The process of vaccination is similar to that of inoculation for smallpox. The point of a lance is wetted with the matter taken from one of the pustules, and is then gently inserted under the cuticle, and the scratch afterwards rubbed over with the same. Hæmorrhage should be avoided, as the blood is apt to wash away the virus, or to form a cake which shields the living tissue from its action.
Pox, Small. Syn. Variola, L. This disease comes on with the usual symptoms of inflammatory fever. About the third day red spots, resembling flea-bites, make their appearance on the face and head, and gradually extend over the whole body. About the fifth day small circular vesicles, depressed in the centre, surrounded by an areola, and containing a colourless fluid, begin to form, when the feverish symptoms abate; about the sixth day the throat becomes sore; about the eighth day the face is swollen; and about the eleventh day the pustules acquire the size of a pea, and cease to enlarge, the matter which they contain becomes opaque and yellow, a dark central spot forms on each, the swelling of the face subsides, and secondary symptoms of fever come on; the pustules become rough, break, and scab over, and a dark spot remains for some days, often followed by permanent indentations, popularly known as ‘pock-marks.’ At the end of the sixteenth or eighteenth day the symptoms usually disappear. In the confluent smallpox, a severer form of the disease, the pustules coalesce, the eruption is irregular in its progress, and the inflammatory symptoms are more severe.
The treatment of ordinary cases of smallpox resembles, for the most part, that mentioned above for chicken-pox. As soon as the febrile symptoms become marked the patient should not be suffered to lie in a hot bed, but on a mattress, in a cool and well-ventilated apartment, and antiseptic cooling drinks should be freely administered. When convulsions occur, or great irritability exists, small doses of morphine, opium, or camphor may be administered, and obstinate vomiting arrested by effervescing saline draughts. When the skin is pale and cold, the pulse weak, and the eruption
languidly developed, the warm or tepid bath is often serviceable. An infusion of the root of Sarracenia pupurea, an American plant, has been strongly recommended as a preventive and cure of smallpox, but many of our most eminent physicians regard it as valueless. The application on the third day of a mask formed of thin muslin, covered with mercurial ointment, and having holes cut in it for the nostrils, eyes, and mouth, will effectually prevent ‘pitting.’ (Dr. Stewardson.) With the same intention some persons recommend the puncture of the pustules as soon as they are mature. A solution of india rubber in chloroform is now often painted over the face when the eruption has become fully developed. The chloroform quickly evaporates, leaving an elastic film of india rubber, which almost entirely removes the itchiness of the pustules and prevents ‘pitting.’ To remove the pock-marks, whether recent or old, nothing appears to be better than warm sea-bathing, or the use of tepid ioduretted lotions.
The smallpox is eminently contagious, but only attacks the same person once during life. Formerly, a milder form of the disease was propagated by inoculation, a practice introduced into England from Turkey by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, about the year 1721. At the present day, in England, inoculation, as well as the exposure of a patient labouring under smallpox, is penal, the punishment being either by fine or imprisonment. See Pox, Cow (above).
“The absolute necessity for enforcing this measure after smallpox is conclusively shown by the following cases which occurred during the late severe outbreak of the disease at Ipswich. In the first instance a young man brought a bundle of infected linen with him from London and had it washed at Ipswich. Twelve days after, the servant who washed it showed symptoms of smallpox. In another case, a woman who had been at Highgate Hospital brought with her a shawl which she had worn during convalescence, but had not been disinfected; and in fourteen days her sister, who washed the shawl, was attacked with smallpox.”—Sanitary Record.
PRECIP′ITATE. Any substance which has separated from its solution in a solid and, usually, a pulverulent or flocculent form. The substance by which such a change is produced is called the ‘precipitant,’ and the act or operation by which it is effected is called ‘precipitation.’ The old chemists gave this name to several compounds. Red precipitate, or precipitate per se, is the red oxide of mercury prepared by heat. White precipitate is the Ammoniated mercury of the B. P.
PRECIPITA′TION. The formation or subsidence of a precipitate. (See above.) When the precipitate is the chief object of the process, it is necessary to wash it, after it is separated, by filtration. This operation requires little attention when the substance thrown
down is insoluble in water; but when it is in some degree soluble in that liquid, great attention is required to prevent the loss which might result from the use of too much water. Precipitates soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol, are frequently, on the small scale, washed with spirit more or less concentrated.
