VOL. XXXH.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 56/ 



frequently from 50 to 200, and some have had more than could well be num- 

 bered, but never of the confluent sort. Their appearance was the same with 

 those of the distinct kind ; they commonly came out very round and florid, 

 and many times rose as large as any I have observed of the natural sort, going 

 off with a yellow crust or scab as usual ; though it sometimes happens, espe- 

 cially when the sores discharge a very great quantity of matter, that they are 

 both few in number, and do not rise to any bulk; but having made their appear- 

 ance for 4 or 5 days they waste insensibly away. 



After the small-pox come out, the feverish symptoms gradually abate; and 

 when the eruption is completed, they usually cease, without any second fever, 

 or any further trouble in any respect. 



While the pustules were rising, and for some time after they were gone, 

 the sores continued to swell and to run very much, the longer they did so 

 the better; but they never failed to heal up of themselves after a certain 

 time. 



I very rarely saw occasion for any medicines in the course of the distemper, 

 only sometimes, when the symptoms ran very high, I gave a gentle anodyne, 

 to be repeated as occasion should require, and once or twice I thought it neces- 

 sary to blister, and to use such medicines as are found to be most serviceable 

 in the small-pox of the natural sort. After the pustules are gone away, they 

 have always been purged twice or thrice, and sometimes let blood, which is all 

 that has been usually done. But though the practice may seem to be very easy, 

 yet it is an affair of such a nature as to require the utmost care, and I presume 

 it will never be undertaken without the advice of physicians to direct a proper 

 method of preparation before the incision is made, as well as a. just regimen 

 afterwards, to watch every symptom, and lend nature all proper assistance, 

 whenever it shall be requisite. Where this is done, it will seldom fail of being 

 attended with happy success. 



It has happened in one instance or two, that the symptoms in the distemper 

 have been worse than usual, and some few, after the small pox were gone off, 

 have been subject to other indispositions. 



Whether those slight indispositions, which some have been subject to atter 

 ward, were owing to the incision, I have not been able to judge; but I presume 

 what they have endured in the course of the distemper, and what has followed 

 after, is not to be compared with what is undergone in the common way, by 

 those who are thought to come off very well; and if this method was more 

 generally practised, probably some means would be found out to prevent even . 

 these subsequent disorders, which are no more frequent, nor near so bad, as 

 those which follow the natural sort. 



