172 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



must observe, that the expectation of an eruption should never 

 prevent us from bleeding : I have hinted, once and again, how 

 much certain practitioners were adverse to it, from the consider- 

 ation, that the fever is necessary for the eruption ; but in the 

 measles it is agreed that if the fever or dyspnoea give any sus- 

 picion of a high degree of inflammation, bleeding is necessary, 

 safe, and proper, at every period in the course of the disease. 

 Dr. Sydenham, however, hardly went so far ; and his general 

 direction is, hardly to bleed till the eruption is formed. We 

 are generally uncertain how far we ought to be alarmed by the 

 symptoms, which may be violent during the eruptive fever, and 

 some, such as violent anxiety, sickness, fever, frequency of pulse, 

 may subsist during the eruption; but if they are without dysp- 

 noea, without pains about the thorax, but especially without a 

 violent and dry cough, I have seen them disappear entirely 

 with the eruption, and more certainly they disappear when de- 

 squamation takes place. Sydenham seems to have had in view 

 only the remainder of the inflammation ; but I would still re- 

 turn to the general rule, that when symptoms run high, it is 

 proper to have recourse to bleeding, and no disease, except 

 peripneumony itself, will bear a larger evacuation in this way 

 better : and not only during the course of the disease, but at 

 any time afterwards, bleeding is to be chiefly depended upon."'' 



DCXLVI. In all cases of measles, where there are no 

 marks of putrescency, and where there is no reason, from the 

 known nature of the epidemic, to apprehend putrescency, 

 bleeding is the remedy to be depended upon ; but assistance 

 may also be obtained from cooling purgatives, and particularly 

 from blistering on the sides or between the shoulders. 



DCXLVII. The dry cough may be alleviated by the large 

 use of demulcent pectorals, mucilaginous, oily, or sweet. It 

 may, however, be observed with respect to these demulcents, 

 that they are not so powerful in involving and correcting the 

 acrimony of the mass of blood as has been imagined ; and 

 that their chief operation is by besmearing the fauces, and 

 thereby defending them from the irritation of acrids, either 

 arising from the lungs, or distilling from the head. 



DCXLVI 1 1. For moderating and quieting the cough in this 

 disease, opiates certainly prove the most effectual means, when- 



