hem. Those having eruptive diseases should be confined to
their rooms as long as the scales continue to separate from the body.

*Vaccination.*--The method of preventing smallpox known as vaccination,
which has been practiced since its discovery in 1796 by Jenner, has always
proved effective. In some instances the sore arm causes considerable
inconvenience, but this generally results from neglect to cleanse the arm
thoroughly before applying the virus, or from contact of the sore with the
clothing later. The virus should be applied by a physician and the wound
should be protected after the operation. If discomfort is felt when it
"takes," medical advice should be sought.

*Isolation*, or quarantining, is a most important method of combating
contagious diseases. By removing the sick from the well many outbreaks of
disease are quickly checked. Isolation of individual patients, and
sometimes of infected neighborhoods, is absolutely necessary; and while
this works a hardship to the few, it is frequently the only safeguard of
the many. The community, on the other hand, should make ample provision
for the care of the afflicted in the way of hospitals, or sanitaria, and
if it is deemed necessary to remove people from their homes, they should
not be subjected to unnecessary hardship.

Where one is sick from some contagious disease in the home and there is
liability of communicating it to the other members of the family, _room
isolation_ should be practiced. Infection cannot spread through solid
walls, and where the doors, and the cracks around the doors, are kept
completely closed and the usual precautions are observed by those
attending the patient, the other inmates of the house can be protected
from the disease.

*The Physician and His Work.*--In combating disease the services of the
physician are a prime necessity. The special knowledge which he has at his
command enables the conflict to be carried on according to scientific
requirements and vastly increases the chances for recovery. He should be
called early and his directions should be carefully followed. Everything,
however, must not be left to the physician, for recovery depends as much
upon proper nursing and feeding as upon the drugs that are administered.
Of great importance is _the saving of the energy of the patient_, and to
accomplish this visitors should, as a rule, be excluded from the sick
room.

*Precautions in Recovery from Disease.*--Many diseases, if se