Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/43

This page has been validated.
of Small-Pox.
15

and force them to expel the Matter of the Disease before its due Time, and so often make a harmless Distemper dangerous, and a dangerous one fatal. It is certain, that the longer it is before this Disease appears in Spots, the safer and more favourable it proves; for I never saw a Patient miscarry by the coming forth of the Pustules too slowly, though Multitudes have been lost by their coming out too soon. The Reason of the different Event is this; the diseasy Matter being neither of a malignant Quality, nor in great Quantity, the active Principles of the Blood are not provok’d and excited to throw it off immediately, for fear of being oppressed by it, and therefore have Time and Room to labour, prepare, and qualify it for a due Separation and Expulsion. And Nature generally finishes this Stage in the Space of four Days, as I have said before, by which Time it has subdued and conceded the crude Seeds of the Distemper, and made them fit to be separated from the Blood by the Strainers of the Skin, where they are compelled to stay and slick fast, not being able to pass through the Pores, by Reason of their improper and unequal Size and Figure. The Matter of the Disease being thus intercepted and entangled in the outward Glands, usually appears first in the Face, the Lips, Neck, and Breast, in small red Spots of the broadest Kind in this Distemper, which rise above the Surface of the Body, and gra-

dually