Volcanic action as a cause of outbreaks of epidemic disease / by Noel Bardswell.

Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Volcanic action as a cause of outbreaks of epidemic disease / by Noel Bardswell. 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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    EPIDEMIC DISEASE.1 By Noel Bakdswell, M.D., M.K.C.P. Ediu. and Loud., Decside Sanatorium, Banchory. The subject of the following essay is in accordance with the terms of the bequest of the late Dr. John Parkin, Fellow of the Koyal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, the founder of the Parkin Prize for essays on certain subjects connected with medicine. Judging from his published works on this subject, Dr. Parkin included under the head of Volcanic Action all the natural phenomena associated with the molten interior of the earth, namely, volcanic eruption, earthquakes, etc., and it is chiefly the relation of the latter to epidemic outbreaks that I have considered in this essay. Before going further, I will very briefly review what literature I have been able to find bearing on the subject. The first instance which I can find of any author definitely attributing outbreaks of epidemic disease to volcanic activity is an article written by Mr. Webster.2 In 1843 a work was published in Paris by Dutrouleau and Gounet, in which they described various ailments and lesions which were due to an earthquake.3 In 1851, John Parkin, the physician already referred to, pub- lished a large work,4 in which he strongly advocated the claim of volcanic action to be regarded as the cause of cholera and other epidemic diseases. He advanced as his arguments the following characteristics which volcanic action and cholera epidemics have in common:—(1) Progression along particular lines ; (2) more marked towards the sea and near large expanse of water; (3) limited duration—periodical return, with total cessation in a particular locality after certain definite periods. His views were very ably attacked, as not being in accordance with facts, by the then Kegistrar-General in his Eeport on the Cholera Epidemic in India, published shortly after the appearance of Parkin's work. Dr. Parkin wrote a reply in support of his theory, illustrating it with several maps designed to show the coincidence of cholera tracks with lines of volcanic action. That Dr. Parkin's theory had a fairly wide acceptance, is shown by the fact that his work was reproduced in a Spanish journal.5 Geographical Distribution of Volcanic Action and Disease.—In a map illustrating Geikie's Physical Geography, and showing the geographical distribution of volcanic activity throughout the world, the countries most subject to earthquakes are 1 Awarded Parkin Prize, 1900. - On the Connection of Earthquakes with Epidemic Disease, Medical Report, New York, 1801. :; Relation medico-chirargicale il<: tremblemenfc de terre. 4 The Remote Cause of Epidemic Diseases, 18.11. 5 Bolctin de med. y cirwj., Madrid, 1855.