There is no routine treatment for influenza except bed. In all cases bed is advisable, because of the danger of lung complications, and in mild ones it is sufficient. Severer ones must be treated according to the symptoms. Quinine has been much used. Modern “anti-pyretic” drugs have also been extensively employed, and when applied with discretion they may be useful, but patients are not advised to prescribe them for themselves.
Sir Wm. Broadbent in a note on the prophylaxis of influenza recommends quinine in a dose of two grains every morning, and remarks: “I have had opportunities of obtaining extraordinary evidence of its protective power. In a large public school it was ordered to be taken every morning. Some of the boys in the school were home boarders, and it was found that while the boarders at the school took the quinine in the presence of a master every morning, there were scarcely any cases of influenza among them, although the home boarders suffered nearly as much as before.” He continues, “In a large girls’ school near London the same thing was ordered, and the girls and mistresses took their morning dose but the servants were forgotten. The result was that scarcely any girl or mistress suffered while the servants were all down with influenza.”
The liability to contract influenza, and the danger of an attack if contracted, are increased by depressing conditions, such as exposure to cold and to fatigue, whether mental or physical. Attention should, therefore, be paid to all measures tending to the maintenance of health. Persons who are attacked by influenza should at once seek rest, warmth and medical treatment, and they should bear in mind that the risk of relapse, with serious complications, constitutes a chief danger of the disease.
In addition to the ordinary text-books, see the series of articles by experts on different aspects in The Practitioner (London) for January 1907.
IN FORMÂ PAUPERIS (Latin, “in the character of pauper”),
the legal phrase for a method of bringing or defending a case
in court on the part of persons without means. By an English
statute of 1495 (11 Hen. VII. c. 12), any poor person having
cause of action was entitled to have a writ according to the nature
of the case, without paying the fees thereon. The statute of
1495 was repealed by the Statute Law Revision and Civil
Procedure Act 1883, but its provisions, as well as the chancery
practice were incorporated into one code and embodied in the
rules of the Supreme Court (O. xvi. rr. 22-31). Now any person
may be admitted to sue as a pauper, on proof that he is not
worth £25, his wearing apparel and the subject matter of the
cause or matter excepted. He must lay his case before counsel
for opinion, and counsel’s opinion thereon, with an affidavit of
the party suing that the case contains a full and true statement
of all the material facts to the best of his knowledge and belief,
must be produced before the proper officers to whom the application
is made. A person who desires to defend as a pauper must
enter an appearance to a writ in the ordinary way and afterwards
apply for an order to defend as a pauper. Where a person is
admitted to sue or defend as a pauper, counsel and solicitor may
be assigned to him, and such counsel and solicitor are not at
liberty to refuse assistance unless there is some
good reason for refusing. If any person
admitted to sue or defend as a pauper agrees
to pay fees to any person for the conduct of
his business he will be dispaupered. Costs
ordered to be paid to a pauper are taxed as
in other cases. Appeals to the House of
Lords in formâ pauperis were regulated by the
Appeal (Formâ Pauperis) Act 1893, which
gave the House of Lords power to refuse a
petition for leave to sue.
INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to
give shape or form to, to represent, describe),
the communication of knowledge; in English law, a proceeding on behalf of the crown
against a subject otherwise than by indictment.
A criminal information is a proceeding
in the King’s bench by the attorney-general
without the intervention of a grand jury.
The attorney-general, or, in his absence, the
solicitor-general, has a right ex officio to file
a criminal information in respect of any indictments,
but not for treason, felonies or
misprision of treason. It is, however, seldom
exercised, except in cases which might be
described as “enormous misdemeanours,”
such as those peculiarly tending to disturb
or endanger the king’s government, e.g. seditions,
obstructing the king’s officers in the
execution of their duties, &c. In the form of
the proceedings the attorney-general is said
to “come into the court of our lord the king before the king
himself at Westminster, and gives the court there to understand
and be informed that, &c.” Then follows the statement
of the offence as in an indictment. The information is filed in
the crown office without the leave of the court. An information
may also be filed at the instance of a private prosecutor for
misdemeanours not affecting the government, but being peculiarly
flagrant and pernicious. Thus criminal informations have been
granted for bribing or attempting to bribe public functionaries,
and for aggravated libels on public or private persons. Leave
to file an information is obtained after an application to show
cause, founded on a sworn statement of the material facts of
the case.
Certain suits might also be filed in Chancery by way of information in the name of the attorney-general, but this species of information was superseded by Order 1, rule 1 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, under which they are instituted in the ordinary way. Informations in the Court of Exchequer in revenue cases, also filed by the attorney-general, are still resorted to (see A.-G. v. Williamson, 1889, 60 L.T. 930).
INFORMER, in a general sense, one who communicates
information. The term is applied to a person who prosecutes
in any of the courts of law those who break any law or penal
statute. Such a person is called a common informer when he
furnishes evidence on criminal trials or prosecutes for breaches
of penal laws solely for the purpose of obtaining the penalty
recovered, or a share of it. An action by a common informer
