SPASMODIC AFFECTIONS. 411 



In the former edition of this work, among the remedies of te- 

 tanus, I did not mention the use of cold bathing ; because, 

 though I had heard of this, I was not informed of such frequent 

 employment of it as might confirm my opinion of its general ef- 

 ficacy ; nor was I sufficiently informed of the ordinary and pro- 

 per administration of it. But now, from the information of many 

 judicious practitioners who have frequently employed it, I can 

 say that it is a remedy which, in numerous trials, has been found 

 to be of great service in this disease ; and that, while the use of 

 the ambiguous remedy of warm bathing is entirely laid aside, 

 the use of cold bathing is over the whole of the West Indies 

 commonly employed. The administration of it is sometimes by 

 bathing the person in the sea, or more frequently by throwing 

 cold water from a bason or bucket upon the patients body, and 

 over the whole of it. When this is done, the body is carefully 

 wiped dry, wrapped in blankets, and laid a-bed, and, at the 

 same time, a large dose of an opiate is given. By these means 

 a considerable remission of the symptoms is obtained ; but this 

 remission at first does not commonly remain long, but return- 

 ing again in a few hours, the repetition both of the bathing and 

 the opiate becomes necessary. By these repetitions, however, 

 longer intervals of ease are obtained, and at length the disease 

 is entirely cured ; and this even happens sometimes very quick- 

 ly. I have only to add, that it does not appear to me, from any 

 accounts I have yet had, that the cold bathing has been so fre- 

 quently employed, or has been found so commonly successful in 

 the cases of tetanus in consequence of wounds, as in those from 

 the application of cold. 



MCCLXXXI. Before concluding this chapter, it is proper 

 for me to take some notice of that peculiar case of the tetanus, 

 or trismus, which attacks certain infants soon after their birth, 

 and has been properly enough named the Trismus Nascentium. 

 From the subjects it affects, it seems to be a peculiar disease : 

 for these are infants not above two weeks, and commonly before 

 they are nine days old ; insomuch that, in countries where the 

 disease is frequent, if children pass the period now mentioned, 

 they are considered as secure against its attacks. The symp- 

 tom of it chiefly taken notice of is the trismus, or locked jaw, 

 which is, by the vulgar, improperly named the Falling of the 



