The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2).

  • Jones, I. G. (Ichabod Gibson), 1807-1857.
Date:
1853-54
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    served. By the fifth or sixth day after the insertion, a small vesicle will be visible, which is, or soon becomes, slightly flattened on the top, and very soon presents a small circular redness around the base. By the eighth day, and sometimes by the seventh, the vesicle is well formed, with a perfect umbilicated center, a rounded, swelled appearance of the cir- cumference, and a decided circular and inflamed areola of variable size. This gradually increases until the vesicle has changed to something of a scab though not yet dry, or until about the tenth or eleventh day. In its most perfect and com- plete state, the pock is from one fourth to half an inch in diameter, and when through its several stages has a dark mahogany color. At the period of its vesication, and upon the appearance of the areola, a feeling of tension and burning is experienced in the pock, accompanied by a slight constitu- tional disturbance, which is manifested in children by their being restless and fretful. By the twelfth day after the inser- tion, the matter contained in the pock is opaque and thick like pus, and the areola begins to fade and disappear; and by the fourteenth day the scab is dry, and can be taken off without much pain, though a small amount of matter will be found attached to its under surface, and at the bottom of the sore. But, upon healing, numerous small pits are left, resulting, probably, from the cellular character of the eruption. This, then, is the general course, and these the most promi- nent symptoms of a case of an ordinary vaccine disease; but will be found to differ in many respects according to the con- stitution and temperament of the individual affected. The course of the disease in most instances is as described, though the constitutional symptoms will be found to vary. In some instances one or two other pocks, not having all the charac- teristics, but answering in the main to those described, will make their appearance. In constitutions highly scrofulous, I have known protracted and troublesome eruptions follow vac- cination, which can be relieved only by a long course of alterative medicines, though I have no doubt they are of great advantage to the future health of the subject. It may some- times differ in the stage of inoculation, remaining dormant