Chap. 10. 



STATE OF SOCIETY. 



221 



SPOTTED AND LUNG FEVERS, 



ASIATIC CHOLERA. 



in 1802 and 1803, the canker rash, or 

 throat distemper prevailed generally, but 

 was not quite so mortal as it had been at 

 some former periods. In 1803, the hoo])- 

 ing cough prevailed. In 1804, an influ- 

 enza, or catarrhal fever, produced consid- 

 erable mortality along the western part 

 of the State. The prevailing disease in 

 180.5, was the typhus fever. 



The year 1807, was noted for a severe in- 

 fluenza, which prevailed, not only in Ver- 

 mont, but throughout the United States 

 and Canada, and also in Europe. In the 

 summer of 1808, fevers were common, 

 but the following year, 1801), was remark- 

 ably healthy. This year was, however, 

 noted for a general blio-ht upon wheat. 



In the year 1810, the diseases of this 

 State seem to have assumed a new cha- 

 racter, taking a sthenic or inflammatory 

 type, and from this period for several 

 years, the greatest amount of sickness 

 was in the winter instead of the summer, 

 as had been previously the case, [t was 

 about this period, that that short and 

 fata] malady, the spotted fever, first made 

 its appearance in Vermont. It did not, 

 however, excite general alarm, or prevail 

 extensively till the beginning of 1811. 

 In January of this year, it made its first 

 ajipearance in the vicinity of VVoodstock. 

 From the 23d of January to the 23d of 

 March, the average number of new cases 

 was about 3.5 weekly, within a circuit of 

 five miles from the court-house in that 

 town. The whole number of cases, within 

 the above limits, up to the first of June, 

 was computed to be about 600 ; and the 

 number of deaths between GO and 70. 

 During the same time this disease appear- 

 ed in the greater part of the towns in the 

 eastern part of the State, from Massachu- 

 setts to Canada, and in many places the 

 mortality was, proportionally, much great- 

 er than at Woodstock Although the 

 disease was very considerably abated dur- 

 ing the summer, it renewed its ravages in 

 the fall, and in the beginning of 1812, it 

 was in many places, even more fatal than 

 it had been the preceding winter. 



This epidemic was calculated to pro- 

 duce the utmost alarm. No age, nor se.x, 

 no condition was exempted. It, however, 

 more commonly attacked, and fell with 

 greatest force, upon persons of the most 

 robust and hardy constitutions ; and it 

 often proved fatal to such in the course 

 of a few hours from their first attack. It 

 was not uncommon for the patient to be a 

 corpse, before a physician could be brought 

 to his assistance. 



The spotted fever was followed by the 

 •epidemic peripneumony, or lung fever, 

 which proved to be the severest epidemic 



ever experienced in Vermont. This dis- 

 ease resembled that which immediately 

 preceded it, excepting in having its chief 

 location upon the lungs, and being longer 

 in reaching its crisis. It commenced in 

 this State, among the troops of the United 

 States army, stationed at Burlington, in 

 the autumn of 1812, where it proved very 

 mortal, carrying off" from 10 to 12 a day, 

 for several weeks before it began to spread 

 among the inhabitants. But, by the be- 

 ginning of the year 1813, it had become 

 general throughout the State ; and in the 

 course of the winter, it swept oft' from 20 

 to 60 of the most respectable and useful 

 inhabitants of almost every town. The 

 whole number of deaths in the State, by 

 this disease during the winter, was esti- 

 mated at more than 6000, or one death to 

 every 40 inhabitants.* 



From 1814 to 1832, there was nothing 

 remarkable in the diseases of the State. 

 Isolated cases of consumption, typhus and 

 lung fevers and other endemics were con- 

 stantly occurring, and annually bringing 

 down numbers to the grave, and dysen- 

 teries, scarlet fever, measles, influenzas, 

 &c., were several times epidemic, and 

 produced considerable mortality, in parti- 

 cular sections. 



Early in June, 1832, that most dreadful 

 disease, the Asiatic cholera, made its first 

 appearance on tliis side of the Atlantic. 

 It commenced nearly at the same time at 

 Montreal and Quebec, and soon extended 

 into the United States, producing a uni- 

 versal panic throughout the country. The 

 first case of cholera in Quebec, was on the 

 8th of June, and in the first three days 

 there were 41 deaths, and the number of 

 fatal cases there during the summer, was 

 about 2000. In the course of three months 

 from the appearance of the disease in 

 Montreal, it is computed to have carried 

 ofl^ 2800 persons out of a population of 

 30,000, or one eleventh part of the whole. 



Although the alarm was very great in 

 Vermont, on the appearance of the cholera 

 in Canada, but few fatal cases occurred 

 within the State, and these were mostly 

 confined to the towns along lake Cham- 

 plain. In Burlington there were only 

 four deaths by the cholera, three of these 

 on the 17th and 18th of June, and the 

 last on the 24tli of August, and the whole 

 number of fatal cases of the disease within 

 the State did not exceed 10 or 12. Dur- 

 ing the prevalence of this disease in Ca- 

 nada, in 1834, Vermont was entirely ex- 

 empted from it. 



Since 1834, no alarming epidemic has 

 prevailed, and all parts of the State have 



*Our materials thus far are derived principally 

 from Dr. Gallup's work on the epidumics of Vermont. 



