The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1873-03-06

the effects of the disease About q
week after her death her father was
similarly affected, and in the incipient
stage of the disease he died from con-
gestion of the brain, in fit resembling
apoplexy, induced by the violence of
the attactk and the vitiated condition
of the fluids of the body. Not hav-
ing seen either case, 1 am indebted to
DR.. Holmes, the attending physician,
for a history of both cases. On the
9th ult., another child of Mr.. Spar
gur's, about 13 months old, who had
been laboring under an attack of
pneumonia Qung fever), also died.
The fatal result may be attributed to
the presence of variolous poison in
the system-the little sufferer sue
cumbing to complication of diseases
The disease appears to be of that
malignant form which medical men
denominate UarioIa contue'as (con-
fluent small-pox). As regards its du-
ration and fatality it varies in different
Individuals, although attacked at the
same time and even in the same fam
lily. But it is not my province nor
object to give you learned disserta-
ton on the pathology OF the differ
ent forms of the disease, but to give
you a plain, simple statement OF the
facts in the premises; also what the
public have to fear, and how these
cases may be managed SO as to pre-
vent this horrible, loathsome disease
from injecting the surrounding dis
trict. And here L may be allowed to
premise, by adopting the language of
Macaulay, lest my treatment of the
subject may appear to you as if | did
not regard this disease with that gray-
u ?
ity it merits sit IS the most terrible
of all the ministers of death, and has
not lost his fangs nor his fangs their
poison. " "
There are q variety of opinions
among the profession, as to what pc
riod in the disease it becomes con
tagious. Some aver that it is con-
tagious in the incipient stage when
the febrile excitement is high, others
when maturation takes place. The
authorities are nearly all silent on
this point. I must, therefore, give
you the result of my own observation
and experience. Having treated the
disease in all its varied forms, I am
fully convinced that it does not be-
come contagious prior to the eighth
or tenth day from the commencement
of the attack Maturation takes
place, or pus is formed in the pustule,
and its conical head has black speck
in its centre, usually about the tenth
day. At that time, and not before,
1t IS contagious. But there are cases
where no matter is formed Where
the attack is violent and the form of
the disease is malignant, the patient
having cachectic diattesis (bad hab
it of body, and as consequence the 1
fluids much vitiated, then the surface
of the body turns a dark, ivid color,
san;ous -extravasated blood
appears beneath the skin, and the pa
tient has the appearance of laboring
under erysipelas. Such case, from
the lucid description of DIR. Holmes,
was the eldest daughter of Mr.. S.
The exhalations from such case are,
if possible, more contagious than in
any other form of the disease, al
though it is not SO portable. Hence,
parties who came in contact with Mr..
Spargur before his death, who were
unprotected, escaped the eontagion.
But Mr.. S. was isolated from his
daughter, SO that no fears may be en-
tertained by those who have been so
exposed further, the period of incat
baton is now over. So contagious
are the exhalations from this form of
the disease, that persons attending
the interment of the body-although
enclosed in tight box-have been
known to have contracted the disease.
lam aware there is much unneces-
sary alarm, in both town and country,
in regard to the prevalence of the
disease in our midst, but one mo-
ment's reflection will convince any
one conversant with the following
facts, that with proper care there is
no danger.
As proof that the diseaseisnot con-
tagious in its incipient state-like
measles, whooping cough, and dmumps
I would refer you to the cases of
three soldiers in Camp Mitchell, in
the year 1861, who contracted small
pox from attending the funeral of
soldier who died of the disease in Bos-
ton, this county. I allowed them to
remain in camp four days after they
we're taken sick, when I removed
them to an isolated house, and out of
600 men, with whom they came in
contact daily, not one contracted the
disease. Three Provost guards came
here with the disease from Cincinnati,
remained five days sick in barracks,
removed them to Barry's school house,
one mile east of town; no one con-
tracted the disease from them. A
brakeman, in the employ of the M.