illiberal[1] hands; such as, in other diseases scarce any one would dare to confide in. But among these last, I do not mean to include a certain family, who have practised inoculation with great success. They have deserved well; not only on account of some real improvements they have made in this process, but also for the confidence they have excited in the public, from which vast numbers have been inoculated, who otherwise would not.
Some inoculators depend, or at least seem to depend, upon the effect of certain nostrums, the composition of which they endeavour industriously to conceal. These consist chiefly of a mercurial preparation, given before and after the punctures are made; purging pills, and some doses of purging salts. They chuse the matter should be inserted in its ichorous or watery state. The medicines just now mentioned, with abstinence from animal food and heating liquors, a strict vegetable diet, not lying in bed more than usual, and cool and open air, constitute the chief part of their regimen, in most cafes, during the preparation and course of the disease.
A practitioner in the west of England, besides preparing his patients, by bleeding some, and purging all, directs them to lie in bed and sweat freely, during the eruptive state of the disease, and until the eruption is complete.
- ↑ A livery-servant, belonging to a friend of the author's, left his master's service, not a great while since, to practise inoculation.
