The causation and prevention of disease / by John Parkin.

  • Parkin, John, 1801-1886.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The causation and prevention of disease / by John Parkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    of these writers, as regards the epidemic cholera, has been formed from the facts collected during the prevalence of this disease in England, and during two visitations only : mine, on the contrary, is the result of a study of all the phenomena that have been presented to our notice, from the first outbreak in 1817 to the present day, and in all climates and latitudes—in the intertropical regions of the East and the West; on the burning sands of Arabia, and on the snow-covered steppes of Russia, as well as in the temperate regions of Europe and America. More than this, these phenomena are similar to those that have been recorded since the practice of medicine wras a science— from the time of Hippocrates to the present day: and more particularly, during the prevalence of the Black Death of the 14th century. While, therefore, the theory of the Board of Health, rests merely on a few isolated facts, obtained in one locality, and during two visitations only of the epidemic cholera, mine, on the contrary, is founded, not only on the experience of the day, but, on the experience of ages, and will therefore remain, when that of my opponents is forgotten, or, merely remembered as a tale that is told. Another argument of the Board of Health is, that my opinions and conclusions, if made known and dis- seminated, would arrest the march of what has been termed Sanitary Reform. Nothing can be more erroneous than such an assertion. Not only have I expressed myself, in that very Report, to be a strong advocate of Sanitary Reform, in the proper signification of the term, —for the physical and social welfare of the lower orders is intimately connected with this measure,—but, as will be seen hereafter, I should go much farther than these pre- tended reformers. True, I should not attempt to deceive the public, by inducing them to adopt Sanitary b 2