Observations on the period of incubation of scarlet fever and of some other diseases / by Charles Murchison.

Date:
1878
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the period of incubation of scarlet fever and of some other diseases / by Charles Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Oazenave and Schedel (quoted by Noirot)2 Sir Thomas Watson 8 r Willan4 ,,,,«.., Guersant and Blache (quoted by Noirot) 6 Thomas and Gerhardt0 . J. Frank (quoted by Noirot)1 5 days * . . 3 to 6 „ not exceeding 5 or 6 „ . never more than 0 „ Heberden (quoted by Noirot) 7 Samuel Gee8 . 3 to 7 „ 4 to 7 „ i n . less than a week. . . 1 week. 8 or 9 days. . a few hours to 10 ,, 7 , G. Gregory0 . Niemeyer 10 E. Williams 11 and W. Aitken . Reinhold12 . . . . Bathurst Woodman13 Boning14 Copland 15 Maton 16 . Most . .ii „ 2 to 14 „ • 14 „ 1 to 25 „ . 26 „ 1 month. But hitherto the statements made upon the subject have been based, for the most part, on one or two isolated observa- tions, and no attempt has been made to collect a large number of observations bearing upon the point. So much has this been the case that, in 1861, Trousseau declared that neither in measles nor in scarlet fever could the latent period 'be rigorously determined in the present state of our knowledge '; * while, still later, Obermeier gave it as his opinion that the incubation-period of scarlet fever was unknown.f In the Lancet for August 13, 1864, I published 13 cases illustrating the incubation-period of scarlet fever; and I came to the conclusion that while in rare instances there was no incubation-period at all, this, in most cases, 1 Noirot: loc. cit. 2 Ibid. 3 ' Lectures on Pract. of Med.,' 5th ed., 1871, ii., 973. 4 ' On Cutaneous Diseases,' 1808. 5 Loc. cit. 6 Ziemssen's ' Cyclop, of Med.,' American Transl.. vol. ii., 1875, p. 169. ' Loc. cit. 8 Reynolds's ' Syst. of Med.' vol. i., 1866, p. 334. 8 'Lectures on the Eruptive Fevers,' 1843, p. 142. 10 ' Text-Book of Pract. Med.,' American Transl., 1869, vol. ii., p. 533. 11 'On Morbid Poisons,' 1836. 12 Ziemssen's ' Cyclop, of Med.' loc. cit. 13 ' Lond. Med. Journ.,' February 1865, p. 76. 14 Ziemssen, loc. cit. 15 ' Med. Diet.,' Article ' Infection,' vol. ii., p. 354. 18 ' Trans. College Phys.,' vol. v., p. 149. Dr. Maton's cases have been quoted by Copland and others as examples of scarlet fever, but after referring to the original paper I consider this very doubtful. 'Geschicte des Scharlachf.' ii, 178. * ' Clinique Med.,' 1861, tome i., p. 4. f ' Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Pocken': ' Virchow's Archiv fur path. Anat. und Physiol, und fur klin. Med.,' Bd. liv.