42 History of an Epidemic Fever., 



the range of my practice, not more than one patient, 

 in fifty, fell a victim to it. But it was calamitous on 

 other accounts. It would attack all the members of 

 a family, and often at the same time ; so that many 

 suffered from the want of nurses, and of medical as- 

 sistance, as five of the six physicians, who practice in 

 this town, were laid up with it. The frequency of 

 relapses kept some in a valetudinary condition, for 

 three or four months. The shops of the druggists 

 were constantly crouded through the day with cus- 

 tomers, and the demand for the Peruvian bark far 

 exceeded the supplies which they could procure. 



It is with diffidence that I express my opinion as 

 to the cause which produced this epidemic fever. But 

 as it is natural for the human mind to endeavour to 

 trace effects to their causes, I have considered its pre- 

 valence as an additional proof of what has been fre- 

 quently advanced by medical inquirers, that the dis- 

 ease originated from a morbific gas, engendered in 

 the atmosphere, by vegetable putrefaction. The 

 heavy falls of rain, in the month of June, being suc- 

 ceeded by a long drought and hot weather, were cal- 

 culated to produce such putrefaction ; to which, give 

 me leave to add, that I have no doubt, that that part 

 of the continent, over which the rains extended, 

 would define the extent of the prevalence of the epi- 

 demic. And I conceive, that the higher situations 

 would feel the effects of such a cause sooner than the 

 lower country, where the excessive degree of mois- 



