Dr. Dimsdale. Very extensive.
Couns. for the Pris. Have you lost many patients under inoculation?
Dr. Dimsdale. About fourteen years ago I had one patient, who, after the eruption of a few distinct pustules, died of a fever, which I esteemed wholly independent of the small-pox.
Couns. for the Pris. Did you then, in upwards of twenty years, never lose a patient, whose death could be justly ascribed to inoculation?
Dr. Dimsdale. Not one.
Couns. for the Pris. Perhaps, Doctor, you have been particularly careful in the choice of your subjects?
Dr. Dimsdale. Not in the least: I have inoculated persons of all ages, all constitutions, and at all seasons of the year.
Couns. for the Pris. In what manner do you prepare your patients? Do you confine them to any particular regimen?
Dr. Dimsdale. In directing the preparatory regimen, I principally aim at these four points: to reduce the patient, if in high health, to a low and more secure state; to strengthen the constitution, if too low; to correct what appears vitiated; and to clear the stomach and bowels, as much as may be, from all crudities and their effects. With these intentions, therefore, I order them to abstain from animal food, spirituous liquors, and spices, for ten days before the operation; during which time, I give three doses of a powder composed of eight grains of calomel, the same quantity of the compound powder of crabs claws, and one-eighth of a grain of emetic tartar: this powder is taken over-night, and a dose of Glauber’s salts in the morning. On the days of purging I allow broths.
Couns. for the Pris. In what manner do you usually communicate the infection?