Similar good results may be secured by the use of cold affusion in cases of high temperature and great restlessness. I well remember a little boy, about eight years old, whom I once found rolling and tossing and burning up with scarlet fever. Calling for an empty wash-tub, I had him stripped and placed upright in the tub. I then began to pour cold water over him from a large pitcher. Scarcely had the water touched his skin, before he seized the pitcher, and began to drink from it. He was permitted to completely slake his thirst, and then the affusion was resumed. After four or five gallons of water had been thus poured over him, he was wiped dry, and was returned to his bed, where he immediately turned upon his side, and fell into a peaceful sleep. A few more affusions relieved him from danger, and he made a rapid recovery. Were people less afraid of such measures, a considerable portion of the danger in fevers might be obviated. Great discretion, however, is necessary in the application of such treatment, for Ringer states that he has “seen a child, suffering from scarlet fever, killed by an over-energetic employment of cold.” The temperature of the patient should be carefully noted, and its reduction below the normal standard should never be permitted.
_Anæsthetics._--All anæsthetics are hypnotics. In other words, they possess the power to abolish consciousness, and thus to produce a condition resembling sleep. This is effected by the direct action of the anæsthetic substance upon the cellular structure of the brain, reducing the molecular movements of the living protoplasm below the degree requisite for the excitement of consciousness. This sedative effect is preceded by a brief period of cerebral exaltation, occasioned by the disturbances caused by the first introduction of the drug into the current of the circulation.[42] It is with the subsequent hypnotic effect only that we are now concerned. Of the numerous anæsthetic substances that have been discovered, but few comparatively have been found sufficiently manageable and safe for general use. These are alcohol, paraldehyde, ether, compound spirits of ether, chloroform, chloral, butylic chloral, and amylic nitrite.