Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-02-24
Letter from Kentucky.

LOUISVILLE, KY, Feb. 10.
Eds. ChrOniele:-A copy of the Chronicle
dated the 9th ultimo has just come to
hand, and as usual was read with much
interest. The quotations you make from
the Eclectic Journal cannot be read by
readers of medical literature without ex.
citing mingled feelings of mirthfulness
and contempt toward the author for eth
er his ignorance or impudence, and
think We will do him no injustice to say
both.
In the first place, he assumes an air Of
candor, and leaves the readerto infer that
he is profoundly read in theopinions of
the multitude Of authors who have writ
ten upon the subject of variola, by say
ing that ''it Is admitted by most authors
that small pox Is inaugurated by chills,
succeeded by febrile reaction, much like
remittent fever, followed by nausea,
thirst, &c." all of which is true, but in
stead of these symptoms being mooted
questions, or on which there has been any
dispute, as he leaves the reader to infer,
they are laid down by all authors as con-
slant symptoms, with Others that are of
no less value in determining between a
case of small pox and other eruptive dis
orders.
The writer now reveals to the medical
world a newly discovered symptom of
great diagnostic value which as he un-
doubtedly claims is the reward of ardu-
Gus labor and scientific research of some
care-word devotee to electicism, as he is
too modest to claim the honor himself.
After giving some of the trials and
mental perplexities through which the
cautious physician has to pass when call
ed to visit case of small pox, he says:
Now We offer this secret to the profess
sion-as soon as the eruptions appear, and
by pressure with the point of the finger
may distinctly be felt the small, hard
substance, precisely as if a small, fine
shot had been placed under the cuticle
OF the skin. This peculiar appearance
belongs to no other eruptive disease. We
have applied the term secret here for,
while it is and has been known to a few |
physicians, it is not mentioned in any of ,
the standard authorities nor does the
writer claim the credit of the discovery.
After this, all works upon practice will
add this unfailing diagnostic symptom.
What q modest man the writer of this /,
must be. | do not think, however, he
would have been envied had he &
claimed all the glory to himself, for there is
1ot word of truth in his statement,
ave the mere pathological fact which
vas taught and known long before electi- /
ism was thought of.
Now | do not wish 10 rob such men of
my of their glory or thunder, but as ths /
Vriter is evidently fair sample of many
# the eclectic fraternity, and as an at
empt has thus been made to gain capital
or clecticism, feel it but just and
roper that such false pretensions :
meet prompt and public rebuke. a
All the early writer's upon the subject q
# eruptiye feyers describe this movable, ?
ound, hard body underneath the cuticle, =
S peculiar to small pox, and have given o
he name "tubercular" to this early stage g
f the eruption .
Robert William, who wrote in the lat = =
or part of the eighteenth century, and n
Tas distinguished medical author in his t.
ay. says: THAT the eruption in the ear Z
stage OF small pox is small, hard, glob- :
lar and red, imparting the sensation,
hen the finger is pressed over them, W
milar to that which one might conceive D
'ould be excited by the pressure of e
nall, round seeds. underneath the cuti- ~
e, and that this peculiar feeling is char &C
'teristic of the val'iolas pustuie, and di
feature between small pox ~
Id other exsnthen atous diSsa=es.n-s -
'ilson, in his work upon diseases of the tn
in, describes the eruption as small. va
lrd, and conical in form. Prof. Wat. IN
n, who wrote work upon theory and -; 81
actice of medicine, which is q standard. M,
I'd has been since 1887, and who vas ey
'ofessor of Theory and Practice in the At
ing's Medical College in London, and -
acknowledged authority all oYsr tbs II