The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 450 of 653age of forty-five years, beyond which it begins to decline. The sVariola. 533proportion obtains in all epidemic, and likewise in all nondiseases. One attack of small-pox is a tolerablj^ sure, but not aabsolutely certain protection against another attack. This accounfor the apparent immunity of numbers of people; while young,they had an attack of varicella without the fact being noticed, aon this account enjoy a protection against small-pox, which is improperly attributed to vaccination, concerning which we shall givfurther details when speaking of the treatment. Epidemic smallpox breaks out most commonly in mid-summer, very seldom in winter; it is most generally accompanied by epidemic measles andwhooping-cough; yet a connection or logical succession betweenthese epidemics cannot be traced.Symptoms and Course. For the sake of convenience andin obedience to custom, we adopt the division of the variolous diease in varicella, varioloid and variola, although these three fogenerally exist in the most varied transitions to each other, sothat, in a case of varicella, single pustules assume the form ofioloid-pustules and in cases of varioloid, some pustules adopt thform of variola-pustules, or that the whole exanthem runs a mediucourse between two of these forms.Varicella or chicken-pox constitutes the mildest form underwhich the variola-disease with contagious pustules develops itselChicken-pox is infectious and may give rise to either of the othetwo forms. It infects more particularly children, although notexclusively. Quite recently we treated a case where a young manof eighteen years, who had varioloid, infected his sister, a chilsix months, with variola, and his mother with a very mild form ofvaricella.This eruption generally sets in without any precursory symptoms,perhaps with slight symptoms of gastric catarrh, but otherwise veseldom with precursory symptoms resembling those of varioloid.A few red stigmata break out in the face which grow rapidly andspread irregularly over the whole body; the largest number areseen on the chest and back. Each of these red stigmata changes ina few hours to an elevated vesicle, the contents of which grow diin thirty-six to forty hours, and afterwards form thin scabs thatfall off already on the seventh day. The vesicles sometimes breaking out in successive crops, the whole exanthem may require a fornight to complete its course. Very commonly some of the vesiclesgrow to larger pustules, like variola-pustules, and leaving scarsbehind. At the same time the general health is often so little iu534 Acute and Chronic Contagious Diseases.paired, especially if the vesicles are not numerous, that the famhave not the remotest suspicion of the child being sick. Fever,however, is very commonly present on the first days, even a milddelirium not unfrequently occurs, the appetite is gone, the patiefeel languid, complain of headache and difficulty of swallowinghttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt