Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

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Fcbres. gives tlie liiftory of this difeafe, was himfelf attacked
by it, and fuffered in the following manner : On the
firft day was a violent feverifh paroxyfm without rigor,
a lharp pain in the occiput, and immediately an inflam¬
matory pain over the whole head j the feet were ex¬
tremely cold, and the extremities rigid with fpafms.
The pain continued to increafe daily to fuch a degree,
that the contaft of the air itfelf became at laft intoler¬
able j a dejedlion of mind and incredible •Weaknefs fol¬
lowed ; he paffed reftlefs nights with continual fweat-
ing, heavy and pained eyes, and an univerfal fenfation
of rheumatifm over the Avhole body. On the third
day the pains were afluaged, but he had a very bad
night. On the fourth day all the fymptoms were worfe,
the feet quite chilled, the hands very red and agitated
with convulfive motions ; he was terrified with appre-
henfions of death, and had a vomiting every now and
then : this day fponges dipped in cold water were ap¬
plied over the whole body, and he ufed cold water for
his drink. On the eighth day the pulfe was convul¬
five ; and the pains were fo violent that they made him
cry out almoft continually. On the ninth day he was
delirious, and threw up fome grumous blood. On the
nth his pulfe was more quiet, and he had a fweat j a
decoftion of cinchona was given : his voice was bro¬
ken, his fpeech interrupted, and his teeth chattered up¬
on one another. On the 12th his jaw was convulfed,
he had a rifus fardonicus, and deafnefs 5 after which
the paroxyfms returned lefs frequently, and only to¬
wards night. On the 14th he had a chilling cold over
the whole body, a cold fweat; frequent lotions were
applied, and all the fymptoms became milder. On the
18th he had a quick delirium, but fainted as foon as
taken out of bed 5 a fenfation of hunger, followed by
copious fweats ; profound fleep ; an averfion from
noife ; every thing appeared new and extraordinary.
On the 36th a cholera; on the 48th a fealing off of the
Ikin, and falling off of the nails. This epidemic car¬
ried off above 3000 people at Warfaw. Frequent lo¬
tion of the body either cold or tepid, watery glyfters,
and the copious introduftion of watery fluids under
the form of drink, were of fervice. But the moft fa¬
vourable crifis was under the form of fome cutaneous
eruption.
?4a 4. Tnt&ophya typhodes. The principal fymptom of
this fever was a continual fweat with which the pa¬
tients were almoft always wet 5 with paroxyfms re¬
turning^ every third day. Sauvages tells Us, that he
had twice an opportunity of obferving this fever j one
was in the teacher of an academy, about 40 years of
age, and of a melancholic temperament. He fweated
every fecond night fo plentifully, that he was obliged
to change his linen nine times ; and even on the inter¬
mediate days was never perfeftly free of fever, and had
his Ikin moiftened with fweat. The other was of a
woman who went about in man’s clothes, and was dif-
covered only after her death. The difeafe began with
a flight fenfation of cold, after which fhe fweated for
eight hours. It was attended with the higheft de¬
bility, anxiety, and at the fame time an infatiable
hunger.
*43 5. Trit&ophya el odes, was an inflammatory epidemic,
but not contagious, terminating about the 14th or 21ft
day. The difeafe came on in the night time, with
diflurbed reft, univerfal weaknefs, watching's, great
- VOL. XIII. Part I.
249
heat and fweat, rednefs of the face and almoft of the Tertiana.
whole body, fparkling eyes, the tongue dry and white; —v——'
a hard, tenfe, and turgid pulfe: about the third day
a kind of frenzy frequently came on with the feverilh
paroxyfm, the forerunner of an univerfal miliary erup¬
tion •, or, what was worfe, with purple fpots fo clofe
together, that they looked like an eryfipelas of the
whole body. Sometimes blifters of the fize of fmall
pearls, filled wtth acrid ferum, appeared on the neck,
armpits, and trunk of the body, which were of all the
fymptoms the moft dangerous. There was a variety
of the difeafe, which Sauvages calls the humoralis, and
in which the pulfe was foft and feeble, with greater
weaknefs over the whole body, and the difpofition to
fleep more frequent than in the other j the eyes lan¬
guid 5 the tongue very white, but not dry; and worms
were fometimes difeharged.
6. TritcEophya ajjodes. This fpecies arofe from a 144
foulnefs of the primas vise, and the effluvia of waters
in which hemp had been fteeped. It began with ri¬
gor, followed by great heats, reftlefsnefs, toffing of the
limbs, faintings, immoderate thirft, drynefs of tongue,
delirium, and at length exceflive watchings 5 thefe
laft, however, .were lefs dangerous than vertigo or a
comatofe difpofition, which brought on convulfions or
apoplexies. »
7. Tritceophya carotica. This had exacerbations 145
every other evening 5 and its diftinguiflung fymptom
was an exceflive inclination to fleep, preceded by a
fevere headach, and followed by delirium, and fome¬
times convulfions ; the tongue was black, and the pa¬
tient infenfible of thirft after the delirium came on.
In thofe cafes where the difeafe proved fatal, a fub-
fultus tendinum and other alarming fymptoms, came
on.
8. Tritcvophja leipyria is only a variety of the tritae- 146 ,
ophya caufus, already deferibed.
9. Tritceophya deceptiva. This fpecies at firft aflumes 147
the appearance of a continued fever; but afterwards de¬
generates into a remittent, or even an intermittent. It
is deferibed by Sydenham, but attended with no re¬
markable fymptoms.
10. The laft of Sauvages’s fpecies of Tritaeophya 14*
belonging to the remitting tertian is the Americana.
This, according to Sauvages, is the ardent fever with
which the Europeans are ufually feized on their firft
arrival in America, and generally carries off one half of
them. Of this there are two varieties, the very acute
and the acute. The very acute ends before the feventh
day. It comes on a few days after the perfon’s arrival,
with lofs of appetite, with dyfpnoea and fighing from
Aveaknefs, headach, laffitude, and pain of the loins: a
pyrexia fucceeds, with great thirft, fweat, and heat 5
the ficknefs increafes, naufea comes on, with vomiting
of porraceous bile; the tongue rough, the extremities
often cold j Avatching, furious delirium; and the pa¬
tient frequently dies on the third day. Copious fweats,
and a plentiful hsemorrhagy from the nofe on the fifth
day, but not fooner, are ferviceable j but a bilious diar-
rhrea is the beft crifis of all.
The acute kind terminates moft frequently on the
ninth, but very rarely goes beyond the fifteenth day.
Death frequently comes on between the fourth and
feventh days. It begins Avith headach, pain in the
loins, *and fometimes ftiivering 5 great laflitude, dyf-
I i pnoea.
MEDICINE.