The yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn. : Embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere / By J.M. Keating.
- Keating, John McLeod, 1830-1906
- Date:
- 1879
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn. : Embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere / By J.M. Keating. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![from twenty to ninety lioiir.<. A^'hen it lias passed off the lilankets should be gradually -withdrawn from the patient; stimulants, such as ale, porter, pure rum, and French brandy should l)e freely given. I jjrefer Cook's Imperial St. Louis native wine to any stimulant I have ever used. Isourishment, such as rice-water, or corn-meal gruel, or chicken-water should be given cautiously and sparingly. Should there be a spi^ntaneous movement of the bowels, as will occur in many cases from the irritation of the mucous coat of the stomach and bowels, that tissue which is first assaulted by this disease, give no opium, no preparation of opium, nor any thing to cheek that action. It is the crisis of the disease as it is in measles. The fever will pass off in five hours, and the patient will recover rapidly without tear of a relajise. Should the perspiration have a glutinous, gummy touch, you may expect your patient to recover with watchful and careful nursing. But should tlie perspiration have a sensation like that of pure water, showing that there is no vicarious action by the skin, which gives relief to the liver and kidneys, you may know that your patient is in great danger. You will find uj);>n an examination the tongue red and trem- ulous, covered with a short white fur, with great gastric fetor of the breath. It is then all important to apply the cups or leeches to the pit of the stomach in order to prevent that degree of inflammation \\hich destroys the coat of the stomach. If neither cups, leeches, nor blisters l)e applied, the patient will com- plain of the sensation of a ball in his stomach in thirty-six hours. And in twelve hours thereafter he will throw off blood that is exuded into the stomach, known as black vomit, which has the appearance of coflee-grounds floating in an amber-colored fluid. If there be any doubt as to the character of the matter ejected from the stomach, you can at once decide upon its character by dipping a white handkerchief or linen clolh into the matter ejected from the stomach, and ex])0sing it to the sun for a few moments. If it be the vcnnito, or genuine black vomit of yellow fever, it will impart a sanguine or bloody tinge to the cloth or handkerchief. If it be bile, which never occurs in yellow fever, it will impart a yellow tinge. Dr. Marvin Huse, Physician of the Yellow Fever Hospital, of Louisville, where nearly two hundred cases were treated, found that there were two classes of cases : one in which the temperature ranged from 100° to 106°, with a hot dry skin; and a second, where the temperature ranged between 97° and 100°, with a cold, clammy, and much yellower skin. The latter variety was more fatal. The symptoms were, iu the main, like those of former epidemics, but a iiiiudier of interesting characteristics were noted. The juilse was always so iiregular as to be of help in the diagnosis. It ranged from thirty-five to one hundred and forty beats a minute. It bore no relation to the tem))erature. The fever was a continued one. It had remissions, but not intermissions. The fiiuces were red and swollen; the tongue, eventually, dry and cracked, unlike the flabby and enlarged tongue of malarial fever. From the skin there exhaled the peculiar rotten-hay odor always noticed. Herpetic eruptions about the month and nose were frequent. The urine had at first a high specific gravity, falling as the disease progressed. It was small in amount at first, also, and suppression with uriemia was always to be looked out for. It generally contained bile, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21354017_0063.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
