An account of the varioloid epidemic, which has lately prevailed in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland : with observations on the identity of chicken-pox with modified small-pox : in a letter to Sir James M'Grigor / by John Thomson.

  • Thomson, John, 1765-1846.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the varioloid epidemic, which has lately prevailed in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland : with observations on the identity of chicken-pox with modified small-pox : in a letter to Sir James M'Grigor / by John Thomson. 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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    s mind was strongly impressed with a belief, that it originated in the contagion of chicken pox. Many circumstances contributed at that time to confirm me ir» this belief. I had long adopted the opinion of Dr. Ueherden with regard to the separate and independent nature of chicken-pox; and I had also, by personal intercourse with the late Dr. Willan, as well as by the diligent study of his writings, learned to place a confidence, almost un- limited, in the views which he had taken of the distinctive characters of eruptive diseases. Be- sides the varioloid epidemic, which 1 had occasion to observe at Colinton, Slateford, and Currie, in 1809, I had had frequent opportunities, both be- fore and after that time, of seeing cases which were supposed to be examples of the occurrence of small-pox after vaccination. In several of these, it was impossible to deny, that the eruption, in its appearance and progress, bore a striking resem- blance to small-pox; yet, notwithstanding this, I had satisfied myself, by a reference to the writings of Drs. Heberden, Sims, Willan, and other emi- nent practitioners, that the diease, in the doubtful cases to which 1 allude, was that which had been described by those authors as aggravated chicken- pox : and my belief in the accuracy of this opinion was strengthened, by my being able, in some in- stances, to trace the infection to eruptions which I conceived to be unequivocal chicken-pox, in the