Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-06-07
SMALL POX.

Though an old acquaintance Of ours we
did not at first recognize him;-as he
himself confessed, he looked, u%ndoubted-
", mean enough to edit the Enterprise.
He drew our attention to the following
queer resolution recently passed by the
Board Of Aldermen Of Virginia, and
asked US to explain wha, was meant BY
the words "frmly bound"
Resolved; That all smallpox patients
that have been confined in the City Pest
house are requested to make immediate
payment to C. Finley the TaI-Collector
the sum of three dollars for each day SO
| confined in said pest-house, and that tho
| Mayor and Board Of Aldermen will hold
every person so confined, or may be so
| confined in said pest.house, firmly bound
| until the amount specified aboveis liqui-
dated.
We advised him to 60 to acting City
Attorney Cole, for a legaliuterpretation.
| He wanted to know il a man who had
given $50 TO the Southern Relief Fund
almost his last dollar-suddenly fell
| sick and was forced to 60 to the pest
house-taken away from home and rel
atives-if such a person could be, or
ought to be "6rmly bound" in any sense
TO pay the city or county for his care?
We told him we presumed the resolu-
ton was merely a notice to those who
could pay, that the city would like to
have them fork over So per day. There
is no heart in our communities more
kind than the one that throbs in the bo-
som Of the Mayor Of Virginia. As the
smallpox still circulates, and as many
Of our readers may like to know what
are its certain symptoms, we condense
a description Of the premonitions, from
one Of the recently published standard
medical works of the day:
Symptoms Of Distinct Small Por.-The
attack is characterized by the usual
~premouitory symptoms ola violent fever,
as chills or rigors, lassitude, headache,
pain and weakness in the back and
loins, tenderness about the pit Of the
stomach, frequent nausea and vomiting,
~drowsiness, sometimes stupor, or coma,
and with infants commissions are frequent
occurrences. These symptoms are sue
ceeded by general heat of the body, dry
skin, coated tongue, frequent pulse, and
extreme restlessness, which continue
until the eruption appears, when they
partially subside.
The eruption appears first on the face
and forehead, in the form Of minute
spots or papule, sensibly elevated above
the surface of the skin. They are first
noticeable about forty-eight hours after
the occurrence Of the rigors. During
the third and fourth days the eruption
extends TO the sides of the nose, chin,
upper lip, neck and wrists, then TO the
trunk and thighs, finally covering the
whole body. About the fifth day, little
vesicles, depressed in the center, con-
tanning a colorless fluid, appear, sur
rounded by an inlamed circular margin,
one vesicle arising on the top Of each
little point or pimple. Usually the
eruption fever further abates, or entire
ly disappears at this time. There is
generally, though not always, an in
creased flow Of viscid saliva, rome
swelling of the throat, with hoarseness
and difficulty Of swallowing, about the
sixth day.
On or about the eighth day, the pus-
tules are completely formed and spheri-
cal, terminating in a point, and the
vascular fluid becomes purulent; the
face and eyelids swell, and the mouth,
nose and fauces are covered with pus-
tules. About the tenth or eleventh day
from the access of the fever, or eighth
or ninth from the appearance Of the
eruption, the inismmatory areola sur
rounding the vesicule subsidies, the con-
tents change to an Opaque yellow, and
q dark spot appears on each pustule.
Usually at this time the tumefaction Of
the face subsidies and the hands and
feet begin to swell. After the eleventh
day the p~ustules become rough,
break, discharge their contents, which,
by drying on the surface, form small
crusts. In a short time these crusts fall
off, leaving the part of a dark brown
color, which often remains many days,
and when the pustules have been very
large, permanent indentations of the
skin remain. About the seventeenth
day, the. secondary foyer, which comes
on about the completion Of the pustula-
ton disappears, and the swelling Of the
hands and feet subsidies.