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
On the 8th of July, a case of yellow fever occurred in the practice of
Dr. Stewart. About the 15th of the month, a patient died with it in the
Pennsylvania hospital. Dr. Physick informed me that he had, at the same
time, two patients under his care with that disease. Several cases of the
measles appeared in the south end of the city during this month. In every
part of it, the weather was warm and dry, in consequence of which there
were no second crops of grass, and a smaller quantity than usual of
summer fruits and vegetables. The winds were less steady than they had
been for seven years. They blew, every two or three days, from nearly
every point of the compass.
On the 4th of August there fell a considerable quantity of rain, which
was succeeded by cool and pleasant weather. The cholera morbus was a
frequent disease among both adults and children in the city, and the
dysentery in several of the adjoining counties of the state.
A number of emigrant families arrived this month from Ireland and Wales,
who brought with them the ship fever. They were carefully attended, at
the lazaretto and the city hospital, in airy rooms, by which means they
did not propagate the disease. Contrary to its usual character, it
partook of the remissions of the bilious fever, probably from the
influence of the season upon it.
In September there were a few extremely warm days. In the beginning and
middle of the month a number of mild remittents occurred, and about the
22d there were five or six cases of yellow fever in Eighth-street,
between Chesnut and Walnut-streets, in two houses ill ventilated, and
exposed to a good deal of exhalation. I attended most of these cases in
consultation with Dr. Gallaher. One of the persons who was affected with
this fever puked black matter while I sat by his bed-side, a few hours
before he died.
During the summer and autumn of this year, a number of cases of yellow
fever appeared at New-Bedford, Portland, and Norwich, in the New-England
states; in New-York; in some parts of New-Jersey; and in Northampton and
Bucks counties, in Pennsylvania. It prevailed so generally in New-York,
as to produce a considerable desertion of the city. In none of the above
places could the least proof be adduced of the disease being imported. In
Philadelphia its existence was doubted or denied by most of the citizens,
because it appeared in situations remote from the water, and of course
could not be derived from any foreign source.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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