An inquiry into the origin of epidemics, and a physical and chemical analysis of their specific cause : on a new theory of matter and form / by J. Wishart.

  • Wishart, J., M.D.
Date:
[1848?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the origin of epidemics, and a physical and chemical analysis of their specific cause : on a new theory of matter and form / by J. Wishart. 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.)

    4/20
    which that hypothesis rests, will now be laid before the- profession, and it is believed the line of distinction, betweer^ human poisons, and those of the inferior animals, as well a& the chemical or aeriform miasms will, in this analysis, be so clearly defined, as to prevent confusion on this point, in our future investigations of the question involved, should my explanation be received as the true one. It may be assumed as a general proposition, that every af^ent which, when brought into contact with the human body, produces a deleterious influence on it, is, in a broad sense, a specific poison, and gives rise to a specific effect, peculiarly its own. Thus, the narcotic poisons, in a concen- trated form, induce almost instantaneous death, by an im- pression on the nervous system. In smaller portions, or less concentrated, they give rise to symptoms, and produce effects, uniform in character, and indicating their presence with almost unerring certainty. The presence of the min- eral poisons, is indicated by another group of symptoms, and pathological conditions of a different character, yet no less uniform than the preceding. The gaseous or aeriform poisons are characterised by symptoms of still a different liind—while the animal poisons are governed by laws, and rr'ive rise to symptoms and effects, peculiarly their own. But those alone giving rise to diseases assuming an epidemic form, consisting of human and other miasms, form the de- • composition of organized matter, and those arising from a derangement in the constitution of the atmosphere, not ap- preciable, are the only known sources of epidemics. Of the ; human poisons, there are but four which give origin to epi- demic diseases, although there are many other human poi- . sons transferable by contact, not of this character. It is not my design to go into this subject on the present occa- sion, having touched on this point in a former essay on ma- laria. One test may, however, be made by any one, by making the inquiry how many persons in this city over forty or fifty years, have passed through those diseasesuni- versally admitted to be the product of human miasmsy and the proportion of these same persons who have escaped the malarious epidemics. It is laid down as an universal law of matter, that quality is the result of the form of the particles of which every kind and variety of body is composed. This law was presented to me, in looking into the properties and laws of miasms, -and lies at the foundation of this inquiry; and hence every distinct species or form of animal life, from the lord of creation down to the zoophile, and every different vegeta- ible, from the oak to the moss, has, each, in the form stamped .-'upon iti been impressed with different qualities from all