Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-07-11

| The following srsisls. pssAsissa Of -
eniiar Interest nov, shss tlss ieitksom,
dissass Of whieA il treafs 10 slarminely o.
the ipersase. II clipped from yhe Londos
LoSea. . medical journal Of the hiehs.
standing lts suther 10 . well hn,w,
Eaglish physician. sho has carefully ssnd
led NE disease, sad his dsductions are NOR,
thy Of consideration
10 tie Edlo+ Of tie Lrseer.
Sir-f forward for insersian IN ron,
sjournal (if you think d worthy ofa pIae,
shere) the annexed commuuiesfion. which
after due thought. / 6rmly believe De.
serves the careful consideration Of the pro.
fsssicn. l have patiently waited the re.
spiss 81 the srsatn ens IN the cases in whiss
u tsss Eiet i ssdpE thiak sshee ;uatky
iae in submitting it to their judsrent. "
The present epidemic Of svall- pox. as
is usually the case in all epidemies, has.
/ have no doubt. suggested vsrious modes
ef,reasmentt to medical practitioners. whose
duties call them TO treat this verv offen-
lsivs disease. ] am not aware that any at.
tempt has been made to treat it otherwise
than eons,itutionally. Various suggestions
have a. diferen. times been submitted to
the profession Of applications 10 prevent
"pi,tiug." but no idea that am aware of
has been proposed of treating the disease
itselfiocally. Aud yet. it We consider
the progress Of an ordinary case Of small.
pox. severe or otherwise Il ctnit hsmorr.
hsg'c varola as being beyond trsatmen,
from the incursions of the diseasel. the
treatment By local means appears clearly
in Heated. After some for;y-eigh. hours
febrile symptoms. more or less severe. n
pspuiar eruption make its appearance. and
conconitan, with this eruption the priIna-
~ fever subsidies. the improvement being
generally SO marked that it is eviIen, to
the patients friends. The papules PRO
crossing into visicles, and the visicles into
pustules. are accompanied by the increas-
ing fever of suPpurstien." until at length
the whole cutaneous function being de-
stroyed By the universal suppuratiuc sur
face. the patien; snccumbs to the disease.
II being thus evident that. the "primary
, fever having sabsiiei. the subsequent
increase Of serious symptoms keeps pace
with the Increasing local disease, it ap-
pears only reasonable to endesvor to ar
rest the local disease BY local treatment;
| and my partner, Mr.. Quicke. have been
trying TO accomplish this in some nine or
ten cases which have come uud er our care:
and as cases of smallpox do not exist so
much amongst tie class Of patients Of
, which our practice consists strongly urge
those Of medical brethren wao have large
experience in tLis disease 70 carry out nv
Suggestions. Ny pa~,ner and M ysr,'lgre
employed the Zig. cafe, sulph but have
no Doubt other and less offensive ecr'ics-
tons will obtain the same result. From
the known efficacy Of preparations Of sui
phur in cutaneous affections. to which class
of disease | would relegate variola, I
think it desirable to employ those chiefly.
and at present should wish them to try
the liq. calc. sulph 5f full strength. In
every case in which We have tried it the
patients praise it in glowing terms and
considering that the odor Of the prepare
ton is very Objectionable they would not,
| think. be so warm in their praise of it
unless they had proved its value.
A boy Of some ten or eleven years Of
age. who on Sunday last first showed the
pspular rash rery hick'y spread over the
face. and very fairly abundant over the
body, whose primary fever had been very
violent, with wild delirium. had the lotion
freely applied over the whole body. I
saw him yesterday (Wednesd,), ana
found him quite well. The papues re-
mained papulcs. and proceeded no further
in development but showed minute crusts
on the surface of each papule and where
several were clustered together. and would
inevitably have become confuent. They
remained in s'a'a quo. arrested aud de-
stroyed. I am quite confident that had
the disease been allowed to have its course
a serious and anxious case would have re-
suited. tu; by the aid of the liz. calc
sulph, he is now in good health. with good
appetite and anxious to he up and do wustairs
This boys father took the disease while
nursing a friend. and when first saw him
the papules were becoming vesiclcs. By
the application of the IN calc. sulph. they
Immediately became pps,ular, anil died
away but he tells me I've has had no
scabs, and. having seen the course OF the
disease in his friend. is astonished aud
delighted with the lotion. and, therefore,
when. upon his recovery. his son and wife
we're attacked he Immediately applied the
lotion in the papular stage. with the re-
markable result already stated.
In the whole Of the cases treated by US
the evidence Of the patients is conclusive ::
and think, whatever ultimate opinion the
profession may form Of this .'cure for
smallpox" they will not b. justified with
out giving it full and fair trial Hav-
ing treated the primary fever BY cons,itu-
tional means. my hope is ,ha: we may be
enabled to treat with perfect success aud
satisfaction the cU:anenuS disease cutan-
eously. and that we may have arrived at
the end Of the horrors Of smallpox.
mus. strongly insist on the free. copious
snd universal application Of the lotion.
, either laid on thickly and uns2a.incly
with the brush or rubbed in with a glove
at least three times day. unles. the skin
tcSpccially in the aexurrs Of the Joints
become sore. The Injury to The mucous
surfaces by va-;Ois leave alone. only re-
marking tia, the condition of the u.aIous
sarfsces after tie eutsns0as hurns n.4,,
| lead BY analogy TO The hope ths, tie
speedy restosston Of tie skin to heai;hv
functions in smallpox msy be sccuupsu