Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/69

Intention it kill’d the Patient in such a malicious and secret Way as no Body knew what did hurt him: But can any Man know this would have been the Small-Pox? why might it not more probably have been a very malignant Fever, that took off the Patient in so few Days? Besides, if it be considered, that Nature pushes out the word and most fatal Sort of Small-Pox in Spots or Pustules, even on the first or second Day; so hasty is she to expel the malignant and pernicious Matter; and why should it have such Patience as to linger three or four Days without casting out in Spots this pretended unappearing Small-Pox is unaccountable. Let this be tried in parallel Cases; how odly would it sound to say that a Patient died of a St. Anthony's Fire, that never scorched, or so much as appeared on any Member of the Body, or that he had a Boil, or Phlegmon, or a Scorbutick Inflammation, that never redened, swelled or pained any Part whatsoever, or a Cutaneous Disease, by which however the Skin was never in the least affected? Having now given an Account of the Nature of the Small-Pox and its proper Characters, and divided it into its several Species, and laid down the peculiar Properties, that discriminate and distinguish one Sort from another; I come to discourse upon the most proper and effectual Method of Cure in this great Distemper.