The new method of inoculating for the small-pox : delivered in a lecture in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1781 / by Benjamin Rush, M.D. professor of the institutes and of clinical medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
MDCCXCII [1792]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The new method of inoculating for the small-pox : delivered in a lecture in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1781 / by Benjamin Rush, M.D. professor of the institutes and of clinical medicine in the University of Pennsylvania. 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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    which require to be brought in contact with a wound or fore in the body before they produce their effects. I deliver this opi- nion with diffidence. The fubject (lands in need of more experiments and invefti- gation. III. I come now to confider the befl method of preparing the body for the fmall- pox. This mull be done, ift by diet, and 2dly by medicine. The diet mould confifr. chiefly of vegetables. I have never feen any inconvenience from the free ufe of milk as a part of the preparative diet. In fome habits, where a morbid acid pre- vails in the ftomach, we may indulge our patients in a little weak flefh broth two or three times a week with fafety. Tea, cof- fee, and even weak chocolate, with bifcuit or dry toait, may be ufed as ufual, by per- fons accuftomed to that kind of aliment. Wine and fpirits of all kinds mould be withheld from our patients during the pre- paration. The more acefcent their drinks are, the better. It is unnecelTary that this change in the diet mould take place till a day or two before the time of communicat- ing the diforder. The fyftem accommo- dates to a vegetable and low diet in the courfe of three weeks or a month, fo as to defeat in fome meafure the advantages we expected from it. The good effects of it appear