Manuscript

Measles - Its Dangers and its Treatment, [C1863].

Roberton begins by describing the symptoms of measles. Because the disease is so well known Roberton does not go in to too much detail on the symptoms but instead calls attention to the fact that because the symptoms are frequently mild, children with the disease do not rest as they ought but instead continue to 'run about' which could lead to diseases such as congestion of the lung followed by death. He then talks about a table he collected 'upwards of thirty years ago' listing the various causes of death of children under 10 years. He found 14.54 per cent had died of measles. He gives a list of the children's ages. He makes clear that measles is still a fatal disease and quotes from the Registrar Generals Report 'in the three years ending 1860 where no fewer than 28,276 died from it.' He also quotes from a report from the Sanitary Association which lists the deaths from measles in Manchester and Salford for 1863 as numbering 361. He talks about the causes of the high mortality and gives two examples from hisd career of children dying from the disese. In terms of treatment he proposes three remedies. The first is 'bed', as soon as the first symptoms are displayed. The second is 'bed', during the 'eruptive stage', and the third is 'bed, rigidly enforced' when the eruptions have gone and until the cough has ceased. He ends the piece by talking of 'after treatment', and again states his three remedies '-bed, bed,bed'.