TREATMENT. 135 



creeds. But that we may not seem to be trifling with the 

 honored and well earned confidence which the teachings of 

 the different schools have inspired, we interpose an explana- 

 tion. If one were bitten by a rattlesnake, it would be 

 held by men of ordinary judgment to be the most reprehen- 

 sible bravado in him, to refuse all the methods of relief pro- 

 posed, and to trust entirely to the peculiar strength of his 

 constitution to quell the poisonous invasion. And it would 

 present a temerity entitled to but little less of blame, if he 

 were wittingly to allow the poison " swift as quicksilver " to 

 course through — 



" The natural gates and alleys of the body 



posset, 



And curd like eager droppings into milk 

 The thin and wholesome blood ;" 



— that at the last he might either prove himself in posses- 

 sion of a talismanic charm, strong enough to foil its enmity ; 

 or by a succession of charlatan-remedies to bafle his antag- 

 onist, or by countermoves, to weary him out. The instinct, 

 or if you will, the common sense of the race, demands that 

 no dalliance be held with such a mortal foe. The bane must 

 receive its antidote, if to be found, and that without a mo- 

 ment's unnecessary delay. 



In this view, the end proposed is to act as if the Pest 

 germs were the poison of an asp, at once to be rendered 

 inert; or some baleful dose swallowed, whose corrosive 

 action is instantly to be neutralized. The first and great 

 point then is to get rid of the toxic effects of the poisoned 

 germs which are developed in this zymotic, and to this end, 

 if one may quote a homely but expressive proverb, "not to 

 let grass grow under our feet." 



As a guide to the unskillful — a hand-book also to the 

 learned — we will indicate our proposed method of treatment 

 in a series of rules. 



Rule I. — In apprehension or in the presence of an outbreak of the 

 pest, 

 a. Apply the thermometer (see p. 65) to the vulva or rec-- 

 turn; and if the heat of the parts (the females not 



