An essay on the bilious epidemic fever, prevailing in the state of New-York : to which is added, a letter from Dr. James Mann, surgeon-general to the Army; and a dissertation by Dr. John Stearns, delivered before the state medical society,on the same subject ; with notes and observations on these productions / by Christopher C. Yates.

  • Yates, Christopher C., 1778?-1848.
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the bilious epidemic fever, prevailing in the state of New-York : to which is added, a letter from Dr. James Mann, surgeon-general to the Army; and a dissertation by Dr. John Stearns, delivered before the state medical society,on the same subject ; with notes and observations on these productions / by Christopher C. Yates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    with me in the general treatment of it, and am happy that I can confirm its propriety by the equal success he has met with, having lost only one marked case, to which he was not called till some days after another physician had abandoned the patient. Were I disposed to theorize on the proximate cause and effect of this diseae, I should say, that the liver is the reservoir from which this noxious matter is diffused through the system; its delete; ious particles entering the blood vessels, contaminate that fluid, tend to de- stroy its Vital principle, and of consequence, lessen the energy of the arterial system. This appears to be evinced more particularly in the most alarming stage of the disease, when those symptoms appear, that have been called Pcripneumonic, when the breathing is short \ and suffocating, and the face becomes livid ; sometimes the vessels of the cheeks become turgid, and of a dark s purplecolour; denoting a want of oxygen,t\ at vital prin- ciple of the blood, so necessary for the support of life. Hence, the universal langour, the almost instantaneous depression of strength and spirits, the want of nervous energy, the perishing action of the extreme vessels, producing the most unusual and distressing chills, and the almost insensibility to external heat, when first at- tacked. All these tend, in some measure, to warrant a suspicion of these facts. But this is mere specula- tion ; all we know is, that the morbid matter exists, and is creating from time to time, that the effects are as I have partly described them, and that a speedy re- moval of this secretion is the only way to terminate the disease favorably.