Page:Guide to health.djvu/110

 used can be used again, after being well washed, provided it is free from blood and other dirty matter. If the poultice has to be applied to the abdomen, it should first be covered over with a warm cloth. Everybody should keep a tinful of earth ready for use, so as not to have to hunt for it whenever an occasion arises for its use. Otherwise, much precious time may be wasted in cases (as of scorpion-sting) where delay would be dangerous.

We now pass on to consider some particular diseases and the means of curing them. And first, fever.

We generally apply the term "fever" to a condition of heat in the body, but English doctors have distinguished many varieties of this disease, each with its own system of treatment. But, following the common practice and the principles elaborated in these chapters, we may say that all fevers can be cured in one and the same manner. I have tried this single treatment for all varieties from simple fever up to Bubonic Plague, with invariably satisfactory results. In 1904, there was a severe outbreak of plague among the Indians in