A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, K. G., governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser, Esq., inspector of hospitals and medical superintendant of quarantine at Gibraltar.

  • Fraser, W. W. (William Wemyss)
Date:
1826
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, K. G., governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser, Esq., inspector of hospitals and medical superintendant of quarantine at Gibraltar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    existence, excited the attention of the community, and of the Government of Gibraltar. Between the 4th and lOth of September, 1813, the fatal evidences multiplied, and too truly certified approaching mortality. The Board of Health, which had been assembled in May, now recommended the adoption of measures, as if a conta- gious malady existed in the town. The opinions* of the Medical Officers were recorded, and they proved, as on other occasions, at variance. The Epidemic of 1813 had indeed made considerable progress, previous 1o the elicitation of the formal statements of the Medical Officers, given to the Board ; and it is certain that the professional jury was sufficiently divided, to place every testimony on the disputed topics in the most illustra- tive position. The separation of the sick, and the dispersion of the popu- lation, were obvious measures; but either the impossibility, or the inefficiency of barricading those habitations or streets in the town of Gibraltar, in which the Epidemic appeared, soon became manifest. The effects of exposure of the troops to deadly ema- nations, from the bodies of the sick, or from terrestrial vapours, speedily indicated that a centuple Garrison of troops who had not passed the disorder, could nut effect what is expected from a full plague police. As a proof, therefore, of the inutility of cordon and bar- riers, the experience on this occasion may not, by some, be considered perfect, because the means were inefficient. Popular expectation, or rather presentiment, did not re- ceive, nor could it be soothed with any consolatory reflection as to the possible progress of events. The horrors of 1804 occurred in every inquiry:—but next to those interrogations, which were suggested by avarice, or by immediate anxiety regarding personal safety, it must be recollected that the exposition of the real difference betwixt the presumed Epi- demic and the fevers common at the season, (estacionales), * The opinion of Mr. Gardiner, Surgeon to the Naval Hospital, not having been correctly given to tlie public, I am sure he will feel obliged by my recording his distinct sentiments in his own words, viz. The cases of Fever I have seen appear to me Typhus of a very serious nature, and from what I have this day heard excite strong grounds for apprehension, fully justify every measure of precaution now adopting, and most particularly that of immediate separation, ~ ,^ » ^ Gibraltar, (Signed) John Gardiner, 17th Sept. 1813. 1^°^^' Navy.