Lincoln telegraph., 1841-08-19
Communications.
FOR THE TELEGRAPH.
Scarlet Fever.
/" An honest heart directs the flowing line,
If Malice sway me,-tho' if Genius shine,

ii Malice sway nle,-l1o' II GenluS SHINE,
May Truth then crush me,-or the praise be mine"
Mr. EpIroR Men not unfrequently erter-
.4ain, but promulgate opinions, which, when COM
pared with plain matters of fact common
sense reasoning, are shown to be founded in
nothing short of papable blunder or egregious
mistake. May not your correspondent of the
18th inst, be grossly mistaken in his notions of
&c Philanthrophy ?" There is nothing more prob
able Facts are stubborn things, and facts GER
tainly do not warrant the peculiar opinions en-
braced by him, nor his premedtated attack upon
'' the physicians of our town"
True, +" the note by the editor, may be refer
red to as cooling in some degree the &C inter-
nal" and " external heat of Phanthrophy' at
tack upon the practicing physicians of &C our
town, but, as it is good law that every man
shall perform parental duty towards his own off
spring, what boots it who stands sponsor to the
child's baptism and churchng? The 60 infer
.ence,' therefore, of the editor that il" Phianthro
phy'' does net mean what he Intentionally ander-
presslu sets forth in his declaration, cannot
be tolerated by one of your readers, at least; and
must be considered in the reply | have to make,
as entirely out Of the question. With Phlan-
throphy,' then, single handed and alone, | now
have to deal and with as little ambiguity as
possible, shall follow in his wake with a Warn-
ing, if not d" warming effect
How many the victims of this disease
(scarlet fever,) to which g our physicians cannot
point, and say, with satisfaction, g Here are the
credentials of our SKILL" IS matter easily
tanned through the columns Of this paper, or the
records of the Town Clerk. The cases of death
publicly exposed in this manner, whether from
scarlet fever any other less formidable disease,
surely cannot, and would not be pointed to by
's the physicians Of town., nor by true g Phi
lanthrophy" with feelings Of satisfacton,-n
can it be presumed, that any case of death, not
even by public execution, would be pointed to as
gratifying spectacle, by any individual, who is
not himself mere wreck of humanity, or whose
bosom does not contain feelings thousand times
worse than fend incarnate.
But what means such miserable atfectation and
indirect denuncaton2 Less ambiguity would
have been far more preferable; and iftfUh and
E "philanthrophy'' were the real objects had in
view, darkness rather than hght would not have
been the course pursued by this champion of
81 simple rules and driving teas, in presentngt to
public consideration farrago ofnonsense, which
has not, never did aud never can have else than
riekety arguments, and the gutilDlity OF man
kind in its support
Does Philanthrophy" msan, that cOmpara-
'ipey i" the physicians of our town have been
and are now unskllful in the cases of scarlet fe-
yer subject to their treatment' If this is meant,
there is nothing tGrtherjrom the truL&, as | am
able to announce from correct data of the facts,
though not myself a physician, that " our
10 large majority of cases treated by them, as
Hring monuments Of their triumph and their
skill oyer this alarming and dangerous affection
How stand the facts Why, that there have ex-
lsted in /" our town" one hundred and sixty
ses at least of scarlet fever since late IN autumn
last, and Four fatal Examinations only, whether
II be from q the rather indifferent success OF our
physicians whilst doing their best to avert its
ravages, or the malignancy of the enemy in pre-
yailing'' to this unheGra of extent. These are
the facts which accurate investigation and tue
affirmation of our physicians, if needed, demon
strate and are arTsfutabte.
WHY, then, this bombast and misre presenta-
ton, which can have no other effect, than to de-
stroy the confidence of the commun ity IN the ei-
fectve and laudabe efforts of our physicians, and
that too at a season Of the year when sickness is
usually most rife and dangerous, and confidence,
the great impulse to noble, humane and success
full exertions is one of the chief requisites de-
manded for the public welfare
The defence of &C the physicians of our town.
is not however, my particular province, nor IS 1t
specially intended in these remarks. l have 9TH
motives which prompt me to step INTO the are
ma, and which in the end shall prove, at least, as
serviceabe to the public those pretended, by
" Phanthrophy I" to save people IN these
hard times in the shape Of physician S bill
Nay, contend more-for, the very course re-
commended by him, would inevitably incur such
expense.
In the outset, however, IT becomes necessary
, that this proposer Of "smple rules and driving
>teas,' should furnish the public with numerical
account of the cases of scarlet fever-tatal and
uccessful--whch have been subjected TO the
treatment he recommends--with the names, char
acter, properties and mode of administering these
Inendicaments, and, some information in rela-
ton to the :" internal' and - external heat Of
the living body, either in health disease. and
under all conflicting circumstances What
means PhilaHthrophy by keeping up the IN
ternal GREATER thar the "ertcrnal heat Is not
the internal heat of the living body ALWAYS great
er than that Of the external surface What is
the heat, for instance, of the human stomach, Ell
ther in health or disease, or whether fasting or
otherwise is it not very nearly the same at all
seasons Of the year, in the same individual -
Do not experimental facts show that 1T does not
e xceed l01 3-4 degrees Farenheit's thermometer
PRAY inform the public, sir, what you really
know ofanimal heat, and whether you think 1T
to suppose that the external surface OF
, lvinr man, when surrounded as it is by atmos-
,heric air, a cooler medium, can maintain higher
,r an equal degree Of heat, with the internal
,rgans which constitute the function OF
ireuletioa. respiration aand calorification is
gs,ye when taken into't the stomach q" coo'-