Report of the director of the Bureau of Medical Service / William Pepper.

Date:
[1876]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the director of the Bureau of Medical Service / William Pepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    cause aided in producing many of the cases classed as simple exhaus- tion. The cases, however, in which sickness was directly traced to the effect of heat were 41 in number, of which 32 occurred between the 25th of June and the 22d of July, during which four weeks the average temperature was 81 ^°F. The majority of cases, 29 in number, presented the ordinary symptoms of nervous exhaustion fol- lowing upon exposure either to the direct rays of the sun or to a very high degree of temperature within-doors. In the 10 cases re- corded as thermal fever, the symptoms were much more severe. The patients were still conscious, or in some cases delirious; there was intense heat of surface, congestion of the eyes, deep flushing of the face, and great rapidity of the pulse. These cases were treated by immersion in baths of ice-water, and promptly recovered. The 2 cases recorded as sun-stroke were characterized by sudden and alarm- ing development of temperature, the patients almost instantly passing into a state of coma with stertorous respiration, with livid congestion of the face and surface, and with extremely small and rapid pulse. They were stripped and were then vigorously rubbed with pieces of ice until a marked reduction of temperature took place. As this occurred, consciousness returned, followed in both cases by rapid recovery. In regard to the class of nervous diseases, there are several points of interest to be noted. Thus, there were but two cases of apoplexy, one of which occurred in an intemperate man, and proved almost immediately fatal, while the other was a mild attack, probably of localized apoplectiform congestion of the brain, occurring in a young man engaged as a chair-pusher, an occupation which involved ex- hausting effort and prolonged exposure to the sun. There were only 28 cases of epilepsy treated at the hospital among 9,910,966 visitors to the Exhibition. It is of course highly probable that very many more epileptics were included in this number who were not so unfor- tunate as to have an accession of their terrible malady while within the grounds. The cases recorded as vertigo were almost exclusively dependent upon indigestion. As a matter of purely medical interest, it may be mentioned that a single case of that rare affection, Meniere’s disease or labyrinthine vertigo, presented itself at the Department. The only remark to be made in connection with the class of respi- ratory and circulatory diseases is to call attention to the very small number of cases, only 21, who were attacked with disturbance of the heart, either due to functional or organic disease; as well as to the very small number of cases of haemoptysis, only 13, which occurred among the enormous number of visitors. We have already re- Bureau of Medical Service. Direct effects of heat. Nervous diseases. Respiratory and circulatory diseases.