Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
Science
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
The weather was uniformly warm in July. The scarlatina continued during
the beginning of this month, with symptoms of great violence. A son of
James Sharswood, aged seven years, had, with the common symptoms of this
disease, great pains and swellings in his limbs, accompanied with a tense
pulse. I attempted in vain to relieve him by vomits and purges. On the
10th day of the month, I ordered six ounces of blood to be drawn from his
arm, which I observed afterwards to be very sizy. The next day he was
nearly well. Between the 22d and the 24th days of the month, there died
three persons, whose respective ages were 80, 92, and 96-1/2. The weather
at this time was extremely warm. I have elsewhere taken notice of the
fatal influence of extreme heat, as well as cold, upon human life in old
people. A few bilious remitting fevers appeared towards the close of this
month. One of them under my care ended in a typhus or chronic fever, from
which the patient was recovered with great difficulty. It was the son of
Dr. Hutchins, of the island of Barbadoes.
The weather, for the first two or three weeks in August, was temperate
and pleasant. The cholera morbus and remitting fevers were now common.
The latter, were attended with some inflammatory action in the pulse, and
a determination to the breast. Several dysenteries appeared at this time,
both in the city and in its neighbourhood. During the latter part of
July, and the beginning of this month, a number of the distressed
inhabitants of St. Domingo, who had escaped the desolation of fire and
sword, arrived in the city. Soon after their arrival, the influenza made
its appearance, and spread rapidly among our citizens. The scarlatina
still kept up a feeble existence among children. The above diseases were
universal, but they were not attended with much mortality. They prevailed
in different parts of the city, and each seemed to appear occasionally to
be the ruling epidemic. The weather continued to be warm and dry. There
was a heavy rain on the 25th of the month, which was remembered by the
citizens of Philadelphia, as the last that fell for many weeks
afterwards.
There was something in the heat and drought of the summer months which
was uncommon, in their influence upon the human body. Labourers every
where gave out (to use the country phrase) in harvest, and frequently too
when the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer was under 84°. It was
ascribed by the country people to the calmness of the weather, which left
the sweat produced by heat and labour to dry slowly upon the body.
The crops of grain and grass were impaired by the drought. The summer
fruits were as plentiful as usual, particularly the melons, which were of
an excellent quality. The influence of the weather upon the autumnal
fruits, and upon vegetation in general, shall be mentioned hereafter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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