded sensible relief. 



Dr Cukkik, at page 1G1, says, k; Medical science lias not 

 ascertained the various remote pauses which may produce lo- 

 ver.'" To confine the remote causes of fever to human efflu- 

 via or marsh miasma, may strictly he tine ashore in the West 

 Indies; but it is well known, that a malignant fever may be 

 contracted in dark and confined chambers, and any other ill- 

 ventilated places, whether on shore or aboard a ship; and al- 

 though the experiments of l)r Mitchell. of New York are 

 not conclusive, it is to be hoped that the air in dungeons, 

 &c. will be minutely examined, and its effects on the human 

 body soon ascertained by some able hand. 



I coincide in what Dr Cukiue says on the treatment of 

 the plague at page 186, and Appendix, page 54. We have 

 the best grounded hopes that the cold affusion will prove suc- 

 cessful in the plague, as well as in all cases of malignant fe- 

 ver; and this will be insured by careful and effectual friction 

 with oil or other unctuous substances. Oily frictions were 

 used by me on a small scale, and chiefly to prevent the inor- 

 dinate waste by sweatings in fevers ; as also in fluxes, where I 

 suspected that there were constrictions of the extreme vessels 

 and pores of the skin. 



Dr Cuurie, at page °,10, thinks the cold affusion improper 

 in local inflammations. I never enter the house of the mid- 

 dling ranks, or of the poor, where I see small children, but it 

 immediately occurs to me to caution the mother against burns 

 and scalds ; and if it should unfortunately happen that 

 any of the children should be scalded, to keep pouring the 

 coldest water on the scalded part, for half an hour at least, 

 and then to lay a wet linen rag over the part, to be renew- 

 ed often. By this means the blistering of the part is effectu- 

 ally prevented, and the beginning inflammations soon dis- 

 appear. 



i)d 



