A practical treatise on variola ovina, or small-pox in sheep, containing the history of its recent introduction into England; with the progress, symptoms, and treatment of the disease ... / [James Beart Simonds].

  • Simonds, James Beart.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on variola ovina, or small-pox in sheep, containing the history of its recent introduction into England; with the progress, symptoms, and treatment of the disease ... / [James Beart Simonds]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ovinations; all these, however, have failed more or less. ‘The method of collecting it in capillary tubes, and afterwards hermetically sealing them at the end, is probably the best. Mr. Ceely has long been ac- customed to preserve the vaccine lymph in this manner, and speaks highly of it. Next to this plan, that of charging ivory points, and allowing it to dry, is to be recommended. How long the lymph will retain its specific properties cannot be determined with accuracy : probably it will be useless after being kept a few months. Captain Carr speaks as if no difficulty existed in pre- serving it; but he does not say how this is to be done. These are his words:—‘ where yearly moculation is practised, it is customary to reserve a stock of inocu- lating materials from one year to another*.” On the contrary, Mr. Youatt remarks, that “there is one dis- advantage attending the use of the claveau [lymph], that it retains its power not more than a few days, what- ever care be taken of it}.” These observations by Mr. Youatt would lead to the inference, that the virus becomes totally inert in a very short time, which how- ever is not the case. The fresher the lymph, the more it is to be depended on for ovination, as undoubtedly it is deteriorated by age, and ultimately does become inert. Many of its properties, however, depend on its original purity, and great care is therefore necessary in the choice of vesicles from which to take it. Very large vesicles should not be selected, as these in general are filled with little more than ordinary serous exudations; small ones, especially * Carr on Sheep-pox, p. 10. + Youatt on Sheep, p. 544.