A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, Governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser.

Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, Governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    18/60 page 16
    Puerta de Santa Maria, being in the occupation of the French, and, consequently, cut off from communication with Cadiz, escaped the distemper. “ In a pure air,” Dr. Jackson observes, “ the fatal ema- “ nations will be dispersed ;—in a city where fever exists, “ the imported poison will add fresh vigour to the distemper, “ and, possibly, may give a character to the malady in a “ manner similar to that in which hospital seres are known “ to be deteriorated by the introduction of malignant or pu- “ trid cases. Again, “ Certain impressions produced indis- “ position in Cadiz, and Xeres ; and it was evident the at- “ mosphere was epidemic, probably so in a higher degree in “ sick wards than elsewhere.” Now, as we have no test whereby we can ascertain when an epidemic atmosphere exists, and as this assumed epidemic state of the atmosphere becomes more noxious by the accumulation of the sick, it seems inconsistent to deny the utility of quarantine, which prevents the entrance or approximation of persons, whose admission or presence would add fresh vigour, and possibly give a character to the malady, or heighten the epidemic influence. It is difficult to adhere to a fixed or limited theme, when de- tailing the phenomena of Epidemics; because each branch of discussion intimately ramifies with every point of argument. It may be thought that the statement of the hypothesis re- garding importation should have been delayed, until a far- ther and more extensive statement of facts had been con- structed as the basis of the doctrine; and it may also seem, that I have dwelt too long on the points touching importa- tion, not having gone more at length into the formal relation of what may be considered positive matter. It has been observed, that at the moment of watching the actual approach and development of Epidemic malady, this point, viz. Importation, has appeared as a disputed macula, which was soon obscured in the closer questions touching mortality, and which became again an argued topic, when the fatal scenes had passed away.
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