r 



m 



V 



395 



MEDICAL 



PAPERS. 



The difeafe I have defcribecl, appeared to me to be of an 

 iafeclious nature, and as all infedion muft be owing to 

 fomething received into the body, thisj therefore, what- 

 ever it is, being drawn in by the breath of a healthy child, 

 irritates the glands of the fauces and trachea, as it pafFes 

 by them, and brings about a change in their fecretions. 

 The infeflion, however, did not feem in the prefent cafe 

 to depend fo much on any generally prevailing difpofitioa 

 of the air, as upon effluvi<Te received from the breath of 

 infeded perfons. This will account why the diforder 

 fhould go through a whole family, and not affed the next 

 door neighbour; and hence wc learn a very ufeful leffon, 

 namely, to remove all the young children in a family, as 

 foon as any one is taken with the difeafe; by which cauti- 

 on, I am convinced, many lives have been, and may again 

 be preferved. ' 



I fhall now proceed to deliver the method of cure, v/hich 

 was found moft fuccefsful in the difeafe, as fai" as it fell 

 imder my own obfervation. And in the firft place, as 

 from all the fymptoms related, it is evident that this dif« 

 order is not always, and in every ftage, attended with any 

 remarkable degree of putrefcency; and from the diffedi- 

 ons it appears 



the caufe, may at leaft be the confequence of thediftemp- 

 er, one would imagine that V. S. and evacuations were 



not totally to be forbid; and accordingly we find Dr. Don- 

 glafs direding us, that if the fever is high, and the pati- 

 ent is plethoric or accuftomed to venefedion, to takeaway 

 fome blood, but with difcretion : And if the tonfils are 

 much inflamed, with great pain and difficulty in fwallow- 

 ing, to ufe venefedion in the jugulars. And Hiixham ac- 

 knowledges, in the "ulcerous fore throats of which h 

 treats, ^^ That there were certainly fome of them with a 





'/. 



that an inflammation of the lungs, if not 





" pretty fmart fever that bore bleeding at the beginning 

 " v/ith advantage, and that he was obliged in feveral to 

 " give nitre with diaphoretics." 



But Fothergill fpeaking of the fore throat diftemperj 



^\ fecms to be of a 



-^^^hicb came under his notice, ar 



vln' 



more 



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