"The late influenza might very properly have been named the sweating sickness, as sweating was the natural and spontaneous solution of it, and rest, abstinence, and warm diluents, were, in most instances, all that were necessary for the cure; yet, amidst such an amazing number and variety of cases, many occurred which required some further medical assistance, and when that became necessary, it was of the utmost importance that it should be procured early; for the disease when neglected or improperly managed in the beginning, sometimes ended in a malignant fever of difficult treatment, and of very doubtful termination. And although the tendency to profuse sweating often continued, it now only weakened the patient, and a critical or salutary solution of the disease, in consequence of this evacuation, was no longer to be expected; nor do I recollect a single example of profuse sweating being attended with any advantage after the first forty-eight hours.

"The medicines which I found most serviceable in abating or carrying off the fever were small doses of an antimonial powder, composed chiefly of tartar, emet. the julep e camphora, with about a fourth part of the spt. Mindereri; the common saline draught, with ten or fifteen grains of the pulv. contrayerv. c. or, what I commonly preferred, from twenty to forty drops of the liquor anod. min. Hoffmanni, adding occasionally a small quantity of the paregoric elixir.

"In cases of great lowness, besides the drinks and nourishment usual in fevers, I allowed the sick white wine whey, wine and water; and weak veal broth.

"For removing the oppression at the praecordia, sickness, and headach, no means were so certain as vomiting with tart. emet. giving it in small doses, largely diluted, and repeated every ten or fifteen minutes, until it produces the desired operation. This medicine, administered in this manner, had also a very remarkable effect in bringing on a remission of the febrile symptoms, and in accelerating the termination of the disease. It likewise commonly opened the body; when that was not the case some gentle laxative was given.

"The cough required not only plentiful warm dilution, but opiates and blisters were also very necessary; and where the sick were attacked with stitches, or acute pains about the chest, with difficult or laborious breathing, and other peripneumonic symptoms, the propriety of bleeding was, in my opinion, clearly and evidently pointed out; nor can I think any physician justifiable in neglecting the use of the lancet under such circumstances. At the same time, I am ready to acknowledge, that bleeding, though necessary to obviate the fatal consequence of a particular symptom, was by no means conducive to the general cure of the disease; that, on the contrary, the lowness and dejection were often increased by it; that the blood taken away had not always an inflammatory appearance, but was sometimes florid, and the crassamentum tender; that the relief afforded by bleeding was neither so considerable nor so certain as in other similar cases of peripneumony, and that in the course of the disease there frequently appeared unequivocal signs of a putrid tendency. But admitting the whole of these facts, and granting that they ought to make a physician cautious of taking away blood so freely, perhaps, as he otherwise would do, and as the urgency of the symptoms might seem to justify, yet they surely do not lead to an entire prohibition of the use of the lancet, at least in those cases where there was evidently no alternative, and where, although the effects of bleeding might be doubtful, the consequence of omitting it was certain. Upon such occasions, the advice of Celsus is the voice of reason," Saitus est enim anceps auxilium experiri quam nullum." Besides bleeding, blisters applied as near as possible to the parts affected were here, as in similar cases, of very essential service in removing the stitches in the side, and in relieving the difficulty of breathing; so that we may justly apply to them what an eminent author said of the Peruvian bark, that he found it most serviceable where was most wanted; for in cases purely inflammatory, where bleeding of itself will commonly do every thing, blisters are less necessary"; but in those of a mixed nature, where the assistance of blisters is more immediately required, the relief afforded by them is in general more certain.

"Some may think it strange, that amongst the remedies employed in the treatment of this disease I have made no mention of oily medicines, such as emulsions, linctuses, etc. nor of the Peruvian bark. In regard to oily medicines, I have often observed that the advantage derived from them in cases of catarrh, attended with heat and fever, was extremely equivocal; and that wherever there were nausea, oppression, and uneasiness at the stomach, with a bitter taste in the mouth, and ni-dorous eructations, they did more harm than good: as these symptoms so frequently occurred in the influenza, I thought it safest to omit their use entirely.

"As to the bark, I shall only remark, that in the influenza, the cough, affection of the breathing, and oppression at the praecordia, where they occurred, were to me sufficient reasons for not employing it; and that even where these symptoms were not present, and in cases where the great lowness, and apparent putrid tendency, seemed not only to justify but even to demand the use of the bark, I never was so fortunate as to see one single instance where it produced any sensible good effect, either in moderating the fever, supporting the strength, checking the disposition to gangrene, or in preventing the fatal catastrophe that ensued.

"When the fever, and other immediately alarming symptoms of the influenza had ceased, there frequently remained a teasing cough; and convalescents in general complained of languor, want of appetite, and that their sleep was interrupted and unrefreshing. For removing these complaints, and completing the recovery of the patients, change of air, and riding on horseback, were the most effectual remedies; and to some they were absolutely necessary. A milk diet was recommended where the cough was obstinate; but I did not find it either necessary or of advantage to enjoin so strict an antiphlogistic regimen as is usually done in similar complaints. Neither do I know of any instance where the cough terminated in a phthisis pulmonalis, and I am much inclined to believe that this fatal termination was much less frequent after the influenza than after a common cold. For the lowness and want of appetite, chalybeate waters, especially when drunk at the spring, were of singular service. I also frequently prescribed, and I think with advantage, the elix. vitr. cum liquor, anod. Hoffmanni, taken to the quantity of thirty or forty drops in a bitter infusion, or in a decoction of the bark.

"In this short account of the late influenza, I have offered no conjecture with regard to the original cause of the distemper, or the manner in which it was propagated. I apprehend, from the present state of our knowledge, that we can hardly venture to say even what it is not; still less to affirm, with any probability, what it is."

Having thus inserted the best accounts, both ancient and modern, we shall refer for our own opinions and experience to the article Catarrhus epidemicus.

See also Observations on the Influenza by A. Broughton, M. D.; a Description of the Influenza, by R. Hamilton, M. D.; Fothergill's Works, by Lettsom, 4to. p. 615; Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. vi. p. 340, etc.; Medical Transactions, vol. iii. p. 54, &c; Medical Communications, vol. i. p. l,etc.; Edinburgh Medical Commentaries, vol. ix. p. 393; Memoirs of the Medical Society, vol. i. to vi.