4 Medical Topography of the 



and some avocations in my affairs made it necessary 

 for me to be absent, for a considerable time, last fall, 

 and the present winter. 



■\ 

 I should gladly throw in my mite to facilitate your 

 research after the truth : such information as I am in 

 possession of, and the experience I have had in the 

 disorders of this country, shall be detailed to you 

 with cheerfulness. Yet, if I was to hazard an opinion, 

 a description of the symptoms and termination of the 

 disorders of our country, will go but little towards the 

 establishment of the " doctrine of domestic origin of 

 yellow-fever." 



I will in substance answer your queries, by giving 

 you a sketch of the face and appearance of this coun- 

 try ; an account of the disorders which generally ap- 

 pear in the season, with the method I have practised 

 in the cure. It may not be improper to observe, that 

 the unguarded, or designing, declarations of many 

 physicians, either to fill the gaping multitude with 

 wonder, or to swell their own fame, have given cur- 

 renc}' to strange reports, which have gained belief in 

 proportion to the distance they have travelled ; and 

 those reports are very apt to be credited, if they con- 

 tribute in the least to the establishment of a favourite 

 doctrine. But the facts are what you want. 



I have resided at this village (Rome) between ten 

 and eleven years. It is situated at the head of bat- 

 teaux navigation in the Mohawk- River and Wood- 

 Creek, about 116 miles to the west of Albany, 100 



