Historical and statistical sketch of the progress of epidemic fever in Glasgow during the year 1847 / by R.S. Orr.

Date:
[1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historical and statistical sketch of the progress of epidemic fever in Glasgow during the year 1847 / by R.S. Orr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    epidemic attained such a degree of prevalence. The following table exhibits a statement of the numbers belonging to each nation of those treated in the Infirmary fever wards and in the Barony Fever Hospital during the year 1847; but as no record of this nature was kept in the City Parish Hospital prior to the 10th of September, the numbers for that establishment can only be given from that date till the end of the year. Table showing the number of Scotch, Irish, English, Sfc. treated in the Fever Hospitals of Glasgow during the year 1847. English. Foreign- Un- Scotch. Per No. cent. Fever Wards of Infirmary, 2094=40.08 City Parish Hospital from 10th September, Barony Parish Hospital, 896=39.64 890=49.28 Irish. Per No. cent. 3106=59.45 1326=58.67 884=48.89 Per N^>. cent. 15=0.28 38=1.68 25=1.38 ers. known. No. No. 9 3880=41.76 5316=57.22 78=0.83 2 11 5 5 This table shows, that of the above numbers of patients, con- siderably more than one-half were natives of Ireland, who, strictly speaking, have no legal claims on the parochial autho- rities for such an amount of medical relief. It certainly does ap- pear hard, that a city like Glasgow, already sufficiently burdened with the poor of its own country, should be compelled, it may be said in self-defence, to afford relief to such a multitude of stran- gers. In many cases, after the Infirmary fever wards were com- pletely full, it was often extremely painful to be obliged to refuse admission when those applying for it belonged to one’s native coun- try, knowing, at the same time, how many beds originally intended for their use were filled by the natives of another. The results obtained from an examination of the above table, show that the number of Scotch who were treated could quite well have been accommodated in the fever wards of the Royal Infirmary, without any additional accommodation. I have elsewhere* given a tabular statement of the numbers of the natives of Ireland who for several years back have received the benefits of treatment in the Infirmary fever wards. From that table it appears that during the last eight or ten years they have increased from 25 and 30 per cent, to 47 per cent, of the whole number treated. Last year, however, they will be found to have reached nearly 60 per cent., while the na- tives of Scotland amount to only 40 per cent, of those treated. Here, then, there appears to have been a complete change as re- gards the numbers treated belonging to each country, the Irish having now taken the place in our hospitals which the Scotch oc- cupied ten years ago, and vice versa ; and this frequently to the * F.din. Med. and Surg. Journal for April 1846.
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