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A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2) by Charles Creighton

1776. _An Introduction to the Plan of the Inoculation Dispensary._ 1778.

1270 words  |  Chapter 98

_Remarks on Dr Lettsom’s letter to Barker and Stacpoole._ 1779. [951] Lettsom, _Obs. on Baron Dimsdale’s Remarks, &c._ 1779; and other pamphlets on both sides. [952] Clark, _Report of the Newcastle Dispensary_. 1789. [953] Currie to Haygarth, 28 Nov. 1791, in _Sketch of a Plan, etc._, pp. 451, 207. [954] J. C. Jenner, “An Account of a General Inoculation at Painswick.” _Lond. Med. Journ._ VII. 163-8. [955] _Gent. Magaz._ April, 1788, reported by the Hon. and Rev. Mr Stuart, who was a grandson of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. [956] Monro, _Account of Inoculation in Scotland_, 1765; in his _Works_. Edin. 1781, p. 693. [957] _Statistical Account of Scotland._ 1791-99, III. 376. [958] _Ibid._ IV. 130. It was about the year 1782 that the College of Physicians of Edinburgh appointed a committee to inquire into the mode of conducting the gratis inoculations of the poor, which had been tried at Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, &c. in 1781-82. Haygarth, u. s. 1784, p. 207. [959] _Ibid._ III. 582. [960] _Ibid._ XX. 502-7. [961] _Ibid._ XX. 348. Account by Rev. Abercromby Gordon, who gives in a note (p. 349) the following instance of professional zeal: “A surgeon in the north, presuming that self-interest has a stronger hold on man than superstition, has lately opened a policy of insurance for the smallpox! If a subscriber gives him two guineas for inoculating his child, the surgeon in the event of the child’s death pays ten guineas to the parent; for every guinea subscribed, four guineas, for half a guinea, two guineas, and for a crown one guinea.” [962] James Lucas, _Lond. Med. Journ._ X. 269. [963] Currie to Haygarth, 28 Nov. 1791, in the latter’s _Sketch of a Plan, &c._ p. 453. [964] _A Conscious View of Circumstances and Proceedings respecting Vaccine Inoculation._ Bath, 1800. The author was probably James Nooth, senior surgeon to the Bath Hospital, who removed to London and practised in Queen Anne Street, holding the appointment of surgeon to the Duke of Kent. He wrote on cancer of the breast. [965] _Tracts on Inoculation._ London, 1781. [966] R. Pulteney, M.D., in a letter of 21 June, 1766, to Dr G. Baker, given in his _Inquiry into the Merits of a Method of Inoculating the Smallpox_. Lond. 1766. [967] Pulteney, “Births, Deaths and Marriages of Blandford Forum, 1733-1772.” _Phil. Trans._ LXVIII. 615. [968] Pulteney to Baker, App. to _Inquiry into the method of Inoculating_. 1766; Hutchins, _Dorsetshire_, I. 217. [969] On 23 July, 1785, the apothecary makes a note in his book: “Some inspectors are not sufficiently careful to send information to the Hospital when children have had the smallpox.” MS. Records. [970] _Experiments, &c._ 1768. [971] Sir W. Watson, M.D., F.R.S., “On the Putrid Measles of London, 1763 and 1768.” _Med. Obs. and Inquiries_, IV. 153. [972] Charles Kite, surgeon, Gravesend, “An Account of some anomalous Appearances consequent to Inoculation of Smallpox.” _Memoirs Med. Soc. Lond._ IV. (1794), p. 114. [973] Fosbroke, _Lond. Med. Repository_. June, 1819, p. 466. [974] Jenner to James Moore, in Baron’s _Life of Jenner_, II. 401: “Is not that a precious anecdote for your new work?” See also _Court and Private Life of Queen Charlotte_ (Journals of Mrs Papendiek). Lond. 1887, I. 41, 70, 270. [975] In Baron, u. s. [976] _A Conscious View, &c._ u. s. [977] Earle, in Jenner’s _Further Observations_. 1799. [978] T. Adams to Richard Pew, M.D., of Sherborne. _Lond. Med. and Phys. Journ._ April, 1829. [979] John Forbes, M.D., “Some Account of the Smallpox lately prevalent in Chichester and its vicinity.” _Lond. Med. Reposit._ Sept. 1822, p. 218. [980] _Discourse on Inoculation._ Eng. Transl. 1755. [981] _A Series of Experiments, &c._ 1768. [982] John Haygarth, M.B., _Inquiry how to prevent the Smallpox_. Chester, 1784, p. 154. [983] _History of Inoculation in Britain._ Vol. I. London, 1796, p. 33. [984] _History of Edinburgh._ Edin. 1779, p. 260. [985] W. Hillary, _Rational and mechanical Essay on the Smallpox_. Lond. 1735. [986] J. Barker, _The Nature of Inoculation explained and its Merits stated_. London, 1769, p. 33. He taught that a depraved habit, by ill diet, &c., “serves for a nidus wherein the variolous matter rests.” If the variolous matter to be expelled is small, “by reason of natural health, temperance, or the power of preparation,” the disease is of the distinct kind; when large, of the confluent. “And wise indeed must he be who can find out any laws respecting the reception and expulsion of diseases superior on the whole to those which are original.” p. 9. [987] “I have taken an account in this town [Halifax], and some parts of the country, and have procured the same from several other towns hereabouts, where the smallpox has been epidemical this last year, with as much exactness as was possible.” _Phil. Trans._ XXXII. 