View report page

28
unfortunately, omitted the precaution of re-vaccinating the other inmates
of the house, viz., the father, the mother and the brother of the patient,
and a domestic servant. The mother was the next to fall ill, on
February 17th, with the initiatory fever of small-pox. The son 'felt sure
in his own mind' as to the nature of her illness, but Dr. Blank attributed
the symptoms to Influenza, and the rash, when it appeared on the 20th,
to the administration of salicylate of sodium. This lady must have
received the infection on or about February 5th, or about twenty-four
hours after the rash appeared in her son. She was extremely ill: the
rash was very copious, and, in character (one would have thought),
unmistakeable. The brother's illness began on February 19th, the
father's on or about the 21st. These two cases appeared to be of a mild
type; but, to the instructed eye, the rash, when it appeared, was
characteristic. Returning to the case of the young doctor: he states that
in four days after the first symptoms, he felt 'perfectly well,' nevertheless
he remained in his bedroom until the 14th February. He went on
business to Oxford Street, in a public conveyance, on the 15th, when the
marks of the rash (which were plainly visible ten days later) were conspicuous,
'believing by this time, and after such a slight illness, that
Dr. Blank must have been correct in his diagnosis and that he himself
was wrong,' On the 16th, he went for a walk in a leading thoroughfare,
and again on the 19th. Friends at this time were coming in every
evening to see him, at a time when he was infectious. On February 23rd,
when his mother's rash was fully out, he went on a long railway journey,
spent the night at a fashionable watering place, and returned next day,
on completion of his business, 'as they were all so ill at home.' When
he saw his mother (on the 24th) there could be 'no mistaking the case,
and Dr. Blank told him that he had made up his mind the day before
that it was small-pox.' On the following day, February 25th, a physician
from the hospital where the trouble originated, was called in, and found
the three patients to be suffering from small-pox, but was of opinion that
the young doctor was non-infectious."
I saw the patients the same day: the cases were absolutely
typical. The father died suddenly from heart failure on about
the eleventh day of illness. The other patients recovered,
and, so far as I know, there was no spread of the disease,
under circumstances which might have had disastrous
results.
Medical Instruction.—The General Medical Council
require evidence from the medical student that he has
attended special hospitals to obtain a practical knowledge of