The Union and journal., 1869-08-13
We're we qulto sure
Typhus and Typhoid Fevers
Causes.

CauSeS,
A physician in the Hearth and Home
gives some interesting information In re-
gard to the causes Of fevers. He was In
vited by minister to visit family of his
parishioncrs, all of whom had been sick,
and several of whom had died Of fcvers,
caused, 1t seemed, by drinking impure
brook water. The DR.. discoursed to the
minister OH fevers and their cause. thus
"Fever." / remarked. els IN effect, or.
rs m edical men would define 1t, symp-
tom. Now, every effect has cause, and,
therefore fever has its cause. Not many
years ago typhus and typhoid fcvers were
identical and depending upon the same
cause. 1t was long known that these fevers
In some way resulted from the aggrega-
ton of people. They frequently broke
out In jails, and hence were called jail-fe-
yer; and on cmigrnnt ships, and hence
the term ship-fever; and in camps, and
hence the name camp-fevcr. Sometimes
the form of fever would be typhus, and
again typhoid, the two rarely occurring
together. They have frequently been des-
ignatcd spotted fever, from the .dark-col-
orcd eruption over the chest and bowels.
The names indicate the close alliance of
these fevcrs in the opinions of the older
observer; they first gave the name typhus
to the fever, and afterwards they distin-
guished slight difference, and added an
other form, namely, typhoid. or like ty-
phus. In typhus (stupor) the head symp-
toms (delrium) were most marked, while
in typhoid the bowel symptoms (diarrhDa)
predominated. In time these fevers were
made the subject Of very careful study in
regard to the circumstances under which
they occur. 1t was found that though
they are most frequent where people are
crowded together, as In jails, camps. emf
grant ships, &C.. still the typhoid form
may appear in the country and in locali-
ties or families hitherto considered healthy
1t was also noticed that typhus more often
prevailed in the winter and typhoid In the
fall months. At length, more accurate
"h.or,..,;on M established the fact that ty-
phus occurs when people are crowded to-
rotber with very deficient ventilation,
and tvpboid when excrcmcntious matter
1, received into the system, whether by
inb,latiou or inhibition. In both cases,
,ho noison |, animal IN its character; In
tho former Il Is thrown Off by the skin and
Innos and IN the latter bv the bowels and
I;dnev, For example, IL q man were
oonfrod as IN a mison CELL in a small,
,,nv.r,;I,,ed room and the room was
kont clean without ventilation, that man
would sooner or later have typhus; but If
tho r.,c,, DISCHARGE, of thi, person were
allowed to accumulate in his room. though
tho ventilation were sufficient to remove
the mir he had once respired, he would
have tvnboid But IN the latter case Il Is
mot essential that he breathe the cmana-
,iors from the excremcntious matter, for
the same effect would happen II these dis
charges were so placed that they imprcg-
nate his drinking water. We can there
fore produce typhas and typhoid fever at
will. If I wished to have typhus should
simply have my bedroom unventilated,
and ON sleeping in 1t night after nigh, and
breathing over and over again the poison.
Gus emanations Of my own body, should
finally come down with typhus. Or, II 1
preferred typhoid. would locate the
privy in the basement Of my house, or al-
low its drainage to flow into my well, and