A view of fever : delivered in an oration before the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, on the second day of June eighteen hundred and seven, and published at their desire / by Ennalls Martin, M.B.

  • Martin, Ennalls, 1758-1834.
Date:
1808
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Credit: A view of fever : delivered in an oration before the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, on the second day of June eighteen hundred and seven, and published at their desire / by Ennalls Martin, M.B. 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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    my to indispose it to healthy action. It is that state of the body, says Dr. Brown, that recedes from health, and approaches to dis- ease in such a manner, as to seem to be still within the boundaries of the former, of which, however, it is only an insidious and deceiving resemblance. It is the effects of the remote cause, which, in a way not easily explained, impairs every vital principle, and with concurring causes, disorders all the functions of the body. From hence it may be inferred, that before general fever can be ex- cited, the excitability must undergo a morbid change, and the body be predisposed to morbid action ; when cold, fatigue, intemperance, and the fiassions of the mind may become exciting causes; and also that the remote cause itself may, in that state of the system, be applied to some particular organ,act as an exciting cause to fever, and by asso- ciate motion, disorder every function. Perhaps then, in the elegant language of Dr. Caldwell, this nascent spark of disease may then proceed, like the embryo ripple in the lake, at first almost a viewless speck, expands by gradual progression from the centre, 'til the whole extent of the glassy suuLce partakes of the tremulous commotion. It has been surmised by some, that the stomach is the seat and throne of fever, and that the noxious cause is received into, and has a pri- mary effect on it; but it is more than probable this hypothesis is built upon a very slender foundation, particularly when we reflect on the nature of the passage into that receptacle for food and drink, and the difficulty which matters floating in the atmosphere, would find in obtaining a constant and ready admittance into it. Supposing the fact otherwise, it is nev rtheless a reasonable presumption, while that organ is in the full enjoyment of its functions, that the noxious cause in the form of gas, would most probably unite very readily with its usual contents, and quickly undergo that modification which the di- gestive powers are so capable of effecting : of course it must in a pri- mary consideration become harmless there, and to the system gene- rally. After mature and candid reflection, it must appear clearly at)d ob- viously that the skin, and those parts which are open to the air in its passage to the lungs, and the lungs themselves are the only organs or parts which can be considered as altogether, and at all times assail- able by noxious maiters floating in the atmosphere ; and that it is by the system of absorbents, they find a constant and ready passage to the blood, and by it to the system generally. From hence I infer, that though the blood vesst Is may be, according to Dr. Rush, the seat and throne of all fevers, the blood must be the vehicle by which the noxious cause is conveyed to every part of the body. Here then commences the first link to fever: the morbid excitability, and the beginning predisposition. Relinquish this doctrine, and we are re- duced to the necessity of admitting, contraiy to the most impartial and accurate observation, that the moment the '• noxious matters floating in the atmosphere, are applied to any of the organ*, such as a vapour lrom a morass to the lungs, fever must be the consequence with the small aid of cold, fatigue and hunger, and that by direct or reverse sympathy. During the revolutionary war, duty compelled me to attend the sick and dying soldiers of our army in a crouded and confined ward, where