Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

tenant-Colonels the Honourable C. Colville, Dance, Scott, Major Belford, Captain Wilkinson, Quarter-Master Murray, and the Adjutant, who had had it in the West Indies, and all escaped it at Gibraltar, when every other officer in the regiment was attacked by it.

This same regiment, with five of the above named West India officers, and ten who had had it at Gibraltar, embarked for the West Indies in 1808, where they all escaped the disease, although eight of the newly appointed officers fell victims to it.

In the 54th Regiment, all the officers were attacked by it, excepting Colonel Derby, Captain Lowis, and Surgeon V. Dwyre, who had had it in the West Indies.

This regiment, in 1808, returned to the West Indies from Europe, filled up with new officers and men, and, after being 18 months in Jamaica, was attacked by and suffered severely from this disease, when all those who had had it at Gibraltar escaped it.-Vide my Observations upon Bulam Fever, Mr Redmond's letter, page 73.

In the corps of Royal Barrack Artificers, every officer and man was attacked by the disease, excepting Sergeant Jones, who had had it in the West Indies.

In the regiment of Rolle, there was only one officer, viz. Lieutenant Muller, who had had it in the West Indies, and he was the only officer in the corps who escaped it.

The medical men at Gibraltar, during the first 10 weeks of the disease, were 24 in number. Six of them had had it in the West Indies, and all escaped; the remaining 18 were attacked by it, of which number seven fell victims to it.

One more proof of the Bulam fever not attacking a second time was in the 70th Regiment, which suffered severely from the disease in the West Indies, in the year 1794. This regiment returned to that climate from Europe in the year 1800, filled up with new officers, with the exception of six, viz. Colonel Dunbar, Major Elliot, Captains Johnstone, Lawrence, Hutchinson, and Boat, who had had the fever at a former period, and who now escaped it, although the corps buried ten of the newly appointed officers in a very short time.

The 55th Regiment, quartered at St Lucia, in the year 1796, was nearly annihilated by yellow-fever, when the skeleton of the regiment returned to England. There it was filled up with new officers and men; and, after being six years in Europe, arrived in Jamaica in the year 1802, where it again suffered severely from the same disease, having buried 21 officers. The surgeon of the regiment, Mr Macmillan (now surgeon to the forces), says it is worthy of remark, that every individual in the

corps was attacked by this fever, excepting himself and ten of the officers, who had had it in the year 1796.

Upon a moderate computation, there were 150 officers at Gibraltar who had not had the disease before, and 25 who had passed it in the West Indies; and, making allowance for one or two doubtful cases, where the disease was so mild as not to confine the patient to bed, 145 at least out of the 150 were attacked by it, while every individual of the 25 who had had it before escaped it ;-proof positive that the Gibraltar, West India, or Bulam fever, are the same disease, and that the human frame is not liable to be attacked by it a second time, even after a lapse of ten years.

The 13th and 54th Regiments are proofs that persons who had it in Gibraltar are not liable to it in the West Indies. I have given numerous proofs that persons who had it in the West Indies were not liable to it at Gibraltar. And the 13th, 55th, and 70th Regiments, prove that persons who had it in the West Indies are not liable to a second attack upon their return to that country, after having been several years in Eu

rope.

I am truly surprised that its peculiarity of attacking the hu man frame but once, has not been sooner known; and now, that it is mentioned, that it has not excited greater attention. Lining mentions it particularly, in the Edinburgh Medical Essays, 50 years ago. In Sauvages' last editions, about 1768, it is positively mentioned. The English have long known the fact under the name of seasoning, and the French of tribut, acclimaté, or une idiosyncrasie réfractaire à la contagion. Monsieur Berthe, in mentioning the disease at Cadiz, says, "Le petit nombre de ces individus ainsi privilégiés a été observé parmi ceux qui avaient habité les Antilles." The emigrants from St Domingo were proof against the contagion of Philadelphia in 1793-4. But vaccination was long known in Gloucestershire to the dairy-men before Dr Jenner's discovery; and, with respect to my discovery in the yellow-fever, I cannot give it up to the Spanish practitioners. I made the discovery that the West Indians were proof against it on the 20th October 1804, or rather the 19th, for that was the day that I requested Sir Thomas Trigge (governor) to order the men who had been in the West Indies to be paraded.

The first Spanish physician that mentioned it was Arejula, and he did not publish until 1806. Sir J. Fellowes gives the credit of it to the Spanish physicians generally. No individual one has claimed it. It certainly was not known among them in 1803; nor do I believe it was ascertained in 1804, until af

ter the time that I discovered the non-liability of the West Indians, when I requested my friends in Gibraltar to write to Malaga and Cadiz, where inquiry was made, and the fact proved.

London, 6th January 1816.

V.

A short Description of an Obstinate Inflammatory Affection of the Throat. (With an Engraving.) By JAMES MURRAY, Surgeon, Belfast.

I

AM anxious to draw the attention of the profession to a disease of the throat and palate, which sometimes occurs in this country, affecting the fauces and adjoining parts in a very painful manner, appearing of a chronic inflammatory nature, but so obstinate, as to yield to no remedy now in use. It is confined to adults of a melancholic temperament and relaxed habit of body.

The annexed representation of this complaint will convey a better idea of its appearance than any verbal description I can give. After exposure to damp and cold, the patients complain of a tickling in the throat, attended with great heat, and the sensation of having been blistered, gradually extending over the palate and Schneiderian membrane, exciting much uneasiness and itching in the nose and all the affected parts.

On inspecting the throat, the tonsils are found enlarged, and of a dark red colour. The uvula appears soft and papulous, as if composed of a clot of blood. The veins and arteries become distended, and the soft vascular net-work spread over the palate gives it the appearance of a well-injected tissue of blood-vessels.

The irritability of the surface is such as to cause frequent coughing, and even the least particle of mucus must be thrown up, as if it were some hard substance; blood is also sometimes discharged from the spongy surface of the soft palate and uvula, but without any permanent relief.

I would anxiously wish for some further elucidation of this subject, whether this obstinate affection has been observed) by others, and if any remedy had succeeded in removing it; or whether it be supposed a disease sui generis, from its resisting all

[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinua »