View report page

12
the eruption, and to he continued every day until the patient is
well enough to take a warm bath, in which the whole person is
well washed with disinfecting carbolic acid soap and warm
water. These baths should be administered every other day for
four times, when the disinfection of the skin may be regarded as
complete. This proceeding should not, however, be adopted without
consulting the medical man who is in attendance on the
patient.
Speaking of the plans above recommended, Dr. Budd says—
"The success of this method in my own hands has been very
markable. For a period of nearly 20 years, during which I have
employed it in a very wide field, I have never known the disease
spread in a single instance beyond the sick room, and in very few
instances within it. Time after time I have treated this fever in
houses crowded from attic to basement with children and others,
who have nevertheless escaped infection. The two elements in the
method are—separation on the one hand, and disinfection on the
other."
ON THE NATURE OF TYPHOID OR DRAIN FEVER,
AND THE BEST MEANS OF PREVENTING IT.
This fever is called Drain Fever from its constant association
with bad and imperfect drainage in houses. It is called Gastric
Fever from its chief seat being in the stomach and bowels. At one
time it was confounded with Typhus fever, and is similar to that
disease in many respects; hence it is called Typhoid Fever. It is
also called Low Fever, from the great exhaustion and weakness
which attends it. The means by which this disease may be prevented
are very simple, and depend upon the fact that the poison
by which it spreads is almost entirely contained in the discharges
from the bowels. Dr. W. Budd gives the following excellent
directions for preventing the spread of this disease. He says the
discharges from the bowels infect—
1.—The sick room.
2.—The bed and body linen of the patient.
3.—The privy and the cesspool, or the drains proceeding
from them.