DISEASES OF ADULT LIFE. _ 359 
—— 
found him in the last stage of putrid fever. His tongue was 
black, his pulse was scarcely perceptible, and he lay stretched 
out like a corpse, in a state of drowsy insensibility. I im- 
mediately procured some yeast, which I diluted with water 
and poured down his throat. I then left him with little hope 
of his recovery. I returned to him in about two hours, and 
found him sensible and able to converse. I then gave him a 
dose of bark. He afterwards took, at proper intervals, some 
refreshment. I stayed with him till he repeated the yeast, 
and then left him with directions how to proceed. I called 
upon him the next morning at nine o’clock, and found him 
apparently recovered. He was an old man, upwards of 
seventy.” (See also our New Zealand Remedy, page 52.) 
TYPHOID FEVER. 
There are not many outside the ranks of the profession 
that can tell the difference between this form of fever and the 
former. Putting it in as few words as possible we may first 
point out their similarity. They are both continuing fevers, 
both dangerous. Typhus is characterised by great prostration 
and a general dusky mottled rash without a definite affection 
of the bowels. Typhoid is characterised by the appearance 
of rose-coloured spots, chiefly on the abdomen, with a specific 
lesion or ulceration of the bowels; the one may run into the 
other. They are both caused by distinct animal or vegetable 
poisons, or both combined. ‘Typhoid is more common to the 
young than the advanced in life, also more prevalent in 
autumn, or as the Americans say, the fall. As this form of 
fever is the most common and the most to be dreaded in the 
colonies, our readers will excuse us for dwelling upon it at some 
length. Some writers speak of a predisposing cause resulting 
from an earlier affection of the mesenteric glands; but while 
that may be so, it is evident that many are attacked who have 
passed through life without any ailment of the kind. There 
can be no doubt that the exciting cause is the poisonous 
effuvia of decaying animal and vegetable matter. Dr. 
Murchison in his book, ** The Continued Fever of Great 
