A short account of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, for the reflecting Christian / by J. Henry C. Helmuth, Minister of the Lutheran congregation ; translated from the German by Charles Erdmann ; copy right secured according to law.

  • Helmuth, Justus Henry Christian, 1745-1825.
Date:
MDCCXCIV [1794]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A short account of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, for the reflecting Christian / by J. Henry C. Helmuth, Minister of the Lutheran congregation ; translated from the German by Charles Erdmann ; copy right secured according to law. 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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    ( *9 ) [Interment of the dead.] The dread of this diforder foon became fo great, that it was impoffible to find carriers of the dead, as numbers of thofe who had carried at firft fuch as had died with this diforder, were infected thereby and fell fick ; it therefore became neceffary to make ufe of carriages, The number of attendants at a funeral was greatly diminilhed, every body retired at the ap- proach of a herfe ; windows and doors were Unit as they pafled. Frequently nobody but the driver of the herfe or chair fhafts and the inviter accom- panied a coffin, which hundreds would have fol- lowed at other times. Here one man juftly de- fences to be mentioned in particular; this is our inviter; he not only took care of funerals as for- merly, but in the moft dangerous inftances always anifted with his own hands to put the corpfes into the coffins :* by his intrepidity the driver of the herfe was encouraged to do the fame; and I do not know, how a number of corpfes of our con- gregation would have been conveyed to the grave, if God had not endowed thefe men with fuch courage. The day frequently would not fufEce to bury all * The Sexton and Clerk of the id Englifh Prefby- terian church were remarkably ufeful in the fame way, and have been mercifully preferred. Thefirfl never had the diforder at all and the fecorJ not till its prevalence was greatly abated.