Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / Ed. by John Davy.

  • Blair, Daniel.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / Ed. by John Davy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    a few sporadic cases of fever, marked by yellow suffusion, and terminat- ing in black vomit. I was informed by this gentleman, that simple intermittents were rarely witnessed in military practice, and, when they occurred, they were readily cured on the anti-periodic principle : but, that in all cases of more severe fever, the plan of treatment pursued was either the antiphlogistic, stimulant, mercurial, or saline. In such affections, quinine, when administered, was given as a tonic OTily, and during the apyrgtic convalescence. 2. —About the end of Marcli, I found myself in charge of a detach- ment of the 56th Regiment, at Phoenix Park, a most salubrious mountain post, situated on the central table land in the interior of St. Ann's. In this delightful locality, the Europeans, with rare excep- tions, remained free from all serious complaints : but owing to cir- cumstances which it is hei-e unnecessary to relate, I then had considerable opportunities affoi'ded me of seeing disease, as it affected the natives of all classes and colours, in the wide district which extends from the Pedro Valley in the interior, as far as the sea coast between St. Ann's Bay and Ocho-Rios. 3. —At a very early stage of my investigation, it appeared to me that the endemic fever, as it exists in the Lowlands, was erroneously termed remittent; that it w^as indeed, strictly speaking, an intermit- tent, inasmuch as, always within forty-eight and generally within twenty-four hours, there appeared a most distinct apyrexial period. 4 From the above opinions it naturally occurred to me, that during this apyrexial period quinine should be administered : that, in fact, in these fevers the anti-periodic treatment was clearly indicated. As the season advanced, and those cases occasionally merged, hi) dogmatical, that be wishes no less than a general adoption of bis system throufrliout the command. I have recommended to him a trial of Dr. B.'s practice, which I have represented as equally entitled to notice from its favourable results ; but he spurns all other modes of treatment as dangerous and unwortliy of notice, and appears disappointed that any other should have discovered a different mode of saving life. I have again Dr. D., who will hear of nothing but cupping and a ptisan, and appears to acknowledge no disease but lesion of the mucous membrane of the stomach. He is most stron-ly imbued with the new or rather antiquated theories of the French <rastro-enteritlc school, and pities Dr. B. and Dr. H. as still in utter darkness and in the trammels of the schools. How well does this passage display the contrariety of opinion as to the best mode of treating the fevers of the West Indies at the time it was written ; and how little was then known of the efficacy of quinine as a specific febrifuge. In Jamaica, I believe. Dr. Jameson deserves the credit of first «:iving quinine a trial in large doses, in the treatment of remittent fevers, and, on that account, his Memorandum on this subject, showing how he was led to its use, is not without in- terest.]—Ed.