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Article OBSERVATIONS ON THE YELLOW FEVER. Page 1 of 2 →
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Observations On The Yellow Fever.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE YELLOW FEVER .
IN A LETTER FROM DR . DAVID HOSACK , OF NEW YORK , TO HIS FIUENS IN PHILADELPHIA .
Ne = w York , August 28 , 1797 . DEAR SIR , ~ V"OU request from me an account of the practice I had pursued its A the treatment of the yellow fever which prevailed in this city in the years 1795 and 179 6 . The history of the disease , with the mode of treatment practised , botli bDo & or Samuel Bard ( with whom I am connected in business )
y and myself , you will find faithfully detailed in a dissertation written by my brother , which I am informed has been lately reprinted in your city by Mr . Dobson ; but there are two or three circumstances which I submit to your consideration , which may not perhaps have been sufficiently insisted upon in the above essay . I consider fever to he of two kinds , either arising from the sensible changes ofthe atmosphere ,
or from a matter of a peculiar quality , introduced into the system : of the first kind , are simple inflammatory fever , pluerisy , acute rheumatism , inflammation ofthe brain , stomach , intestines , and all those diseases which are purely inflammatory . Of the latter class . of fevers , are small-pox , measles , chicken-pox , influenza , and hooping-cough , scarlet fever , dysentary , yellow fever , plague , & c . arising from certain noxious matters introduced into the system , which remain in it a certain length of time , producing more or less violent operation iu proportion to the virulence of their nature , and at length ' wear
themselves out , ' leaving the body more or less debilitated , according to their duration or their violence of aftion . I have introduced this observation to illustrate the analogy which I suppose to exist in a certain degree between yellow fever and all those diseases which arise from foreign matter introduced into the system . In the treatment of this class of diseases , there appears to me but one principle to be pursued : to attend to the different functions of
the body , that the adlion of the poison may be rendered as moderate as possible , and that every , other source of irritation be removed , until the cause producing the disease be entirely exhausted : and that the means of accomplishing this indication be such as least debilitates the body . In the management of yellow fever I have applied the same doftrine :
in this disease there is a peculiar poison introduced , which , like the poison ofthe plague , or of avenemous serpent , produces violent irritation and fever , with a derangement of all the functions ofthe body . When thus introduced , the principles of my practice have been to moderate its febrile action , and to remove every other source of irritation : both . of these indications I believe may be accomplished bthe
y same means , the chief of which appears to be—First , to remove from the bowels any matters which may aggravate the disease . Secondly , To restore the perspiration , which is for the most part obstructed . I make this last a separate article in the cure of this dis-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Observations On The Yellow Fever.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE YELLOW FEVER .
IN A LETTER FROM DR . DAVID HOSACK , OF NEW YORK , TO HIS FIUENS IN PHILADELPHIA .
Ne = w York , August 28 , 1797 . DEAR SIR , ~ V"OU request from me an account of the practice I had pursued its A the treatment of the yellow fever which prevailed in this city in the years 1795 and 179 6 . The history of the disease , with the mode of treatment practised , botli bDo & or Samuel Bard ( with whom I am connected in business )
y and myself , you will find faithfully detailed in a dissertation written by my brother , which I am informed has been lately reprinted in your city by Mr . Dobson ; but there are two or three circumstances which I submit to your consideration , which may not perhaps have been sufficiently insisted upon in the above essay . I consider fever to he of two kinds , either arising from the sensible changes ofthe atmosphere ,
or from a matter of a peculiar quality , introduced into the system : of the first kind , are simple inflammatory fever , pluerisy , acute rheumatism , inflammation ofthe brain , stomach , intestines , and all those diseases which are purely inflammatory . Of the latter class . of fevers , are small-pox , measles , chicken-pox , influenza , and hooping-cough , scarlet fever , dysentary , yellow fever , plague , & c . arising from certain noxious matters introduced into the system , which remain in it a certain length of time , producing more or less violent operation iu proportion to the virulence of their nature , and at length ' wear
themselves out , ' leaving the body more or less debilitated , according to their duration or their violence of aftion . I have introduced this observation to illustrate the analogy which I suppose to exist in a certain degree between yellow fever and all those diseases which arise from foreign matter introduced into the system . In the treatment of this class of diseases , there appears to me but one principle to be pursued : to attend to the different functions of
the body , that the adlion of the poison may be rendered as moderate as possible , and that every , other source of irritation be removed , until the cause producing the disease be entirely exhausted : and that the means of accomplishing this indication be such as least debilitates the body . In the management of yellow fever I have applied the same doftrine :
in this disease there is a peculiar poison introduced , which , like the poison ofthe plague , or of avenemous serpent , produces violent irritation and fever , with a derangement of all the functions ofthe body . When thus introduced , the principles of my practice have been to moderate its febrile action , and to remove every other source of irritation : both . of these indications I believe may be accomplished bthe
y same means , the chief of which appears to be—First , to remove from the bowels any matters which may aggravate the disease . Secondly , To restore the perspiration , which is for the most part obstructed . I make this last a separate article in the cure of this dis-