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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    fever, regarded as a single disease, but also to examine these causes in reference to the different forms of fever, and thereby, if possible, to throw some light upon a question which many regard to be still sub judice, viz., the specific identity or non¬ identity of these different forms. Much has of late years been written on the symptomatology and pathology of the various fevers; but probably the subject will ultimately receive the greatest elucidation from an investigation of their etiology. It would be well, however, if some, who are in the habit of asserting the identity of the different fevers, had, in the first place, studied more carefully their symptoms and morbid appearances. The vagueness upon these points, which is exhibited in their descriptions, neutralizes the value of the facts which they adduce, and invalidates the opinions which they advocate. I do not pretend that the facts which I am about to bring forward are all of them novel, or sufficient to decide the disputed question. It is hoped, however, that they may be regarded as a contribution in the right direction towards the solution of the problem. Most of them are derived from statistics which I have collected from the records of the London Fever Hospital; and I have endeavoured, as often as possible, to compare the results thus obtained with those arrived at by observers in other quarters. During the last ten years careful records of the diagnosis of all the cases of fever admitted into this hospital have been kept. Many cases of symptomatic fever are also con¬ stantly sent into the hospital; but all these have been excluded from the numerical statements which follow. The fevers have been divided into the four following : typhus, typhoid, relapsing, and febricula. These terms I shall, from their convenience, adopt, without pledging myself to the belief that I regard them all as indicating distinct species of disease. Even the most sceptical on this matter must allow that the first three, at all events, constitute well- marked varieties of fever; and it is obviously no less important to investigate their etiology, whether we consider them as varieties or species. A short definition of what is