The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-10-21 00:00:00

AMER TC.4.

REPORT TO 'I ill. BoARD OF HEALTH.

BY 011. %WALKER.

1•411‘% -WORK, •00. I I.
Gerry Lemen-117 the letter which I received a
few days ano, from the Board of Health, I have
been encoitraged ro ?ohne the once, of a man who
fell sick of a disease, accompanied with very ma-
lignant symptoms, in an alley adjoining to Maiden-
lane.
This has been comidcred liy myself, and a num-
ber of other witnesw,, ac :1,1 iintance of our enide-
mic yellow fever. And 1 communicate it as such,
in the face of those who admit that a febrile disease,
with slighter symptoms than this case exhibits, is a
true yellow fever, provided they can trace it to a
sea-vessel, or to inturthiog that has been brought
from the %Vest Indies; but deny that the disease, I
am about to describe, however malignant and vio-
lent, however distinguishet by appropriate and
charalleriatic signs, is yellow fever, unless they can
trace its origin in some occult cause of foreign de-
rivation,
The unfairness of such mode of reasoning, is only
surpassed by the fashionable, hut pernicious widen,
of deriving all nor ills of this kind from distant
places. without addling, that in so doing, we lay
down a precedent, authotasing all the inhabitants
abroad, to retort our charges of imported infeetion,
to recriminate with positiveness and pertinacity equal
to ours, to assail ourselves, climate and constitution,
with as mneh railing and abuse as we bestow upon
them and theirs, and finally to have thereby confirm-
ed the natives of Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and
other islands of the south, who are mighty sticklers
for the purity and healthiness of their respeiltive
places, that they should always escape the yellow
lever, if they had no commercial cooneaion with
IC#,w-York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and other foul
and pestilential cities. situated on the continent of
North America. And in this way the favourers of
importation, like Ishmael, raise indeed their hands
against every man, and ought to remember that
every man's hand will be rinsed against them. But,
as it is my chief intention to relate to the Board an
instance of yellow fever, which occurred this season
in the course of my praelicc ; I shall detail the par-
ticulars, with all the plainness and candor that I
possess, without forgiag a chain of connesnion with
the %Vest Indies, on the one part, or concealing or
disguising MA% as plain as noon day. on the other.
Christopher Hibbron, aged about thirty. born in
Yorkshire (England). arrived at New York, early in
May last, in the ship Hudson, from Liverpool. On
the 13th of the same month, he was retained in the
service of Andrew Staley, No. 92, Maiden-lane, in
the capacity of a hostler, with whom be resided un-
til he was removed to Staten Island. He rissessed
a mild and obliging disposition ; was not subject to
violent passions, nor did he indulge in d'ssipation or
intemperance ; he seldom went lotto home, his em-
ployment requiring all his attention, from early is
the morning, until late at night.
He enjoyed gond health from the time of his arri-
val in this country, until the 9th day of July last ;
he then complained of peat (Angina, aversion to
motion, and depression of spirits.
1 he nest day following, lie was suddenly seized
with vertigo, and fell upon the ground ; this affec-
tion soon subsided, and was succeeded by constant
nausea and trequent vomiting of bilious matter, ac-
companied by acute pains in the calves of his legs
an 3 !tares, which gradually progressed upwards, un-
til his thigh, back, and head wete equally affeaed ;
the pain was excruciating. and there seemed to be a
spasmodic anion of the muscles of his legs. These
affeelions induced him to speak of extreme cold be-
ing applied to his body ; this sensation almost im-
mediately passed r.ff, and great irritation, tumult,
and excitement of the vascular system, became very
conspicuous. The pain, at this time, seemed to he
altogether removed from the lower extremities, and
fixed in his back and head ; pulse I Gu, or upwards,
hind, labouring, and irregular ; heat of the body,
burning and concentrated; skin, dry and rough ;
tongue, white, slimy, and moist ; countenance flush-
ed, agitated, and anxious ; eyes, red, disturbed, wa-
tery, and wandering.
Dr. Manley judiciously prescribed bleeding, blis-
tering, bowels evacuated, and the antipialogeotic
tegituen enjoined.
On the third day of his disease, the violence of
Symptoms greatly subsided; eye and countenance
Inure natural and cheerful ; tongue di y and rough ;
continual thirst ; faces charged with yellow or bi-
lious matter ; pain in the stomach and nausea ;
skin, moist, but rather clammy and cool, when
lightly touched, but, when hard pressed, convey-
ed a sensation of morbid heat ; pulse, soft and
swelling.
There was no particular variation of symptoms
dining the 4th and sth days of his disease ; but, on
the 6th day, he complained of pain and uneasiness
throughout his body ; this, however, soon became
local, and was confined to his stomach and urinary
bladder, attended with vomiting and suppression of
wine; his skin was dry, and the heat unequal. His
medical treatment was full and regular ; at this time
blistered freely ; alkalis. with acids ; Sp. Nit. Dul.
tepid bathing ; iejeftions ; fomentations ; calomel
and opium, &c. every thing requisite under such
circumstances. On the morning of the ith day of the
disease, then obtained a copious discharge of urine,
loaded with a dark-coloured material, faces having
the appearance of tar or molasses; pain in the sto-
mach, constaia vornitirg, which was no longer bi-
llets. but rejeaing every thing thrown into it. The
eclour of his skin was on this day completely chang-
ed ; is health, his skin is stacentmonly fair ; but its
present bright and general yellowness is beyond all
description ; it bears a strong analogy to a high co-
truring of gazuboagc upon line glazed paper.
Taw 6th and 9th days nt his disease were not
arias Led by any particular occurrence. On the loth,
his pulse was slow and regular, apparently sift and
full ; at great proportion of animal beat retired from
the extremities; discharge from his bowels, black.
sad seemingly charged• with blood; confused and
irregular ideas; delirium; humotrhage from his
nose; his tongue was loaded with a daiL.brown
thick Lei-iota:64n ; skin, warm, but evidently
morbid, and widely Jilierent from the warm lead
Bald nu,istare arising from an healthy aetion of the
extwtne vessel.; anxiety, throwing his arms
:4. r. elegvebbni one siele of t::e.lard to the other ; a
to change his 6i:station. without ea-
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