History of Influenza. 57 



fluenza seems to give us a specially severe visita- 

 tion. Thus it is noticed by Wilkinson in 1815, 

 bv Field in 1819 and 1823, by Percival in 1828, 

 1832, 1840, and 1844. Many remember it in 

 1848; and still better in 1852. Thus, excepting 

 an interval of five years from 1823 to 1828, we 

 can trace its periods of aggravation in four-year 

 cycles from 1815 to the present time. 



Having given the history of influenza at some 

 length, to show that it is no new disease, I will 

 now proceed to the cause, symptoms, and treat- 

 ment of this malignant disease. Mr. Thomas 

 Greaves says in an admirable paper, written in 

 the year 1865, ^^The pestilence that walked in 

 darkness is no fiction. Both sacred and profane 

 writers find ample proof that from the very 

 earliest times down to the present age man has 

 been periodically startled by its silent, invisible, 

 but irresistible agency. Well might the ancients 

 in their terror attribute it to the destroying angel. 

 But its destructive influence has not been con- 

 fined to man ; animals have been from time to 

 time swept off in multitudes. The cause or 

 causes appeared at the time inscrutable ; but in 

 all probability they were one and the same agency, 

 and their degree of virulence was dependent upon 

 certain modified circumstances.'' Notwithstand- 

 ing whatever may be said to the contrary, a 

 mystery overhangs every epizootic disease, giving 

 rise to vague and contradictory actions in re- 

 ference to its precise cause. J^ow upon this 

 point, as well as upon the point of the nature 

 and treatment of influenza, it will be observed 



