ven to 80 strokes per minute); the rash, then, gradually and
steadily fades, and finally disappears altogether.--Sometimes the rash
fades or disappears too early, in which cases, usually, the internal
symptoms increase, the brain and spine become affected, and the
situation of the patient becomes critical.

6. PERIOD OF DESQUAMATION, OR PEELING-OFF.

About the sixth or seventh day, the epidermis, or cuticle of the skin
begins to peal off, commencing in those places which first became the
seat of the rash, and gradually continuing all over the body. In such
parts as are covered with a thin delicate cuticle (as the face, breast,
&c.) the cuticle comes off in small dry scurfs; in such parts as are
covered with a thicker epidermis, in large flakes. There have been
instances of almost complete gloves and slippers coming away from
patients' hands and feet.--The fever subsides entirely, and so does the
inflammation of the throat and mouth, which become moist again. Also the
epithelia, or the delicate cuticles of the mucous membranes, which have
been affected by the disease, peal off and are coughed up with the tough
thick mucus covering the throat, or they are evacuated with the faeces
and the urine, forming a sediment in the latter.--Desquamation is
usually completed in from three to five days; sometimes it requires a
longer time; under hydriatic treatment it seldom lasts more than a few
days. Whilst desquamation is taking place, a new cuticle forms itself,
which, being exceedingly thin at first, gives the patient a redder color
than usual for some time, and requires him to be cautious, in order to
prevent bad consequences from exposure.--

Thus the disease makes its regular course in about ten days, and, under
a course of hydriatic treatment, which not only assists the organism in
throwing off the morbid poison and keeps the patient in good condition,
but also protects him from the influence of the atmosphere, the patient
may consider himself out of danger and leave the sick-room under proper
caution, of which we shall speak hereafter.

7. THE PERIOD OF CONVALESCENCE,

under the usual drug-treatment, is, however, usually protracted to twice
or thrice the duration of the disease, the patient being compelled to
keep the house for five or six weeks, especially from fear of
_anasarca_, or dropsy of the skin, frequently extending to the inner
cavities of the body, and proving fatal. This dangerous complaint has
been more