540 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



Heat and dryness of the body may be alleviated by washing the surface with 

 soap and tepid water several times a day. In order to avoid the risk of catching 

 cold, one part should be washed and dried and covered before another is exposed. 



The lips, tongue, and gums, when dry or coated with dried mucus, should be 

 washed and kept moistened by the application of glycerine. This greatly improves 

 both the comfort and appearance of the patient. If the sweet taste of the glyce- 

 rine is unpleasant, it may be diluted with an equal quantity of water or lemon- 

 juice. 



Delirium, such as occurs in typhus fever, may sometimes be controlled by the 

 administration of tincture of belladonna, a tea-spoonful of the mixture (Pr. 39) being 

 given every quarter of an hour for the first hour, and subsequently hourly. 



The bowels should be opened daily, and it may be necessary to employ some 

 mild laxative, such as castor oil. Purgatives should be used with care, as they are 

 apt to set up obstinate diarrhcea. 



When the patient is drowsy, care should be taken to see that he passes his water 

 at proper intervals. 



There are several ways in which the abnormal temperature of the body may be 

 reduced. Large closes of quinine may be advantageously used for this purpose. 

 The cold bath has been extensively employed in Germany for the reduction of tem- 

 perature, and the results have been extremely satisfactory. 'These methods of treat- 

 ment are described more fully under the head of typhoid fever (see TYPHOID FEVER). 

 The cold pack often proves of the greatest service in the acute specific diseases. 

 It has long been employed in scarlet fever, and should be used from the beginning, 

 and throughout the disease. In moderate attacks it is sufficient to pack the patient 

 from thirty to fifty minutes, but if the rash comes out slowly, imperfectly, and of a 

 dull red colour, or if the patient is restless and wandering, the packing must be con- 

 tinued an hour or two longer, and may be repeated three or four times a day. This 

 treatment develops tjie rash, greatly reduces the fever, quiets the pulse, renders 

 the skin moist and comfortable, and abates the restlessness and wandering. A 

 short time after the application of the wet sheet, a patient previously restless and 

 wandering commonly falls into a quiet, refreshing sleep, and awakes calm and free 

 from delirium. The influence on the pulse and temperature is also very striking, 

 the former in a few hours falling fifteen to twenty beats in the minute. The 

 packing is especially indicated on suppression or recession of the rash, when serious 

 symptoms are apt to arise ; the cold sheet will then bring out a brilliant rash, 

 generally followed by immediate improvement of the patient's condition. It may 

 be mentioned incidentally that in scarlet fever a cold wet compress, renewed every 

 three hours, may be advantageously worn round the throat, and if, on the decline of 

 the fever, the tonsils remain large, this application, renewed less frequently, or 

 applied only at night, may be continued till these morbid conditions are got rid of. 

 This is a digression. It should be stated that cold packing in the reduction of tempe- 

 rature proves equally beneficial in measles, small-pox, and the other fevers. 



Alcohol reduces the temperature slightly in fever, but its efficacy in this respect 

 is so insignificant, and doses so enormous must be taken to produce even trifling 

 results, that it is useless to give it solely with this intention. 



