Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/53

The Symptoms, that attend the confluent Kind of all Sorts are as before enumerated, but in an higher Degree, cold Shiverings or Rigours, great Pains commonly in the Back, sometimes in the Side or Limbs, an inordinate, labouring, and swift Pulse, Sickness in the Stomach, Vomitings and Strainings to vomit, Thirst, Aching and Lightness of Head, excessive Heat, Oppression of Spirits, and great Inquietude, till the Time of their Appearance. If this happens on the first Day, the Case is deplorable, and eludes all the Art and Care of the Physician; and that Sort is likewise very dangerous, which breaks out on the second Day after the first Seizure; for herethe Matter of the Pustules being expelled to the Skin, before sufficient Time is allowed for their Digestion, rarely proceed in a regular Manner to a safe Maturity, but continue crude and unconcocted so long, that it protracts the Fever, and extinguishes the Spirits by its malignant Quality, till exhausted Nature is at length subdued and yields to the Enemy. Tho’ this fatal Event sometimes happens on the seventh or eighth Day, where the Putrefaction is found in a very high Degree, and next to pestilential; yet most commonly the Distemper is prolong’d to the eleventh, and often to the thirteenth, seventeenth, twenty first, and twenty fifth Day, and sometimes yet farther, so that the eleventh is not the decisive Time in this worst Sort.