Yellow or malignant bilious fever in the vicinity of South Street wharf, Philadelphia, 1853 : read before the College of Physicians Aug. 3 and Sept. 7, 1853 : with an appendix / by Wilson Jewell.

  • Jewell, Wilson, 1800-1867.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Yellow or malignant bilious fever in the vicinity of South Street wharf, Philadelphia, 1853 : read before the College of Physicians Aug. 3 and Sept. 7, 1853 : with an appendix / by Wilson Jewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    mach, known as black vomit * This substance, when placed within the field of the microscope, exhibited the true blood-cor- puscles, denoting its sanguineous character, with the exception of that in Ellen Parr's case, No. 35, examined by Prof. Gilbert, whose testimony disproves its identity with blood, and conse- quently throws a doubt on the genuineness of the case. This patient recovered, and was one of the two instances of recovery where the black vomit was said to have occurred. In eleven of the thirty-four deaths a post-mortem was made; in all of which the yellow or ochre-colored liver was detected in whole or in part. In all of them the coffee-grounds fluid, or melasnic blood, was found, either in the stomach or intestines, with other evidences of a pernicious form of fever. The mortality, according to the table, has been fearful; equal to 80 per cent., or 5 to 1 of recoveries.! The sixteenth case in the tabled was Eosanna McKean, a native of Ireland, a patient of Dr. William H. Hooper, and residing at No. 172^ South Second Street. From her own account, she had made a visit on Monday, three days previous to Dr. Hooper's see- ing her, to the corner of South and Water Streets, next door to where two persons had died with yellow fever. We are indebted to Dr. H. for the following symptoms of this as well as those in several other cases, which he kindly furnished for our use:— Called to see her at 4 P. M., July 24, 1853; had been ill three days with fever and severe pain in the head and back; found the eyes injected, intense epigastric uneasiness, with great tenderness on pressure; pulse feeble; face dark and suffused; intense pain in the back of neck; tongue perfectly natural in color and to the touch. 29th. Great prostration; vomited during the night a large quan- tity of a brownish fluid, containing a sediment resembling coffee- grounds. 12 M. Eejected everything taken into the stomach. Resisted all stimulants, gulping up everything by mouthfuls. * la the seventh case, there was no black vomit before death, but it was found in the stomach at the post-mortem. + By a reference to the accompanying diagram of the infected locality, the pre- cise situation of each case recorded is indicated, corresponding to the number in the table. J The previous cases having been already described.