Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
History
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
In the first week of June, several cases of highly bilious fever came
under my care. In one of them, all the usual symptoms of the highest
grade of that fever occurred. On the 13th of the month, Dr. Physick
informed me, that he had lost a patient with that disease. On the 23d of
the same month, Joseph Ashmead, a young merchant, died of it. Several
other cases of the disease occurred between the 20th and 29th days of the
month, in different parts of the city. About this time, I was informed
that the inhabitants of Keys's-alley had predicted a return of the yellow
fever, from the trees before their doors emitting a smell, exactly the
same which they perceived just before the breaking out of that disease in
1793.
In July, the city was alarmed, by Dr. Griffitts, with an account of
several cases of the fever in Penn-street, near the water. The strictness
with which the quarantine law had been executed, for a while rendered
this account incredible with many people, and exposed the doctor to a
good deal of obloquy. At length a vessel was discovered, that had arrived
from one of the West-India islands on the 14th of May, and one day before
the quarantine law was put into operation, from which the disease was
said to be derived. Upon investigating the state of this vessel, it
appeared that she had arrived with a healthy crew, and that no person had
been sick on board of her during her voyage.
In the latter part of July and in the beginning of August, the disease
gradually disappeared from every part of the city. This circumstance
deserves attention, as it shows the disease did not spread by contagion.
About this time we were informed by the newspapers, that dogs, geese, and
other poultry, also that wild pigeons were sickly in many parts of the
country, and that fish on the Susquehannah, and oysters in the Delaware
bay, were so unpleasant, that the inhabitants declined eating them. At
the same time, flies were found dead in great numbers, in the unhealthy
parts of the city. The weather was dry in August and September. There was
no second crop of grass. The gardens yielded a scanty supply of
vegetables, and of an inferior size and quality. Cherries were smaller
than usual, and pear and apple-trees dropped their fruits prematurely, in
large quantities. The peaches, which arrived at maturity, were small and
ill-tasted. The grain was in general abundant, and of a good quality. A
fly, of an unusual kind, covered the potatoe fields, and devoured, in
some instances, the leaves of the potatoe. This fly has lately been used
with success in our country, instead of the fly imported from Spain. It
is equal to it in every respect. Like the Spanish fly, it sometimes
induces strangury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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