INFLUENZA. 371 



patient labouring under typhus or typhoid has escaped as long as the fever con- 

 tinued, but on the very day convalescence commenced the symptoms of influenza 

 appeared. This is a very unfortunate circumstance, for just as a poor fellow has 

 struggled through an illness of three or four weeks' duration, he is attacked with a 

 new and dangerous malady, which again places him in a situation of imminent 

 danger. 



We know of no means by which influenza can be prevented. Unfavourable 

 hygienic conditions, and especially over-crowding, heighten its prevalence and 

 severity, but persons in the most favourable circumstances may be attacked. It 

 has been thought that those in well-warmed and yet ventilated houses escape best, 

 but this is very doubtful. In one of the last epidemics it was said that persons who 

 took the best care of themselves, who always went warmly clothed and were never 

 exposed to the inclemency of the weather, contracted the disease just as readily as 

 the half-clad labourer who had to undergo daily exposure to the vicissitudes of our 

 changeful climate. 



We now come to the treatment of the disease when it has actually declared 

 itself. It is of great importance to have the room cool and properly ventilated. 

 In a common cold the patient is best in bed and in a warm room ; but in influenza, 

 if the patient is not too ill, it is better to get him out of bed after the third day, and 

 place him on a sofa. Draughts and chills must be avoided on account of the risk of 

 inflammation of the lungs. As there is usually complete loss of appetite, it is a 

 difficult matter to get him to take much nourishment. Solid food may have to be 

 abstained from in bad cases for two or three days. Should beef-tea be given, it 

 should not be very hot, as it is apt to increase the headache and languor. Plenty 

 of milk should be given, alone or mixed with soda water, as may be most palatable 

 to the patient. Cold drinks, orange and lemon juice, cream of tartar water, rasp- 

 berry vinegar, weak citrate of potash, citric acid and water flavoured with sugar, 

 barley-water with lemon-juice, infusion of mallows, and so on, should be given ad 

 libitum, and when there is much fever they should be iced. Weak cold white wine 

 whey often proves grateful. In the way of stimulants, claret or hock, with seltzer 

 water, is useful ; but in the case of old people suffering greatly from debility, it is 

 usually necessary to give port wine or brandy. As soon as the fever begins to sub- 

 side, the patient should be encouraged to take solid food, although at first there may 

 be little or no appetite. The air of the sick-room should be kept moist by means of 

 the steam of a kettle placed on the hob, or by putting boiling water into flat, shallow 

 vessels. The inhalation of hot steam several times a day from a suitable inhaler 

 may prove useful, and the addition of ten or twenty drops of chloroform to the 

 water may subdue the violence of the cough. 



Bleeding in influenza always proves injurious, and the high mortality in some 

 epidemics is believed to have been due to the adoption of this mode of treatment. 

 Active purgation is to be avoided, but in many cases it is a good plan to begin 

 treatment by the administration of a three-grain calomel pill at bed-time (Pr. 61), 

 followed by a draught in the morning (Pr. 25). The calomel generally brings away 

 copious dark-coloured motions, after which the patient is much better in spirits, and 

 the fever abates. In the case of children a dose of grey powder may be substituted 



