Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-07
Early Forms Of Fever and Ague.

In the early days of the country the
paroNysms were more distinctlymarked
than now, and the intermission more
Instinct also. Thus it was no uncom-
mon thing forpersons afflicted with aoue
to be around and attending to their
~aVocatlons on their we'll days. The cold
stage continued from half an hour to an
nour or more, when the fever came on
and continued three or four hours. The
sweating stage then set in, and passed
OH IN varied periods, varying from two
or three to four or Eve hours, often
leaving the patient apparently well.
Shaking ague" was q common term.
The cold stage, or chill, sometimes be-
came so violent as to cause the teeth to
chatter, the knees to smite together, and
the whole body to sh, Ike and culver as
II in commissions. This type was most
easily managed.
The distinctive types were quotiaian,
or everyday ague; testian, or every
other-day ague; and quortan, as when
the attacks came on every fourth dav.
When the paroxysm occurred twice each
day, with the alternate ones lighter. it
was a double quotidian; if once one day
and two ON the alternate day, it was a
atu1otidian and tertian running together.
The quartan also occasionally became
mixed with the other types. Sometimes
either OF the types gave way to another
and distinct type.
These were the early forms of .sfever
and ague," or chills and fever, sixty
years ago and more. They are scarcely
recognized now. A distinctly intermit-
tent case is seldom seen in these years,
and an old-time shake not at all. The
malarial attacks of the present assume
the remittent and continued forms and
have difficult and dangerous complica-
tons. Why this is so is an inquiry for
the medical profession. 1t may be sug-
gested. however, hat the greater sever
ity and persistence of modern cases in
dlcates an increased intensity of the
poison.
The treatment of the ague during the
pioneer age, which may be fixed from
1900 to about 1925, was almost wholly
domestic, especially in the more rural
sections of the country. The doctors
had little to do with it. There were
not many Of them. and they were con-
fined to the county seats. The rene
dies were bitter barks and roots, mostly
made into what was called "bitters,h
by ~infusing them in whisky. Some
times sweating and emetics were used
with advantage. Charms and amulets,
and lamentations were, by a few, resort
ed to, and were actually believed
times to be effcacious. AS prophylac-
tics, or preventatives, wild cherry bark,
dogwood bark, columbo root, and the
snake roots, We're used as bitters, by in
fusion in whisky. There were few fam
lilies who did not have their bitter's bot
tie, or Jug, and drank from it in the
morning during the sickly season.
In some localities, where ague was
most prevalent, the people so confident
ly looked for its return in August and
September, that they actually took
time by the forelock and set their houses
in order, so as to be ready to begin to
shake when the time came round. The
writer recalls a time when, without one
exception. every member of his fathers
family had the ague at the same time.
And there We're afternoons, when the
fever was up, that not one out of a fam
lily Of eight was able to go four rods to
the spring for cold water.-Dr. Il. Scott,
IN Toledo Blade.