Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/106

78 and this she does sometimes by raising a St. Anthony's Fire to consume and purge them off; sometimes by as friendly Stools, and sometimes, though then the Danger is over, by Boils in several parts of the Body; and thus by sundry Hazards, unwearied Labour, and a Series of various Evacuations Nature at length becomes secure, and triumphs over her vanquished Adversary.

The Struggle is indeed sometimes long protracted by the Continuance of the Fever, even in a dangerous Degree, after the Pustules of the Face are turned to a brown Scab, or one dry, hard and unequal Crust; and if we enquire into the Cause, that feeds and supports this Fever, some affirm that the Continuance of it is owing to the crude Matter that lies under the crusty Superficies of the Face, and some undigested Patches disperst in the Limbs, or Trunk of the Body, which constantly supply the Blood with new Putrefaction; but notwithstanding these Pustules not perfectly ripe may perhaps communicate from without some noxious Fuel to the inward Flame, yet let it be considered that the Pustules, though some of them are not fully mature, are however long before so far cast out of the animal Regimen, that their Communication with the Blood seems entirly cut off, as that of a dry Scab, and therefore will cause no Fever.

I have known that purulent Matter has lain twenty