§ 114. In such Cases Milk or warm Water should frequently be retained in the Mouth; the Vapour of hot Water should be conveyed into it; and emollient Cataplasms may be applied about the Neck. All these Means concur to the softening and breaking of the Abscess. The Finger may also be introduced to feel for its Situation; and when discovered, the Surgeon may easily open it. I happened once to break one under my Finger, without having made the least Effort to do it. Warm Water may be injected pretty forcibly, either by the Mouth or the Nostrils: this sometimes occasions a kind of Cough, or certain Efforts which tend to break it. I have seen this happen even from laughing. As to the rest, the Patient should not be too anxious or uneasy about the Event. I never saw a single Instance of a Person's dying of a Quinsey of this kind, after the Suppuration is truly effected; neither has it happened perhaps after the Time it is forming for Suppuration.
§ 115. The glairy Matter with which the Throat is over-charged, and the very Inflammation of that Part, which, from its Irritation, produces the same Effect, as the Introduction of a Finger into it, occasions some Patients to complain of incessant Propensities to vomit. We must be upon our Guard here, and not suppose that this Heart-Sickness, as some have called it, results from a Disorder of, or a Load within, the Stomach, and that it requires a Vomit for its Removal. The giving one here would often prove a very unfortunate Mistake. It might, in a high Inflammation, further aggravate it; or we might be obliged (even during the Operation of the Vomit) to bleed, in order to lessen the Violence of the Inflammation. Such Imprudence with its bad Consequences, often leaves the Patient, even after the Disease is cured, in a State of Languor and Weakness for a considerable Time. Nevertheless, there are some particular Disorders of the Throat, attended with a Fever, in which a Vomit may be prudently given. But this can only be, when there is no Inflammation, or after it is dispersed; and there still remains some putrid Matter in the first Passages. Of such Cases I shall speak hereafter. [29]
§ 116. We often see in Swisserland a Disorder different from these of the Throat, of which we have just treated; though, like these, attended with a Difficulty of swallowing. It is termed in French the Oreillons, and often the Ourles, or swelled Ears. It is an Overfulness and Obstruction of those Glands and their Tubes, which are to furnish the Saliva or Spittle; and particularly of the two large Glands which lie between the Ear and the Jaw; which are called the Parotides; and of two under the Jaw, called the Maxillares. All these being considerably swelled in this Disease, do not only produce a great Difficulty of swallowing; but also prevent the Mouth from opening; as an Attempt to do it is attended with violent Pain. Young Children are much more liable to this Disease than grown Persons. Being seldom attended with a Fever, there is no Occasion for Medicines: It is sufficient to defend the Parts affected from the external Air; to apply some proper Poultice over them; to lessen the Quantity of their Food considerably, denying them Flesh and Wine; but indulging them plentifully in some light warm Liquid, to dilute their Humours and restore Perspiration. I cured myself of this Disorder in 1754, by drinking nothing, for four Days, but Balm Tea, to which I added one fourth part Milk, and a little Bread. The same Regimen has often cured me of other light Complaints of the Throat.
§ 117. In the Spring of 1761, there were an astonishing Number of Persons attacked with Disorders of the Throat, of two different Kinds. Some of them were seized with that common Sort which I have already described. Without adding any thing more particularly, in Respect to this Species, it happened frequently to grown Persons, who were perfectly cured by the Method already recited. The other Species, on which I shall be more particular in this Place (because I know they have abounded in some Villages, and were very fatal) invaded Adults, or grown Persons also, but especially Children, from the Age of one Year, and even under that, to the Age of twelve or thirteen.
The first Symptoms were the same with those of the common Quinsey, such as the Shivering, the ensuing Heat or Fever, Dejection, and a Complaint of the Throat: but the following Symptoms distinguished these from the common inflammatory Quinseys.
1. The Sick had often something of a Cough, and a little Oppression.
2. The Pulse was quicker, but less hard, and less strong, than generally happens in Diseases of the Throat.
3. The Patients were afflicted with a sharp, stinging and dry Heat, and with great Restlessness.
4. They spat less than is usual in a common Quinsey; and their Tongues were extremely dry.
5. Though they had some Pain in swallowing, this was not their principal Complaint, and they could drink sufficiently.