FEVER AND FEVERS. 541 



Iii most infectious diseases it is necessary to isolate the patient In severe cases 

 two i>eople should be api>ointed to act as nurses, one for day and tin- oth-r for night 

 duty. They should confine themselves strictly to the tqwirtmente of the Client, and 

 should not communicate with other inmates of the house. It is a good plan to 

 give up the whole of the top floor for the sole use of the pati.-nt and his ;ut-mlante. 

 A large sheet should be hung outside the door of the sick-chamber, so as to com- 

 pletely cover the doorway. The sheet should be dipped several times a-day in a 

 pail of carbolic acid and water (in the proportion of one part to <>i;Jit ) k< j.t outside 

 for the purpose. A sheet should also be susj>ended at the top of the stairs. Food, 

 kc., should be brought as far as the sheet and there left, the nurse being called 

 to take it in. It is only by the greatest care that many dls. 

 from spreading. 



After the patient has recovered from any infectious diooMO the room or rooms 

 which he has occupied should be thoroughly disinfected. The woodwork should U> 

 washed with soft soap and water, to which carbolic acid, in the proportion of one 

 pint of the common liquid to three or four gallons of water has been added. Tic- 

 room should be fumigated for three or four hours by means of burning sulphur. 

 The doors and windows and the chimney should be closed, and a pound of 

 sulphur should be put in a metal dish, covered with spirit, and then 1L 

 After three hours the doors and windows should be opened and kept o|>en for 

 from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. It is essential that plenty of sulphur 

 should be used, and when the room is large it is desirable to have some at each 

 end. Any old iron pot will do to contain it. The fumes from the burning sulphur 

 are very irritating, and care must be taken to avoid inhaling them. 



The soiled linen and bedclothes should be boiled for some hours in water to 

 which chloride of lime or carbolic acid has been added. Mattresses and clothes 

 which cannot be washed may be disinfected by baking them in a hot chamber, or 

 by subjecting them to the fumes of burning sulphur. Hair mattresses should be 

 taken to pieces before being fumigated. 



During the stage of convalescence much of the day should be sj)ent out of 

 doors, and a change of air should be resorted to as soon as the patient is al 

 bear the journey. Attention should be paid to clothing, and flannel should be 

 worn next the skin. The hours of rest should be long, and sleep may !> 

 indulged in with advantage for a short time during the afternoon. Every care 

 should be taken to ensure a good night's rest The supper should be light, and 

 should be taken one or two hours before going to bed. Plenty of good plain 

 food should be eaten at regular hours. Stimulants are required, if at all, in small 

 quantities, and should be taken only with meals. Sea-bathing will be found of the 

 greatest possible service. The bath should be taken about three hours after break- 

 fast At first the patient should stay in the water for only a very few minut.-s. 

 In addition to the sea-bath a cold sponge-bath should be taken every morning on 

 getting out of bed. Tonics, such as iron, quinine, and cod-liver oil may sometime- 

 In- used with advantage. It should always be remembered that a patient during 

 convalescence is in much the same condition as a child. Convalescence is a period, 

 if not of growth, of great repair a condition analogous to growth. 



