A meteorological journal of the year 1799, kept in London / by William Bent.

  • Bent, William, 1747-1823.
Date:
[1800]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A meteorological journal of the year 1799, kept in London / by William Bent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Remarks on the State of Air, Vegetation, &c, in February. A FROST commenced on the 28th of fafl: month and continued to the loth, or, with little intermiflion, to the 14th of this month; the coldefl: day was the 3d inftant, when the thermometer was at 24 and never higher than 28.: much fnow fell, particularly in the firft week, that many roads were rendered impalTable ; and the fnow and rain which fell afterward, caufed high floods and much damage in many places toward the end of the month.—15. Snow- drops in open flower.—20. CrocuflTes open their flower; and peas fown on the 17 th ofDecember, begin to appear above ground.—26. Goofeberry bufhes begin to open the leaf. Rain 2 inches 41 hundredths. Observations on the Diseases in February. SCARLET fever continued to increafe in frequency, as feemed probable in the laft month; it was not now confined to any particular diftrid, but met with here and there throughout the whole metropolis; in fome families it proved very fatal; the writer of this article, faw two inftances in one family, where it proved fo within twenty-four hours from the firfl: appearance of difeafe ; one, a child of eight years old, where no eruption ever took place, bat where the countenance was pale on the immediate attack, the pulfe ex- tremely feeble and frequent, a firong delirium, and almoft a total inability to fwallow; the other, an infant of two years old, had a flight efllorefcence at firft, which was of very Ihort duration, the internal fauces became very much fwelled, and on every attempt to fwallow the child was thrown into fits : in both thefe cafes blifters were applied without any alleviation of the difeafe, and death took place within the period above ftated; four others in the fame fainily recovered from this difeafe, one of them with'difficulty after having been in confiderable danger. Peripneumonic difeafes continued to prevail; and, if we may credit the bills of mortality, 451 have died from confumption in the courfe of the month, a number more than equal to the fourth part of the whole mortality. Smallpox ftill continued rare ; the mortality decreafing, being fiill confiderably lefs than in the laft month. Rheumatic affedions were very common, and gout fevere and obftinate. The burials from the 29th of January to the 26th of February were 1797.