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 precursors, or premonitory signs of this fever were, costiveness, a
dull pain in the right side, defect of appetite, flatulency, perverted
taste, heat in the stomach, giddiness, or pain in the head, a dull,
watery, brilliant, yellow, or red eye, dim and imperfect vision, a
hoarseness, or slight sore throat, low spirits, or unusual vivacity, a
moisture on the hands, a disposition to sweat at nights, or after
moderate exercise, or a sudden suppression of night sweats. The dull eye,
and the lowness of spirits, appeared to be the effects of such an excess
in the stimulus of the miasmata as to induce depression, while the
brilliant eye, and the unusual vivacity, seemed to have been produced by
a less quantity of the miasmata acting as a cordial upon the system. More
or less of these symptoms frequently continued for two or three days
before the patients were confined to their beds, and in some people they
continued during the whole time of its prevalence in the city, without
producing the disease. I wish these symptoms to be remembered by the
reader. They will form the corner stone of a system which I hope will
either eradicate the disease altogether, or render it as safe as an
intermitting fever, or as the small-pox when it is received by
inoculation.
Frequent as these precursors of the fever were, they were not universal.
Many went to bed in good health, and awoke in the night with a chilly
fit. Many rose in the morning after regular and natural sleep, and were
seized at their work, or after a walk, with a sudden and unexpected
attack of the fever. In most of these cases the disease came on with a
chilly fit, which afforded by its violence or duration a tolerable
presage of the issue of the disease.
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