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
_Hæmorrhages_ belong to the symptoms of this fever as they appeared in
the sanguiferous system. They occurred in the beginning of the disease,
chiefly from the nose and uterus. Sometimes but a few drops of blood
distilled from the nose. The menses were unusual in their quantity when
they appeared at their stated periods, but they often came on a week or
two before the usual time of their appearance. I saw one case of a
hæmorrhage from the lungs on the first day of the fever, which was
supposed to be a common hæmoptysis. As the disease advanced the
discharges of blood became more universal. They occurred from the gums,
ears, stomach, bowels, and urinary passages. Drops of blood issued from
the inner canthus of the left eye of Mr. Josiah Coates. Dr. Woodhouse
attended a lady who bled from the holes in her ears which had been made
by ear-rings. Many bled from the orifices which had been made by
bleeding, several days after they appeared to have been healed, and some
from wounds which had been made in veins in unsuccessful attempts to draw
blood. These last hæmorrhages were very troublesome, and in some cases
precipitated death.
II. I come now to mention the symptoms of this fever as they appeared in
the _liver_, the _lungs_, and the _brain_. From the histories which I had
read of this disease, I was early led to examine the state of the
_liver_, but I was surprised to find so few marks of hepatic affection. I
met with but two cases in which the patient could lie only on the right
side. Many complained of a dull pain in the region of the liver, but very
few complained, in the beginning of the disease, of that soreness to the
touch, about the pit of the stomach, which is taken notice of by authors,
and which was universal in the yellow fever in 1762. In proportion as the
cool weather advanced, a preternatural determination of the blood took
place chiefly to the lungs and brain. Many were affected with pneumonic
symptoms, and some appeared to die of sudden effusions of blood or serum
in the lungs. It was an unexpected effusion of this kind which put an end
to the life of Mrs. Keppele after she had exhibited hopeful signs of a
recovery.
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