211. [988] “A small neighbouring market town.” [989] “More than usually mortal.” [990] “A small market town in Lancashire, including two neighbouring villages.” [991] Account taken “by a person of credit” and sent to Dr Whitaker. Jurin says, more generally: “Taken in several places by a careful enquiry from house to house.” _Account, &c._ 1724, p. 7. [992] “At Uxbridge and in the neighbourhood, the smallpox having been exceedingly fatal all thereabouts.” [993] _Mr Maitland’s Account of Inoculating the Smallpox vindicated._ 2nd ed. Lond. 1722. [994] _Phil. Trans._ XXXIII. 379. “A short account of the Anomalous Epidemic Smallpox beginning at Plymouth in August, 1724, and continuing to the month of June, 1725, By the learned and ingenious Dr Huxham, physician at Plymouth.” [995] The totals are given in Jurin’s _Account_ for 1725. The ages are in the original communication of the Rev. Mr Wasse, among the MS. papers which Jurin had deposited with the Royal Society. [996] The most singular thing in the Aynho experience is that there should have been no cases in infants under two years. It was observed, however, some two generations after this, that smallpox attacked children at the earliest ages in the great towns (Haygarth, _Sketch of a Plan, &c._, 1793, p. 31), and even in the worst conditions of infancy it has attacked relatively few in the first three months of life. Again, it is nearly as remarkable that there should have been only three cases at Aynho in the third year of life and only four in the fourth. However, the fewness of cases in the five first years of life must be taken as exceptional, even for a village epidemic. If Nettleton, who made the first of these censuses of smallpox epidemics and suggested to Jurin that they should be carried out elsewhere, had given the ages, he would certainly have included some in infancy, for he mentions, in the course of his inoculation experiences, particular cases at nine months, eighteen months, etc. [997] Frewen, _Phil. Trans._ XXXVII. 108. [998] See above, pp. 485-6 and 490-1. [999] Deering, _Nottingham vetus et nova_. 1751, pp. 78, 82. He says, in an essay on smallpox (_Improved Method of treating Smallpox._ Nottingham, 1737) that he treated fifty-one cases in the epidemic of 1736, of which only three proved fatal. [1000] _Gent. Magaz._ 1741, p. 704. [1001] Alex. Monro, primus, in his Report to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris on Inoculation in Scotland, 1765. Reprinted in his _Works_. Edin. 1781, p. 485. He does not give ages, but an inspection of the burial registers is said to show that they were nearly all under five. [1002] _Gent. Magaz._ 1742, p. 704. Blomefield gives 1710 and 1731 as great smallpox years in Norwich. [1003] _Ibid._ 1747, p. 623. The population of Northampton in 1746 was
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Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. CHAPTER I. 3. CHAPTER II. 4. CHAPTER III. 5. CHAPTER IV. 6. CHAPTER V. 7. CHAPTER VI. 8. CHAPTER VII. 9. CHAPTER VIII. 10. CHAPTER IX. 11. CHAPTER I. 12. 1670. From 1673 to 1676, the constitution was a comatose fever, which 13. 1675. In 1678 the “intermittent” constitution returned, having been absent 14. 1709. The following shows the rise of the price of the quarter of wheat in 15. 600. The infection was virulent during the winter, when Portsmouth was 16. 1754. This outbreak was only one of a series; but as it attacked a 17. 1755. He had the weekly bills of mortality before him, and he makes 18. chapter II.) are not without value, as showing that the “putrid” or 19. 87. It passed as one of the healthiest cities in the kingdom, being far 20. 1795. This epidemic must have been somewhat special to Ashton, for it 21. 1828. It was a somewhat close repetition of the epidemic of 1817-19, 22. 619. In all England, the last quarter of 1846 was also most unhealthy, its 23. 1882. The registration district had only 95 deaths from enteric fever 24. CHAPTER II. 25. 1655. There were twenty-seven victuallers or other ships riding in Dundalk 26. 1818. It was in great part typhus, but towards the end of the epidemic, 27. 1835. It will appear from the following (by Geary) that it was largely an 28. 1849. After the subsidence of the great epidemic of relapsing and typhus 29. CHAPTER III. 30. 1782. It is possible that our own recent experience of a succession of 31. 1551. There were certainly two seasons of these agues, 1557 and 1558, the 32. 