midnight
He did not say much in answer to the anxious questions of the mother , but administered some medicine and promised to call on the next day . At his second visit he found nothing favorable in the symptoms of his little patient . Her fever was higher than on the day before . There had been a short intermission after midnight , which lasted until morning , when it had returned again greatly exacerbated . Nine days did the fever last without the abatement of a single symptom , but rather a steady increase of all . The little sufferer had not only the violence of a dangerous disease to bear , but there was added to this a system of medical treatment that of itself , where no disease existed , would have made the child extremely ill . In the first place large doses of mercury were given , followed by other nauseous and poisonous drugs ; then copious bleeding was resorted to ; and then the entire breast of the child was covered with a blister that was kept on until the whole surface of the skin was ready to peel off .