The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1880-11-13

The Virginia chronicle publishes the
following essay on smallpox, which is
now spreading on this coast:
A correspondent of the Liverpool
Mercury quoted extensively in this
vicinity is willing to "risk his reputa-
ton as public man if the worst case of
small pox cannot be cured in three days
simply by cream of tarter." Dozens Of
certain cures are recommended every
day, but physicians laugh at them,
knowing that the disease must run its
course. No attention should be paid
to such cures, but when a person is
taken with small pox, regular physi-
clan should be summoned and his direc-
lions followed. "
WHAT SMALLPOX Is.
Smallpox, or variola, is contagious
fever, characterized by pustular erup-
ton having depressed center. 1t first
appeared in Arabia in A. d. 500, but
how it originated is unknown. 1t is pro-
pagated by contagion, but is subject to
| epidemic influence and when it prevails
| epidemically it seems to be severer and
more fatal. It usually requires fourteen
days for the disease to manifest itself
after contagion, and during this time
there is general thing no disturbance
of the ordinary health. The first
symptoms are chills, followed by fever,
generally attended with painin the back
and loins, and with nausea and vomit-
ing. The eruptions begins to show it
self on the third day of the fever, and
as rule first appears on the face, then
on the neck and wrists, then on the
trunk and finally ON the extremities.
The eruption is complete on the fifth
day, and few spots appear after that.
1t can be distinguished from chicken
pox and other eruptions by the solidity
of the pimples, which feel like small
shot beneath the skin. About the
eighth day OF the eruption dark spot
makes it appearance at the center of
the pustule, and gradually dries up and
| is converted into q scab. When this
falls it leaves either an indelible scar or
a purplish red mark that fades very
slowly, and which long exposures to
cold renders very distinct. When the
pustules are few and widely separated,
the disease is termed discrete; when
they are numerous and run together it
is termed continent. The continent
form is the more severe and dangerous,
and the eruption on the face sometimes
becomes one huge sore, attended with
intolerable itching and typhoid fever,
The eighth day of the eruption or the
eleventh of the disease is usually the
most fatal day, and the danger is ag-
gravated if the patient be still in in
fancy or over As years of age. The
mortality from smallpox is estimated
at one-fifth OF all who are attacked. A
second attack, even after free exposure
to contagion, is very rare, only widely
separated instances having been known.
THE TREATMENT.
In mild cases, little is required ex-
cept proper nursing and attention to
hygienic measures, and the disease
should be allowed to run its course
without interference, as it is attended
with little danger. Free ventilation
and cooling applications are necessary,
and in severe cases the strength of the
patient should be supported by nutri-
tious diet. The idea, held by many
ignorant people, that the eruption is an
effort of nature to free the system of
morbid matter, and should be encour-
aged by warm drinks and heated at
mosphere, is entirely erroneous and
often aggravates the danger of the dis
ease. With proper treatment smallpox
is not as dangerous as scarlet fever, but
the loathsome character of the disease
make it more dreaded. III
pREvENTIvEs.
Cleanliness and care in avoiding con-
tagion are the best remedies against the
| d;saasa Tike all othar favars II hoe an