CLASS II. i. 3. 9. OF SENSATION. 205 



When the inoculated fmall-pox is given under all the moil fa- 

 vourable circumftances, I believe lefs than one in a thoufand 

 milcarry, which may be afcribed to fome unavoidable accident, 

 fuch as the patient having previoufly received the infection, or 

 being about to be ill of fome other difeafe. Thofe which have late- 

 ly mifcarried under inoculation, as far as has come to my knowl- 

 edge, have been chiefly children at the breatl ; for in thefe the 

 habit of living in the air has been confirmed by fo fhort a time, 

 that it is much eafier deftroyed, than when thefe habits of life 

 have been eftablifbed by more frequent repetition. See Seel:. 

 XVII. 3. Thus it appears from the bills of mortality kept in 

 the great cities of London, Paris, and Vienna, that out of every 

 thoufand children above three hundred and fifty die under two 

 years old. (Kirkpatrick on Inoculation.) Whence a ftrong 

 reafon againft our hazarding inoculation before that age is pafP- 

 ed, efpecially in crowded towns , except where the vicinity of 

 the natural contagion renders it neceflary, or the convenience of 

 inoculating a whole family at a time ; as it then becomes better 

 to venture the lefs favourable circumftances of the age of the pa- 

 tient, or the chance of the pain from toothing, than to rifk the 

 infection in the natural way. 



The mod favourable method confifts in, firft, for a week be- 

 fore inoculation, reftraining the patients from all kinds of fer- 

 mented or fpirituous liquor, and from animal food ; and by giv- 

 ing them from one grain to three or four of calomel every oth- 

 er day for three times. But if the patients be in any the leaft 

 danger of taking the natural infection, the inoculation had bet- 

 ter be immediately performed, and this abftinence then begun ; 

 and two or three gentle purges with calomel fliould be given, 

 one immediately, and on alternate days. Thefe cathartics 

 fhould not induce more than two or three ftools. I have feen 

 two inftances of a confluent fmali-pox in inoculation following 

 a violent purging induced by too large a dole of calomel. 



Secondly, the matter ufed for inoculation {hould be in a fmall 

 quantity, and warm, and fluid. Hence it is beft when it can 

 be recently taken from a patient in the difeafe j or otherwife it 

 may be diluted with part of a drop of warm water, fince its flu- 

 idity is likely to occailon its immediate abforption ; and the 

 wound mould be made as fmall and fuperficial as poilible, as 

 otherwife ulcers have been fuppofed fometimes to enfue with 

 fubaxillary abfceiTes. Add to this, that the making two punc- 

 tures either on the fame or one on each arm, fecures the fuccefs 

 of the operation in refpeft to communicating the infeclion. 



Thirdly, at the time of the fever or eruption, the application 

 of cool air to thofc parts of the ikin which are too warm, or ap- 

 pear 



