Nothing is of so much importance as pure air, and that in an unlimited quantity. In this hospital we have kept tour windows open constantly by night and by day throughout the months of February., March, April. etc.; and this has been attended with the very best results, four our mortality is the lowest of all the Small-pox hospital sin London, and we were reviving our patients front the same source, s and some time before this epidemic reached its height.( Dr. A. Collie, late Resident Officer of the Homerton Fever Hospital). During the entire course of the disease, especially when the skin becomes hot, painful, or irritable, the whole surface may be sponged with warm water,, to which a spoonful of Perfumed Carbolic Acuity ahead been aged, and well dried with a soft towel. This generally affords great relief. the use of Perfumed Carbolic Acid in the above manner, and the infusion of his vapour in the air of the apportionment, tend to mitigate Small-pox. In the early stage of the disease, great advantage may also be derived front the wet-pack (see Secale26) followed by a sponge bath. Frequently changing the posture of the patient in bed, so as to avoid constant pressure one the back or nates, prevents bed-sores. After the pustules burst, powdered starch or flour should be freely applied to absorb the matter. Cleanliness, frequent tepid washing, and an occasional warm bath,. are especially necessary during h last state of he disease.
To prevent pitting, the pustules should be frequently smeared over with olive oil, cold cream, or a mixture of one-third of glycerine with two-thirds of water. A still better mixture is one of cream and flour, in such proportions as will make a thick paste. This should be freely painted over the face and neck, and renewed when necessary. But this means the action of light on the pustules (which so to speak, photographs then on the skin) may be prevented, as well as th consequent pitting at the same time we allay the irritation which accompanies the site of maturation. the hands of children should be muffled and lightly secured, to prevent scratching, which might lead to ulceration. Adults may wear loose gloves. This precaution is especially necessary while the patient is asleep, the acts unconsciously.
DIET-Tea and dry toast, raw eggs beaten up with cold milk, beef- tea, etc.; grapes, roasted apples, and wholesome ripe fruits in season. For drink, cold water is generally prepared and any objection to it by nurses or friends should be firmly resisted; in addition, milk diluted with about one third or one half soda water, lemonade, raspberry vinegar-water, current-jelly-water, and barley-water. For further hints on diet and beverages see Part II.
DISINFECTION-The only absolutely safe method to adopt with infected clothing and bedding is to burn them. If this be objected to, they should be either baked or boiled at a temperature of 212 degree. Rooms should be disinfected by fumigating with burning Sulphur, with all apertures closed over with formalin vapour. The walls should then be divested of their paper, or colour, or whitewash; the floor thoroughly scrubbed and washed over with a solution of lime of of zinc; walls and ceilings well limewashed; and afterwards the doors and windows kept open for several days.
35-Cow-pox (Vaccinia) and Vaccination
DEFINITION-Vaccinia is disease of the cow, which by inoculation, was accidentally discovered, a hundred years ago, by Jenner, to be protective against Small-pox in man.
VACCINATION is the process by which the disease vaccinia is artificially introduced into the human system for the purpose of protecting it against Small-pox.
This process is in strict accordance with the homoeopathic principle, a s it is preventive of Small-pox in consequence of the Homoeopathic relationship it bears to that disease. Its tendency is not only to prevent a fatal termination, and render the disease mild in its course, e should it occur, but to keep off the disease altogether. That it does succeed in effecting this we think the evident available tends to prove. At the same time it must be admitted that the process of vaccination is one of blood-poisoning. A Royal Commission appointed to inquire into he whole question after severe years ‘labour, reported in 1896. Although the Commissions, among whom were a number of eminent medical men, were unanimous on the point of its protective efficacy they reported as follows Where vaccination has been most through the protection appears to have been greatest. the fact that the re-vaccination of adults places them in so favorable a condition, as compared with the unvaccinated, affords further confirmation of the conclusions suggested by the evidence. We have not disregarded the arguments adduced for the purpose of showing that a belief in vaccination is unsupported by a just view of the facts. We have endeavored to give full weight to them. Having done so, it has appeared to us impossible to resist the conclusion that vaccination has a protective effect in relation to Small-pox. The most careful inquiries have failed to determine the real source of the vaccine, and whether it be Small-pox, modified by passing through the cow, or an entirely distinct disease, no one can say. To diminish risks, the Commissioners recommend the use of calf vaccine.
In performing vaccination, the following are the chief points to be observed–
1. Vaccine from the calf should be used in temperate climates. In hot climates, the greatest care should be taken to secure a healthy child as vaccinifer. That leprosy has been transmitted by means of vaccination has been proved; the persons from whom the vaccine was taken having no outward manifestations of leprosy at the time.
2. The vaccinator should employ a clean lancet– Pyaemia, Syphilis, and other kinds of blood- contamination, no doubt, often follow from the use of a foul lancet.
3. The vaccine should be taken on the eighth day, unmixed with blood or any other secretion.
4. The matter should be inserted in three or four places in one arm.
5. When arm-to-arm vaccination cannot be practised, the lymph should be preserved in hermetically sealed capillary tubes, or on ivory points.
6. Vaccination should not be performed too soon. The vaccination Act, 1898, lengthens the period to six months from date of birth. It is better to perform the operation early when dentition has not commenced. Vaccination should never be performed in delicate children of low vitality, from whatever cause, or during the period of dentition.
7. Treatment is scarcely ever necessary, as the condition thus set up, described as Small-pox in miniature, is very simple. But should there be much inflammatory redness and swelling, a few doses of Aconite, Apis., or Belladonna may be given. Occasionally a poultice is necessary, or dusting the part with flour or finely- powdered starch. As the pocks are declining, a dose of Sulphur, morning and night, for a few days, is recommended, to correct any constitutional tendency to skin disease, sore eyes, etc., that may otherwise be called into action.
8. Re-vaccination should take place at the age of puberty, the great systematic changes which occur at this time of life rendering it generally necessary. Persons at this period, especially if they are about to change their place of abode, should be examined, and if they have only one cicatrix, or if that is imperfect, or if there is no cicatrix at all, they should be re-vaccinated. For just upon thirty years we have re- vaccinated all the nurses and servants who had not Small-pox, on their coming to live at the Small-pox Hospital, and not one of them has contracted Small-pox during their stay here (Marson).
Evils may have arisen from the careless performance of vaccination; but they only tend to prove that this operation, like every other on the human body, should be performed with due care and skill. But if Small-pox does occur in vaccinated persons, it does so with a trifling mortality. During the last epidemic it was particularly noticeable that even where the eruption was confluent (Which was very seldom the case) in patients who had been well vaccinated the accompanying constitutional symptoms were much modified. The occurrence of the disease after one vaccination is not an argument for non- vaccination but for re-vaccination. There is a widespread belief among homoeopathists that vaccination, and especially repeated vaccination, has a profound effect upon the system, leaving it more liable to chronic catarrhs and various chronic ailments. The great antidote to this condition is Thuja, and this remedy may be thought of in any chronic condition when there is a history of repeated vaccinations or of diseases (e.g.eczema) first appearing soon after vaccination.
36.– Chicken Pox (Varicella)
DEFINITION.– A febrile disease with a pustular eruption, similar in appearance to that of Small-pox, for which it may be at first mistaken. It differs from Small-pox in the slighter degree of fever which attends it, m in the eruption being vesicular from the first and never solid, in the vesicles being pointed in the centre and becoming filled with a watery fluid about the second or third day, which is seldom converted into yellow matter, as in Small-pox, and in its rapid course. Generally, on the third or fourth day, the vesicles dry up, forming crusts or scabs, leaving no permanent scars.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."