No. 216.] 413 



my opinion that the cause of this fever was an emanation from the 

 ground on which the dwellings in which it occurred were standing, 

 and the principal reasons for this opinion I have already stated, viz: 

 the abrupt and complete limitation of the disease in one direction at 

 least, by the Bowery, and its occurrence only in the lowest rooms. 

 I remain truly yours, 



JOHN A. SWETT. 



From Stephen Wood, M. D., Physician to the Eastern Dispensary. 



211 Madison St., 8th Mo. 17th, 1844. 



Dear Doctor — Agreeably to thy request, I have drawn up the 

 following sketch of some cases, (which have occured in my practice 

 as one of the physicians of the E. Dispensary,) illustrating in some 

 measure, the influence of locality and mode of life on health and 

 diseases, which thou art at liberty to use in such a manner as thou 

 may think proper. 



Sometime during the Autumn of last year I attended at No. 249 

 Stanton street, Charles Peterson, aged about forty-five years, of in- 

 temperate habits. He had pneumonia followed by typhus symptoms, 

 and lived but two or three days after my first visiting him. He had 

 been sick for several days previously, and without medical attendance. 

 At No. 96 Sheriff street, and in the immediate neighborhood of this 

 case, and at nearly the same time, I had another of like character, 

 of about the same age, and of similar habits. This case likewise 

 terminated fatally in the course of a few days. 



In one of these cases the pulse was full and strong, so that I 

 thought it best to bleed. The bleeding was followed by blisters, &c.; 

 but it soon became necessary to resort to stimulants, and other sup- 

 porting measures. In the other case bleeding was not practiced; 

 but a blister was applied to the chest, expectorants, stimulants, &c., 

 administered, although with but temporary relief. 



Both of these men, with their families, were wretchedly poor, 

 living in cellar rooms, some six feet below the street, dark and damp, 

 with very scanty ventilation, and ceilings, or rather beams so low, 

 that I could not stand erect I etween them. The apartments at my 

 first visit were filthy and offensive in the extreme; yet some improve- 

 ment became evident afterwards, as I generally in this class of 

 patients, find it necessary in the first place, to lecture them on the 

 importance of cleanliness, ventilation, temperance, &c. 



