The Sun.
London, England, 1818-12-09 00:00:00

• man remarks, that tee have not vet overcome all
our terrors of debility, and we still have recourse
to our stimulants, although in less formidable
doses. These, however, except in a very few in-
stances, anti in the later stages, are to be entirely
discarded ; we are to commence with an emetic
of ipecacuanha ; then to administer a purgative;
and afterwards, if the occasion requires, proceed
to blood-letting, and employ cold drinks and ex-
ternal cold through every period of the disease.—
Dr. Bateman has not, however; found the use of
the cold effusions, as recommended by Currie, to
answer the expectations that were raised in its
favour; it is often difficult to put in practice; it
did not apparently abridge the disease ; and it
would appear that colti washing with a sponge is
generally a more effectual remedy. Dr. B.'s re-
marks on blood-letting are so peculiarly candid
and judicious, that they deserve the utmost ctens
tion of all those who are anxious to acquire the
most correct judgment on this very imporzant and
much controverted question-=" No appearance of
languor or debility," as it is very forcibly and cor-
rectly stated, " should induce a disposition to
swerve from a steady pursuit of the anti-phlogistic
plan, in diet, regimen, and medicine." Through
the whole progress.of the disease, except in same
cases towards its termination, Dr. Bateman en-
joins that, whatever may be the appearance of de-,
bility, ," the administration of camphor, ethereal
fluids, aromatic confection, and every description
of cordial or tonic, and more especially bark,
should be religiously avoided." The opposite
treatment has, beyond all doubt, produced those
very symptoms of malignancy which the bark and
wine were supposed to be necessary to correct.—
All those appearances which depend on a morbid
condition of the nervous system, and which have
usually been attributed to debility, are with much
more propriety referred to the effect of congestion,
and consequent irritation of the brain or its ap-
pendages. Many important points are discussed
in the section on contagion, which we regret that
our limits will not permit us to specify farther
titan by a general reference. The most material
of these points respects the distance to
.which the
contagion of typhus is capable of being conveyed
by the atmosphere; a distance which Dr. Bate-
own conceives is much less than we commonly
suspect, never perhaps extending more than re few
feet from the source where it is generated or ac-
cumulated, provided that free access to fresh air is
admitted. lu proof of this very important practi-
cal position, facts are cited from the works of
Russel, De Moirtens, and others, respecting the
plague, as melt as front Lind and
,llaygarth re-
specting feyers generally ; and from the very
curious experiments of O'Rvan, of Lyons, on the
contagion of small-pox. From these and other
facts of a similar tendency, Dr. Bateman draws
the conclusion, " that infection cannot he caught
in the open air, even by a close approximation to
the most tainted sources of it, the uncleansed
person and contaminated apparel of the sick : in
short, that, to be rendered communicable, it must
be condensed and accumulated in a confined and
unchanged atmosphere ; or in the apparel or
bedding, which has been long in contact with the
patient'." The practical inferences, therefore, ate
clear; namely, that apprehensions of danger, from
passing through the streets of an infected district,
or near hospitals, are altogether unfounded ; that
even in an apartment, contagion may be entirely
prevented from spreading by perfect ventilation
and cleanliness, which should therefore be exclu-
sively relied upon ; carefully avoiding the use of
camphor, tobacco, vinegar; and all strong smelling
substances, which have no influence in destroying
contagion, and which lead to a dangerous suppo-
sition of seentity, by concealing the taint which
ought to be removed by ventilation.