Contributions to the etiology of continued fever, or, An investigation of various causes which influence the prevalence and mortality of its different forms / by Charles Murchison.

  • Murchison, Charles, 1830-1879.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the etiology of continued fever, or, An investigation of various causes which influence the prevalence and mortality of its different forms / by Charles Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    admitted into the Infirmary were very numerous in the latter part of summer and in autumn, very few in winter and spring.1 Almost all the great outbreaks of typhoid which have been reported in the various journals, as occurring in ,the provincial towns and villages of England, have been during the autumn. References will be found to a number of these in a foot-note.2 3 4 These outbreaks were particularly numerous during the autumn of 1846, the summer of which year had been remarkable for its unusually high temperature. In the Report of the Eever Hospital for this year, I find the following statement. In the unusually hot weather that prevailed in the summer and autumn months of this year, diarrhoea occurred in almost every case of fever; and the intestines were found, in a very large proportion of the fatal cases, extensively diseased/’ Again of 183 cases at Strasbourg, reported by Forget,0 60 were in autumn, 49 in summer, 38 in spring, and 36 in winter. In the United States, Dr. Bartlett informs us, that his impression is, that typhoid is most preva¬ lent in autumn: of 645 cases admitted into the Lowell Hospital during seven years, 250 were in autumn, only 104 in spring/ Again in New England, Dr. Austin Flint observes that typhoid exhibits such a manifest predilection for the autumn, that it is there known by the name of the “ Autumnal ’’ or “ Fall Fever.” 5 Lastly, from the descrip¬ tions of the “ Autumnal Fever ” in this country during the 1 ‘Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ./ Oct., 1840. 2 At Newcastle, in 1822, ‘Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ./ vol. xix, p. 225. At Nottingham, in 1846, ‘London Med. Gaz./ yol. xxxix, p. 59. At Minchinhampton, 1846, ‘Lond. Med. Gaz./ vol. xlii, p. 157. Various villages in Berkshire, 1846, ‘ Lond. Med. Gaz./ vol. xxxviii, p. 1083. Old and New Lenton, 1846, ‘Med. Times,’ vol. xv, p. 159. Croydon, 1852, ‘ Lancet/ 1853, vol. i, p, 536. Tewkesbury, 1853, • Assoc. Journ./ 1853, p. 793. Clergy Orphan Asylum, St. John’s Wood, 1856, ‘ Lancet/ November 15th, 1856. 3 ‘ Traite de I’Enterite Follic./ p. 409. 4 Bartlett, op. cit., p. 101.