AGUE. 79 



mixed with water. Should this fail, relief may often be obtained by taking the 

 bismuth mixture (Pr. 18) in two table-spoonful doses three times a day, half an hour 

 before meals. When the acidity is accompanied by pale-coloured motions, it is 

 an indication that the liver is not properly performing its functions, and one of the 

 sugar and givy powders (Pr. 71) should be taken three times a day. 



For the acidity from which pregnant women often suffer the best remedy is two 

 <u three drops of tincture of nux-vomica taken in a little water a few minutes before 

 meals. Should this fail, it is somewhat controlled by drop doses of ipecacuanha 

 wine taken every three hours in a little water. 



In all cases of acidity it is advisable to avoid any article of food which has been 

 observed to excite an attack. 



AGUE OR INTERMITTENT FEVER. 



Whoever has read Robinson Crusoe and who has not revelled in its pages? must 

 have formed some idea as to the nature of ague. The fits are so graphically 

 described, and the description is so true to nature, that we feel assured that even 

 if Defoe did not himself suffer from the malady, he must have had opportunities 

 of carefully watching its progress. Ague resembles many other diseases in coming 

 on in paroxysms or fits. The patient suffers from a certain seiies of symptoms, 

 and then reverts to his ordinary condition of health. This alternation may occur 

 several or many times, according to the duration of the attack. 



Ague is caused by the entrance into the system of a poison called " malaria." 

 What malaria is, it is not very easy to say. We must pause, however, for a 

 moment, and consider what we know about it. It is nothing we can see or feel, 

 or that the chemist can detect, even by his most subtle tests, and we know of its 

 existence only by the marked effects which it produces on those who are exposed to 

 its influence. It is not simply " bad air : " at all events, in the sense in which we 

 usually use that term. The impure air of London and other large cities is injurious 

 enough to the health, but it never gives rise to ague. Malaria is something quite 

 distinct. 



It is commonly met with in the neighbourhood of marshes in hot climates, and is 

 often spoken of as " marsh miasm." It is believed to arise from the decomposition 

 of vegetable matters in moist places, and under high temperatures. It is sometimes 

 met with in sandy soils, but a careful examination will nearly always disclose the 

 fact that there is water and vegetable matter not far from the surface, the moisture 

 being in all probability retained by a bed of clay or some similar cause. It is 

 curious to observe what a small quantity of decomposing vegetable matter is, under 

 favourable circumstances, sufficient to excite ague. A few years ago, at a hospital 

 in Germany, a large day- ward was used for convalescents. As soon as a patient had 

 been in this ward for two or three days, he invariably had a bad attack of tertian 

 ague. In no other ward did this occur, and the matter remained a mystery until 

 on close inspection a large rum cask full of rotten leaves and brushwood was found. 

 This had overflowed and formed a stagnant marsh some four or five feet square, 

 close to the doors and windows of the room, which on account of the heat had been 

 left open at night. On its removal the occurrence of ague at once ceased. 



