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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![take place in this difeafe. Doctor Houlftonof Liverpool, goes i'o far as to allure us, that in fituipg near en i: iec- ted perfon, an irritation of the mucous membrane oi the nofe, was fenfible, fuch as is produced by the duft of pep- per, and which fneezing tended to remove.(39). Now, though it feems dmojl certain that the virus of every difeafe which is contagious, affects the part 01 which it has hrftfaliened, before it diflurbs the reft of the body, and aflimilates to itfelf more or lefs of the humours which it there meets with ; yet it would feem poJJ.ble that ibme of it might be abforbed, and immediately taken in- to the circulation [in perfons of lax habits], and there excite or increafe a.fever by its own flimulus, or by the ftimulus of fuch part of the blood as it aflimilates to its own nature(40). But, for my own part, I mould fup- pofe it a rare occurrence in the influenza, that the ixcie- ries morbi in the firft inftance, enters the mafs of blood (?q) Med. Commun. Vol. I. Fage 57. See alfo James's M< d. Dictionary under the word Catarrh. (< Lnt it is not to be doubted, that there is fometimes in the air fuch z.fithtile < ;- which, being received in infpiration, inlinuates itfelf in- to the olandulous parts, through which it pafles, excites pain, tumor, and reducls, and brings on a catarrhqus fever. What this fubtile caufbic matter is effehtialty, may no doubt be very difficult to explain ; but from analogy it would feem probable that it is the fame with that which produces the plague, the'jaU or hofpital fever, and, peradveuture, an intermittent : and t^J the various appearances of thefe (iecmingly different) difeafes arife from the greater or lefs concentration df this matt-, '-,to§& ther with the accidental, though greatly diverhiying circura- ftances of fcafon, foil, cultivation, climate, &c. and alfb the man- ner of living, food, raiment, &c. &c. According to Dr. Williatfj Fordyce, •if animal bodies are in a decaying ft ate, and the air be (illed with their Reams, they fometimes produce peftileniial j ; the fleams of fome decayed vegetables have the fjtme ef- fect. The effluvia of human bodies are likewife very hurtful to the- air. Three thoufmd men living within the cpnjpafs of aa acre of ground would make an atmolpherc of their own fleams feventv^one feet high, which would loon become peftUantiai, without the winds to difpcl it. The air ot prilons tor this reafon produces mortal fevers. See Ids Inquiry into the caufes, &c. of fevers, page t/>. (40) See Ferr-iar s ftied. Eflays, page 23J. E](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21133852_0033.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
