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appear to depend in a great degree upon the suddenness with which we oblige our patients to conform to it. For this reason, when we are called upon to inoculate persons who have lived more than three or four weeks upon a low diet, we should always direct them to live a few days upon animal food before we communicate the disorder to them. By these means we may produce all the good effects of the sudden change in the diet I have already mentioned. 2. The medicines most commonly used to prepare the body for the small-pox are antimony and mercury. The latter has had the preference, and has been given in large quantities under a notion of its being a specific antidote to the variolous matter. Many objections might be made to this opinion; I shall mention only three.
1. We often see the disorder in a high degree after the system is fully impregnated with mercury.
2. We often see the same salutary effects of mercury when given before the disorder is communicated to the body, that we perceive when it is given after inoculation; in which case we are sure the mercury cannot enter into mixture with the variolous matter so as to destroy it.
