Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-17
To Yellow Fever Patients.

begin TO feel sick in any way, look out,
and be on your guard. Have mustard,
castor oil, orange leaves or some other
materials for making sweating tea on
hand, ready at a moments call. You
may resist all temptation to be sick
while you fee,wel but il you feel un.
well, il is foolish to try to persuade
yourself that you are well. Go to bed at
once
When you find that there is fever,
burning eyes, aching forehead, and pains
in the back Of the neck and different
parts Of the body, 90 to bed at once, and
then pursue the following course
l. Take something to open the bowels
as soon as possible. Four or five table.
spoonfuls of castor oil for man and
doses in proportion for women and
children. Castor oil is better than
anything else, but anything which will
open the bowels will do. The bowels
must be emptied as soon as possible.
2. Take strong bath of mustard and
warm water, lying fiat on your back 10
the bed, and the body closely covered up.
Just draw up your knees as you lie, so
that your feet may stand in the bath tub.
If perspiration does not break out, keep
putting in more warm water and
mustard, and dip out when the vessel is
about to become too full Keep in this
position until you are sweating.
3. AT the same time that you are
taking the bath, drink orange leaf tea,
or some other sweating tea, in small
.,ao.;t;aa o,,a.,r cau, ~, ;nuto, Don.o-.
Der that you wish to sweat, but that you
do not wish to fill the stomach too full.
A. When you have emptied the bowels
and started the perspiration, you have
nothing more to do, in ordinary yellow
fever, but to keep the temperature of the
room, and that of the skin, at about an
even grade, and let the fever run its
course. Sweat freely the first few hours,
and afterward keep up gentle mois-
ture, which will sometimes break into
perspiration, upon the skin. If perspra-
ton, or moisture, dries up, put on more
cover and give more tea, and if these
fail, resort again to the mustard bath.
But remember that you may sweat the
patient too much, or rather too long
Keep the room we'll ventilated but let no
draft or air strike the patient. Keep
everything quiet and cheerful. Let no.
body enter the room from first to last,
but the doctor and the nurse. Visitors
and friends who come to see the patient
and talk with him or her, are mere mes.
sengers of death. They have killed
their thousands and their tens of thou.
sands.
5. When the fever entirely subsidies,
give the patient beef tea and brandy
about a tablespoonful of beef tea, and
about a teaspoonful of brandy every
hour. Here again you must remember
that 1t is absolutely necessary not TO ir-
ritate the stomach. Combine both these
ends as much as possible. As the pa
tient becomes stronger you can increase
the amount of the beef tea and brandy,
though in the same proportion as before.
Look out for the increase of strength aud
the quetude of the stomach both at the
same time, and govern yourself accord
ingly.
G. To make beef tea, take lean beef,
the round or flank, cut out every par.
ticle of fat, vein, membrane or gristle,
cut it up into very small pieces, and fill
a common bottle about two thirds full
with it and cork it up, then put it into
vessel of boiling water. Let the water
come up as high as the neck of the
bottle-alwsys keep it higher than the
meat in the bottle, and let it boil for at
least three hours-longer will be better
Then strain it, let it cool, skim off every
bit of grease, and then it is ready for
use. Chicken tea can be made in the
same way, If it is more palatable to the
patient You need no ice. If the
stomach becomes troublesome, put a
mustard plaster on in time.
Watch the temperature of the room, and
do not allow the patient, after the first
few hours, either to sweat too much or to
become chilled. But sound, hearty
sweating is necessary for several hours
at the start. The patient, whether it be
an old person or babe, must lie quietly
in bed, and must not get up for any cause
whatever Quietude must be enforced if
necessary. Convalescence is as critical
as the fever itself. Relapse from yellow
fever is caused by the slightest exposure,
the slightest excess in eating or drinking,
or the slightest excitement of mind or
body from any cause whatsoever And
no yellow fever patient will be prudent
when convalescent unless made to be so.
Relapse is far more dangerous than the
original disease.
Nothing but the most vigilant nursing
can carry out all this.-Houston Tele-
graph.