Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-06-02
Scarlet Fever.
Woodbury., May 2S:.

y
tracts from leading authors on the sub
ject Of scarlet fever whereby some err
rors and extreme views. may be cor
rected:
DR.. Ellis, hom@path, says: Chill
dren are far more liable to contract this
complaint than adults, as very few of
the latter have the disease when ex-
posed. 1t is not as contagious as mea-
sells or small pox, and many children
when exposed escape entirely.
DR.. King, electic, says: As the
cause of this disease is very variable,
the symptoms sometimes being very
slight and at Others very severe, it has
been divided into three forms, Scarla.
tina simpler, 5. angino'a and 8. m,aligna.
All these varieties from the simplest to
the most malignant are occasionally
met with in different individuals of the
same family. l do not look upon the
disease as contagious, but rather infec.
tious.
DR.. Shaw, hydropathic, says: Scar
let fever is for the most part a disease
Of children, although adults sometimes
have it. 1t is sometimes contagious
and at others spontaneous. While the
disease is prevailing among the children
of a family, the adults are sometimes
observed to be affected with sore throat.
Scarlatina, like all other severe and
dangerous diseases may vary so much
in degree as in some cases to be so tri.
fling a matter as to attract little or no
attention from the parents, and on the
other hand it may become, as it often
does, one of the most fearful of all
maladies to which the human body is
liable. | have known children who
were reared on vegetable diet so healthy
that they have lived and slept with
those who had the disease and yet got
so little Of it as only to be a little fc
verish.
DR.. Shew says as to treatment Il
is now agreed that common cases O.
scarlet fever will do we'll without any
further treatment than that which is in
cluded in the term "good nursing"
DR.. Elliotson observes: If we tax,
care to do the patient no harm he vii
in general do very well.
Our own DR.. Black, than whom
there is no better authority in thi
country, says that good nursing i
mostly to be relied on, and that he doe
not remember of ever seeing a patien
die of this disease.
1t must be kept in mind that mos
of the descriptions of this disease from
medical works have reference to itas
exists in northern climates, where it
much worse than in the South. In thi
climate it rarely ever exists in its ma
: lignant form, but as simplex, or a
most anginosa scarlatina, in which lat
: ter form Miss Oracle Smith had il
She would doubtless had simplex ang
. nosa had it not been that she had bee
in bad health for two months, and fo
j the further fact that no remedies wer
: used for day or more after the attack
And again she is of very nervor
t temperament. and on this account tn
r brain became soon and very seriousl
n involved, which was the most alarm
} ing symptom in the case.
n DR.. Wood, allopathist, a standar
!. author in our best medical schools, say
r as to the question Of its being contag
: GUS: This has been doubted by some
1t and among them by the late d
Y Devices. who stated that he had ney(
seen "any decided proof that it ha
a communicated itself in any instance
e DR.. Wood says: Whether the di
N ease can be impaired by inoculatic
d may be considered doubtful, thong
N cases are reported in which the trial
said to have been made with success
1t He adds: "Allowing the disease to
4. contagious, it certainly appears not
IS be strongly So" And as proof of tn
lie he states the fact that by far the larg
If proportion of our population new
N have it, which is not the case with me
il sells, whooping cough, and other cont
e, geous diseases so prevalent among CHI
It dren, and it is further the fact tn
only one out of large family of chi
~ dren may have it.
t. From the foregoing and other rea
); ing we gather these facts, that scarf