The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-13
Disease Was Not Known for Centur-
les After Christian Era Began.
(Chicaso Chronicle.)

Chicago Chronicle)
Among the ills which flesh was origin
ally heir to was not that of smallpox,
which is n comparatively modern disease
It originated little past the middle of
the first i0O0 years of the Christian era,
or, to be exact, in A. d. 500. The medical
books describe the disease as a con-
tagiOuS fever characterized by a puStular
was given the name 1t now Bears In ISL
Vdrtola pacce: before that date it seems
to have had no name.
In the Latin variola is varus. meaning
blotch or pimpl-. The term as English
speaking people know it is IF the same
significance and of Saxon origin. PoX
signifies a pouch or bag. AMI the word
stood alone down to the middle of the fiji
teenth century, when the prefix small
was added
Arabia is charged with the sin of hav-
ing originated the disease, and il was
Rhazes, an Arabian physician. who COM
posed history of 1t. He wrote some time
in the tenth century. The raising of the
siege of Mecca by an AbySsinian army
about $50 is by this author attributed TO
the Tavages made by the smallpox. The
part that MOhammed and his followers
played in history contributed to the rapid
propagation of the disease. Measles and
scarlet fever were at first contounded
with smallpox or considered as varieties
of it. This error, indeed, prevailed for
great many years, when Il physician
named Sydenham showed the Essential
difference between them Boerhaave,
Dutch physician. who died at Layden in
1913. was the first to insist that contagfon
Is essential to the propagation of the dis
ease.
The time that elapses from the moment
the patient receives the contagion until
it begins to manifest its effect in the in
itiatOry fever is called the incubation
period, and is usually fourteen days.
During this time there is hardly ever any
disturbance OF the ordinary health. The
commencement of the disease is marked
by Shills. followed by fever. and, ordinar-
lily by pain in the back especially in the
IONS, accompanied with nausea and vOm-
ting. In severe form of the disease the
fever runs high, with violent pain in the
pack ana much delirium. 1T often begins
in children by an attack of commissions.
Eruptions begin to show on the third
day of the fever. As a rule they first ap
pear on the face, then on the neck and
wrists, then on the trunk, and finally on
the teet and legs. The eruptions are
complete on the fifth day, and after this
rev or no new spots appear They at
nrSt consist of minute rounded pimples
of characteristic solid consistency. feel
ing IKE snall SnOt beneath the skin. 1t
IS by this peculiar solidity of the spots
that smallpox at this stage is distin-
guiShed from other peculiar eruptiOnS
By the fourth day from their first ap-
pearance the pimples are converted into
vesicles filled with a thin lymph and hav-
ing depressed center. The veSicleS now
begin TO be surrounded by a circular flush
upon the skin. which soon becomes dark
transparent, is gradually converted into
pus. which increases in quantity and dis
tends the Vesicles- About the eighth daY
or the eruption a dark SpOt makes its
appearance at the center of the pustiile
ana gradually dries up and is converted
into a scab. 1t is the falling of this sea b
which causes a purplish-red mark which
slowly fades, but is indelible. The order
CT the disease in passing away is the same
as at the beginning, the scabs first fall
ing from the face. then from the neck and
trunk and then from the legs and feet.
@ g %
There are two forms of the disease THAI
. on and hat s-
The first two are discrete and conffu-
emit smallpox and the latter hemorra CHIC
In hemorrhaghic smallpox there is bleed
ing at the mouth, OF the bronchial tubes
and of the skin and the patient turns
black; this is the worst form OF the dis
ease Continent smallpox is the next
worse and diScrete smallpox is the least
dangerous. When the pustules are COM
paratfvelY few they are separated, some
times widely, from each other and the
disease IS termed ulScreeL. W ucn LIlCy q. Z
very numerous they touch each other and
run together, and then it is termed con-
nuent- Sometimes these two forms are
barely distiaguIshable from one another
In the discrete form the fever common
Iy subsidies on the appearance of the
eruption and where the puStuleS are few
II may not return, but where they are
many their ma.turatiOn is commonly at
tended with more or less fever. With the
appearance of the eruptions IN the sur
face, sore throat is complained of the
Jonsils are swollen and pustuIes appear
upon the roof OF the mouth and the in
side of the cheeks. When smallpox is
conilGent the subcuJaneouS cellular tissue
is involved in the disease. the swelling
Is great and by the fifth day the patient
Is commonly unable to open his eyes.
sometimes the eruptiOnS on the face CO.
with a tormenting itch and the fever is
or the typhoid and Inc disease - al
ways attended by peculiar odor, and in
continent cases this Is excessively rauSe-
Gus and offensive. The eighth day of the
/ eruption or the eleventh OF the disease is
commonly the most fatal day. while more
a m Ia far mi Inc Dr
smallpox IS always dangerous, and the
danger Is aggravated ii the patient be
of "A feeble constitution.
When patients recover from severe
cases OF smallpox blindness is an occa-
sionaI result, and before the general in
! PRODUCTION of vaccination blindness from
smallpox was common. Besides infiamma-
| ton of the eyes, glandular SWellingS and
Assesses and bed sores are occasional
! complications When the complication is
with diseases of the blood nemorrhages
/ from various organs occur. This runs
| into the black disease. There is high fe-
| yer and the eruptIons do not come out
freely This form of the disease is al
most invariably fatal Women with the
disease have been known to give birth TO
| a child presenting the characteristic erup-
| ton OF the smallpox.
The mortality from smallpox is esti-
mated at onerfourth or one-fifth o. ali
who are attacked. Like many other con-
tagious diseases. it is subject to epidemic
, influence, and when it prevails epidemic
ally 1T is seveTer and more fatal. Lady
Mary Wortiey Montagu, when in the far
| east, discovered that incubation would
mitigate the severity of the disease. Her
| discovery was that a minute portion of
| the virus being inserted under the skin
| the disease was rendered far less violent
| and by her courage and persistence in
EQUATION was introduced into Europe.
But since the discovery of vaccination
! her method has been dispensed with
For a long time the dangers OF small
/ poX were aggravated by the means used
/ Tor its cure. The theory was that the
| eruption was an effort of nature to free
| the system of morbid matter and that
| the more abundant il was the better for
| the patient The eruption was accord
| inSly encouraged by warm drinks and a
| heated atmosphere. Sydenham was the
| first to incuicate the necessity of free
| ventilation and a cooling regimen. Says
| high medical authority:
| Mild cases require little except atten-
| ton TO hygienic measures; the disease is
attended with little danger and should
run its course uninfiuenced by art Wher
| lt Is severe, attention should be early di.
patient. The diet should be as nutritious
as he can bear and, when indicated bv
| the pulse, wine and Stimulants should be-
| freely administered The troublesome
/ itching. which causes great Suffering MAJ
| be alieviated by the application of sweet
| oil, cold cream or lard; opiates may he
| useful to procure sleep and the bowels
/ should be occasionally moved by milo
laXatlveS or enamata-'
DIR. Edward Jenner discovered VAGINA.