Ague - Victorian Health and Medicine

AGUE mostly arises from a poisonous state of the atmosphere, and is especially prevalent on damp and marshy soils. The first step in the treatment of a person suffering from ague should be to remove him from the influence of the noxious air; and if this cannot be effected, he should be placed as far away from the soil as possible, in one of the top rooms of the house.

Several remedies are made use of for this complaint, one of the most popular of which is the cobweb produced by the black spider, which inhabits cellars, barns, and stables. This is administered in doses of ten grains, twice or thrice before the expected time of each paroxysm, and continued for three or four days.

Although this singular means of effecting a remedy may excite incredulity, a great many accredited cases are on record, and it is also supported by high medical authority, Another specific is arsenical solution, four drops of which, increased to six or eight twice or thrice a day, will prove of the greatest benefit.

Persons who have once been afflicted with ague are exceeding liable to be again attacked by it; they should therefore avoid exposure to damp or night air as much as possible, and in spring and autumn should, put themselves under a course of sulphate of quinine.

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