Original investigations on the natural history (symptoms and pathology) of yellow fever : 1854-1894 / by Joseph Jones.

  • Jones, Joseph, 1833-1896.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Original investigations on the natural history (symptoms and pathology) of yellow fever : 1854-1894 / by Joseph Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    tion of the poison into the system. This statement is sustained by the following observations: Case 3.—A stout, healthy young gentleman, of florid com- plexion, sanguine temperament, and active habits, resided in a healthy locality in Liberty County, Georgia, thirty miles from Savannah. In the month of September, 1854, while the yellow fever was prevailing, he drove in his carriage into the city, and visited the house in which one of his near rela- tives had died a few days before with well-marked yellow fever accompanied with black vomit. Entering the city at midday, he remained about four hours (just long enough to secure some business papers relating to the estate of his de- ceased relative), and returned immediately into the country. In the course of one week this stout young man, in the full vigor of health, was seized with yellow fever, and died with black vomit after an illness of four days. After death, the body presented a deep yellow color, and the dependent por- tions were mottled from the unequal and excessive capillary congestion. The exposure of a few hours to the atmosphere of the city was in this case suflicient for the introduction of the poison. On the other hand, many individuals living in the infected cities, and holding daily intercourse with the sick, do not manifest symptoms of the disease until near the close of the epidemic; while others, equally exposed, pass through many epidemics without even manifesting a sufficient amount of febrile derangement to require medical treatment. This latter remark applies not only to the natives of southern cities, but also to residents of northern latitudes, who remove to those localities where yellow fever prevails after they have attained their full growth. The period of incubation appears to vary in different epidemics, and among different individuals during the same epidemic, and may extend from twenty-four hours to weeks and even months. In this respect yellow fever is alii d to those dis- eases which are supposed to arise from malarial effluvia, and differs from those well-defined contagious diseases in which the period of latency is well-marked and of definite duration. During the prosecution of my investigations in yellow fever, notwithstanding frequent contact with the sick and dead, and exposure to the exhalations from the bodies of yellow fever subjects and from the black vomit, excretions, and blood and organs subjected to chemic analysis, I have never experi- enced well-marked symptoms of this disease until the great epidemic of 1878; although at times, when