An inaugural dissertation on the influenza : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical professors of the University of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the eighth day of May A.D. 1793 / by Robert Johnston, of Philadelphia, member of the American Medical Society.
- Johnston, Robert, 1750-1808
- Date:
- MDCCXCIII [1793]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the influenza : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical professors of the University of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the eighth day of May A.D. 1793 / by Robert Johnston, of Philadelphia, member of the American Medical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![1 have chofen th'is fad from amongft the multitude which might be brought forward, firft, becaufe the plague is the monarch of all difeafes, the moft highly contagious of any which afflict the human fpecies; and, fecondly, becaufe the Baron here relates a matter of fact, without regard, to any particular theory in medicine. He was not pre- ferved from the difeafe, as he fuppofes, by the falubrious fmell of the forges, for that was as common to the work- men who were feized with the plague as it was to him ; nor was he preferved by the precautions which he ob- served in giving directions, fo fhort a diftance as the Ifcngth of his cane (22) was certainly within the fphere of the activity of the infection. ?Tis true, Doclor Cullen is of Opinion, that perfons may be preferved from the contagi- on of the plague, by avoiding all near communication with the Tick, or their goods, and that it is probable, a fmall diftance will anfwer the purpofe, if, at the fame time there be no ftream of air to carry the effluvia of perfons, or their goods to fome diftance. It cannot, however, be imagined but that during the Baron's conti- nuance at this place [which was a very confiderable time] the wind blew perhaps, in every direction; that, there- *fore he rnuft many times have been expofed to a ftream of air'''' palTing over the bodies and goods of perfons taint- ed with the peftilence, and that he was not preferved from the infectious miafmata either by the fmell of the forges or by giving directions with the end of his cane ; but by, what is more probable, his active life in which body and mind were vigoroufly employed, by his ftrict obfervance of temperance, and, by his never giving him- felf up to the debilitating influence of fear. (22) The effluvia arifmg from the difeafed, received into the ambient air: form a peftiferous atmofphere, more or lefs im- pregnated with thefe effluvia, as it recedes from their fource. That contagion is thus communicated in the chambers of the fkk, appears from perlons being infec~ted without touching the difeafed body, or any thing in the room that may be fuppofed to harbour the infection. Ruflel on the Plague, Page 298.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21133852_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
