1997-1 
The quick and irregular: interchanges 
of froft, {now, and rain, during the pre- 
fent_ month, have been productive of 
coughs, catarrhal fevers, internal in- 
flammations, and an aggravated ftate of 
phthyfis pulmonalis. 
Several perfons, in the decline of life, 
have died fuddenly, from a violent at- 
tack of catarrh,.or the peripneumonia- 
notha of Sydenham, attended with a 
quick fluttering pulfe, great difficulty of 
breathing, pain and opprefiion of the 
cheft, head-ache, vertigo, or flight de- 
lirium ; the cheeks being, at firft, red 
and flufhed, as SypENHAmM remarks, 
but prefently becoming livid and bloated. 
Under thefe circumttances, a large ef- 
fufion of lymph ufually takes place, into 
the cavity of the cheft and pericardium. 
Blifters, diaphoretics, gentle purgatives,, 
and preparations of the {quills, feem to 
be the remedies which afford moft certain 
alleviation. Bloodletting is inadmiffible : 
of thofe who have been bled, at any. pe- 
tiod of the difeafe, I fcarcely ever recol- 
leét to have feen one furvive; and am 
convinced, that Dr. SyDENHAM’s mode 
of practice, in this complaint, would 
be almoft univerfally deftruétive. 
The death of one patient was accele- 
rated, in confequence of the alarm and 
confufion Cet sed by the dreadful 
fire at Mr. Meux’s brewhonfe, near 
which he réfided. 
Young perfons, more efpecially fe- 
males, are fometimes affeéted with the 
above f{pecies of peripneumony ; and 
have often fo great a degree of dytp- 
nea, that they cannot lie down in bed, 
or take any found fleep, for many fuc- 
ceflive nights: the pulfe is feeble, and 
very quick, there being not lefs than 140 
or 160 pulfations in a minute. In this 
diforder bleeding is equally fatal to the 
young and to thofe of an advanced age’: 
young perfons, however, in general, re- 
cover, if proper and early attention be 
paid to them. 
The infidious appearances of this com- 
plaint fometimes lead unexperienced 
or carelefs practitioners into another 
error. ‘The fur upon the tongue, after 
afew days, affumes a brownith colour: 
this circumftance, added to the flate of 
the pulfe, the’lois of ftrength, and the 
abfence of cough, fuggefts the idea of a 
malignant or putrid fever, if the atten- 
tion 1s not direéted to the heaving of the 
cheft, and to the exciting caufe of the 
difeafe. 
_ The ufe of bark, wine, and aroma- 
tics, in fuch a cafe, it will appear. evi- 
dent, cannot be lefs ‘pernicious than the 
: 
Account of Difeafes in London. 
69 
oppofite mode of practice, by repeated 
bloodletting, ftrong purgatives, nitre, 
&c. fo often fatally adopted by thofe whe 
prefcribe tothe name of a difeafe, with- 
out fufficiently confidering the flate of 
the conflitution affected with it. 
The meafles continue, in nearly the 
fame degree, as ftated for the two pre- 
ceding months. The fcarlatina angi- 
nofa, and fmall pox, are ftill abating. 
According to the London bills of mor- 
tality, there have died, between the zoth 
of December, and the 17th cf January, 
of the meafles, twenty-one ; of the {car- 
let fever, three ; of the {mall pox, ninety- 
feven. 
In the general bill for the year 1796, 
it appears, that 307 have died of the 
meailes ; 3548 of the {mall pox; and 1547 
in other acute difeafes. On examining 
the bills of mortality, from the year 1628 
to the prefent time, it will be found 
that at fome periods a greater number 
has died of the f{mall-pox, within twelve 
months; but that m 1796, the propor- 
tion of deaths from this complaint, to - 
the whole annual mortality, has exceed- 
ed that of any preceding year. The 
only years in which the deaths, by the 
{mall-pox, amounted to more than 3000, 
were the following : 
Total of Deaths. By the Small-Pox. 
Thy 1925s 25524 3188, or 725 in 1000 
i. i736, 27,505 3074, 109 ~—s ditto 
1752, 20,485 3528, 172 ~~ ditto 
1757, 20,243 3296, 154. ditto 
1763, 26,143 3582, 137. ~=— ditté 
1768, 25,639 3028, 128 ditto 
1772, 26,053 3992, 153 ditto 
1796, 19,288 3543; 183 ditto 
From the report publifhed by the com- 
mittee of the Small pox and Inoculation 
Hofpitals, it appears, that of thofe who 
take the difcafe cafually, the mortality is 
in the proportion of one to fix. It muft 
be added, as a proof cf the advantages of 
Inoculation, that not more than one pa- 
tient out of four or five hundred dies of 
the inoculated fmall-pox. The number 
of patients admitted into the Small-pox 
Hofpital, from the 26th of September, 
1746, to the rit of January, 1796, hs 
been 19,202: the number of patients ino~ 
culated within the fame period, 29,890. 
During laft year, 1506 were inoculated at 
the hofpital, and only three out of that 
number died there. The number of 
patients admitted in the natural fmall- 
pox, was 480. As the hoipitals are fitu- 
ated without the bills of mortality, their 
own reegifter alone records the deaths 
which happen there, and which are ac- 
cording to the average above fated. 
' PUBLIC 
