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
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|30|32|42|29 93|N. W. Clear. Hard frost this morning. |
|31|38|48|30 18|W. S. W. Cloudy part of this day; clear the |
| | | | | remainder. |
+--+--+--+------+----------------------------------------------+
In addition to the register of the weather it may not be improper to add,
that moschetoes were more numerous during the prevalence of the fever
than in 1793. An unusual number of ants and cockroaches were likewise
observed; and it was said that the martins and swallows disappeared, for
a while, from the city and its neighbourhood.
A disease prevailed among the cats some weeks before the yellow fever
appeared in the city. It excited a belief in an unwholesome state of the
atmosphere, and apprehensions of a sickly fall. It generally proved fatal
to them.
After the first week in September there were no diseases to be seen but
yellow fever. In that part of the town which is between Walnut and
Vine-streets it was uncommonly healthy. A similar retreat of inferior
diseases has been observed to take place during the prevalence of the
plague in London, Holland, and Germany, according to the histories of
that disease by Sydenham, Diemerbroeck, Sennertus, and Hildanus. It
appears, from the register of the weather, that it rained during the
greatest part of the day on the 1st of October. The effects of this rain
upon the disease shall be mentioned hereafter. On the 10th the weather
became cool, and on the nights of the 12th and 13th of the month there
was a frost accompanied with ice, which appeared to give a sudden and
complete check to the disease.
The reader will probably expect an account of the effects of this
distressing epidemic upon the public mind. The terror of the citizens for
a while was very great. Rumours of an opposite and contradictory nature
of the increase and mortality of the fever were in constant circulation.
A stoppage was put to business, and it was computed that about two thirds
of the inhabitants left the city.
The legislature of the state early passed a law, granting 10,000 dollars
for the relief of the sufferers by the fever. The citizens in and out of
town, as also many of the citizens of our sister states, contributed more
than that sum for the same charitable purpose. This money was issued by a
committee appointed by the governor of the state. An hospital for the
reception of the poor was established on the east side of the river
Schuylkill, and amply provided with every thing necessary for the
accommodation of the sick. Tents were likewise pitched on the east side
of Schuylkill, to which all those people were invited who were exposed to
the danger of taking the disease, and who had not means to provide a
more comfortable retreat for themselves in the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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