The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-02-06
Washington's Last illness,

The illness and death Of Washing
ton, occurring so near the close Of the
Last century. caused by an acute dis
ease demanding energetic and in&s!!i-
gent treatment, as we'll as the great
prominence OF the patient, naturally
attract attention, as the management
Of his case affords an example Of the
most approved treatment Of that day.
From the popular record of his illness
in Iriving's "Life" it would appea,
that he died from laryngeal diphtheria
after an illness Of about one day, aud
that the principal treatment was large
and repeated blood-lseting and exter-
nal applications, and that the symp-
toms steadily increased until death.
DR.. Craik, the attending physician,
perhaps naturally affected aud un.
nerved by the prominence Of his pa
tient, seems to have done little. AZ
his secesa cal Go quotej ;'he pressed
his hand in silence, retired from the
bedside and sat by the FIRE, absorbed
in grief. DR.. Dick, the consulting
physician, was made Of sterner stuff,
and although he apparently held his
peace for eight years, he thcE wrote o
letter to medical journal, in which
he speaks very frankly Of the treat
ment pursued by the attending physi.
clan, states that the disease was mani
festly Fastening to fatal termination,
and that he CDR. Dick) strenuously re-
commended tracheotomy. He says
further Go quote:) "At first had
reason to fatter myself that had OBJ
tanned the occurrence Of tho other
physicians, and was about to make
preparations to carry the measure into
immediate execution, when was rem
dered unhappy by discovering that
DR.. Brown had availed himself Of the
few minutes of my absence to operate
unfavorably on tho mind of DR.. Craik,
whose assent I was unable to reclaim
by either argument or entreaty. Both
of these gentlemen were advanced in
years and had each acquired a oonsid-
erable share of reputation in his pro-
fession; but that increased timidity
which is, perhaps, common attend
ant on old age, seemed not only to
have extinguished all ardor in pursuit
of additional celebrity, but also to
have created determination to hazard
no part of that stock which had al
ready been acquired. ** T know
not what might have been tho result
\ but shall never cease to re-
gret that the operation was not per-
formed. In this awful and affecting
state of things the lancet was once
more resortea to-
This was published about eight
years after Washington's death; but
DR.. Dick, in 1900, signs with the
other physicians an account of Wash
tom illness published in the Medical
Repository, in which no mention is
made of trach eotomy. It is somewhat
long to quote in full, but quite inter
esting:
"Some time on Friday, the night Of
December 13, Gen. Washington was
attacked with an inflammatory affec-
tion of the upper part OF the windpipe,
called in technical language cynanche
trachealis. This disease commenced
with violent ague, accompanied with
some pain in the upper and fore part
Of the throat, sense of structure; q
cough and difficult, rather than
painful, deglutition. The necessity
of blood-letting suggested itself to the
General, and he procured bleeder in
the neighborhood, who took from his
arm in the night twelve or fourteen
ounces of blood. He would not by
any means be prevailed upon by the
family to send for the attending ply
sician until the following morning,
who arrived at Mount Vernon about
IL O'Clock on Saturday. Discovering
the case to be highly alarming, and
forsseeing the fatal tendency of the
disease, two consulting physicians
were Immediately sent for.
"In the interim were employed two
copious bleedings, blister was ap-
piled to the part affected, two mode
rate doses of calomel were given, and
an injection was administered, which
operated on the lower intestines, but
all without any porceptible advantage,
the respiration becoming still more
dific' It and distressing. Upon the
arrival Of the first of the consulting
physicians it was agreed thet as yet