The pathology and treatment of yellow fever : with some remarks upon the nature of its cause and its prevention / by H.D. Schmidt.

  • Schmidt, H. D. (Henry D.), 1823-1888.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pathology and treatment of yellow fever : with some remarks upon the nature of its cause and its prevention / by H.D. Schmidt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    edge upon which they could more safely rely in the selection of their remedies than upon too great confidence in their materia medica. And it is the earnest desire of counteracting the pernicious influence of quackery, prevailing to a considerable extent during each epidemic of yellow fever, and which cannot be but humiliating to the better part of the medical profes- sion, that particularly prompts me to write this treatise. For this reason, no space will be wasted in a description of the history of the disease, or of the various epidemics which have prevailed in the different localities of the globe, for these subjects have been commented on so often as now to be familiar to every physi- cian and layman. On the contrary, I shall confine myself to pi'actical points, which directly bear upon the final mitigation or amelioration of the disease, and take the reader at once to the bedside, where he may study the clinical phenomena. From the sick-room, I shall take him to the dead-house to witness the macroscopical examination of the organs by the autopsy, and thence to the pathological laboratory, to obtain a knowledge of the microscopical pathological changes which, during the course of the disease, have taken place in the various tissues and organs. After being thoroughly acquainted with these facts, we are ready to enter into a comparison of the clinical phenomena with the pathological changes of the organs found after death, and syn- thetically to build up a general pathology, to be followed by a study of the probable nature of the cause, and the rational treat- ment of the disease. Lastly, after having thus studied and deter- mined the character of yellow fever, and furthermore considered all points relating to it, we may venture to make a few remarks on its prevention.