1675. The prevailing intermittent fevers, he says, gave place to a new 33. 1686. Sydenham records nothing beyond that date, having shortly after 34. 1775. The latter, however, was a summer epidemic, and was naturally less 35. 1762. On the other hand the epidemics of autumn, winter or spring in 1729, 36. 1782. In the London bills the weekly deaths rose in March, to an average 37. 3. After being general, did it occur for some time in single 38. 5. If so, is it likely that clothes or fomites conveyed it in any 39. 1837. The London bills of mortality compiled by the Parish Clerks’ Company 40. 1733. There is nothing to note between Boyle and Arbuthnot; for Willis 41. 1647. First catarrh mentioned in American annals, in the same year 42. 1655. Influenza in America, in the same year with violent earthquakes 43. 1675. Influenza in Europe while Etna was still in a state of 44. 1688. Influenza in Europe in the same year with an eruption of 45. 1693. Influenza in Europe in the same year with an eruption in Iceland 46. 1688. The greatest of them all, that of Smyrna, on the 10th of July, was a 47. CHAPTER IV. 48. 2. If the patient be sprung from a stock in which smallpox is wont to 49. 3. If the attack fall in the flower of life, when the spirits are 50. 4. If the patient be harassed by fever, or by sorrow, love or any 51. 5. If the patient be given to spirituous liquors, vehement exercise or 52. 6. If the attack come upon women during certain states of health 53. 8. If the heating regimen had been carried to excess, or other 54. 9. If the patient had met a chill at the outset, checking the 55. 11. If the attack happen during a variolous epidemic constitution of 56. 14. If the patient be apprehensive as to the result. 57. 1. Whether the distemper given by inoculation be an effectual security to 58. 2. Whether the hazard of inoculation be considerably less than that of the 59. 1200. In 1754 Middleton had done 800 inoculations, with one death. The 60. 1725. Forty-three died, “mostly of the smallpox.” 61. 1766. The annals kept by Sims of Tyrone overlap those of Rutty by a few 62. introduction of vaccination are still every year inoculated with the 63. introduction into the system;” and this he had been doing in the name of 64. CHAPTER V. 65. 1763. Before the date of the Infirmary Book, Watson records an 66. 1766. May to July. Many entries in the book; Watson says: 67. 1768. Great epidemic, May to July; one hundred and twelve in the 68. 1773. Nov. and Dec. Great epidemic: maximum of 130 cases of measles in 69. 1774. May. A slight outbreak (8 cases at one time). 70. 1783. March and April. Great epidemic: maximum number of cases in the 71. 1786. March and April. Maximum on April 5th--measles 47, recovering 72. 1802. 8 had measles, one died. 73. CHAPTER VI. 74. CHAPTER VII. 75. 1802. It ceased in summer, but returned at intervals during the years 76. introduction of the eruption of scarlatina into his description”--as if 77. CHAPTER VIII. 78. 1665. As Sydenham and Willis have left good accounts of the London 79. CHAPTER IX. 80. 1831. Two medical men were at the same time commissioned by the Government 81. 1832. But in June there was a revival, and thereafter a steady increase to 82. 1533. During the same time Gateshead with a population of 26,000, had 433 83. 1306. As in 1832, the infection appeared to die out in the late spring and 84. 849. The Irish papers in the second period are by T. W. Grimshaw, _Dub. 85. 1710. Engl. transl. of the latter, Lond. 1737. 86. 72. The contention of the inspector was that the water-supply had been 87. 113. Sir W. Cecil writing from Westminster to Sir T. Smith on 29th 88. 437. Heberden’s paper was read at the College, Aug. 11, 1767. 89. 1775. October weekly average 323 births 345 deaths 90. 1852. This has been reprinted and brought down to date by Dr Symes 91. 117. This writer’s object is to show that Liverpool escaped most of the 92. 1783. The influenza also began to appear again; and those who had coughs 93. 1786. In the middle of this season the influenza returned, and colds and 94. 1791. Influenza very bad, especially in London. 95. 1808. If it were possible, from authentic documents to compare the history 96. 142. In one of his cases Willis was at first uncertain as to the 97. 141. In those cases there was no inoculation by puncture or otherwise. 98. 1776. _An Introduction to the Plan of the Inoculation Dispensary._ 1778. 99. 5136. Price, _Revers. Payments_. 4th ed. I. 353. 100. 1799. In a subsequent letter (_Med. Phys. Journ._ V., Dec. 1800), he thus 101. 1809. The _Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal_ (VI. 231), in a long review of 102. 25. Read 1 July, 1794. 103. 1689. Engl. Transl. by Cockburn, 1693, p. 39.

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