Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair ; edited by John Davy.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair ; edited by John Davy. 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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    but the former might have been pronounced at once a labourer from some of the river estates, and the latter most likely from the islands of Wakcnaam Leguan, or some of the coast estates. It has often occurred to me that there would be a probability in the supposition of this septic modification of the malaria (which shows itself in the bleeding gangrenous ulcer) being some im- perfect development of the yellow fever poison.* In regard to the endemic influences generally, it may be said that their effects are very much confined to the labouring classes, and of them to the whites, and to those chiefly who do not supply themselves with a sufficiency of nutrition, or who are much exposed to the weather and night air, or who use no clothing for their feet and legs. The white man is no doubt an exotic here, but when taken care of, like many exotics, he thrives well. There is no deterioration in the race of whites, either in the long resident or his native children, where their circum- stances are easy. On the contrary, the finest physical white men of the colony are to be found among the Creoles, and extreme old age is not infrequent, f There is no doubt of there being a greater amount of sickness here than in England f, but much of it is of an ephemeral nature, and among the middle and upper classes of society the expectation of life is as good as in any part of Europe, The climate of Demerara has obtained * [I am disposed to believe that there is some truth in the above remark. In Barbados, amongst the white natives, who are almost exempt from yellow fever, the mucous membranes especially of the priinas viae, and the skin, are very prone to diseased action of a kind bearing some resemblance to what is witnessed in yellow fever;—for instance, the chapping of the lips, with ulceration and bleeding; an apthous, or slightly ulcerated state of fauces, and probably of the gullet and stomach; the yellowish sallowness of skin, with tendency to ulceration. I may add, that, during the absence of yellow fever amongst the troops, a disposition to purpura hemorrhagica is occasionally witnessed.] —Ed. f [This, I believe, holds good in the West Indies generally. As an exotic, the white man in the West Indies, for the preservation of health and vigour, requires unusual care; and, having the advantage of such care, he flourishes not unlike a tropical plant cultivated in a stove or hot-house in England. The white Creole of the upper class—the educated gentleman compared with the labourer of the same colour—presents a remarkable contrast, and that both in mind and body. The signs of degeneracy in the one are as well marked as the absence of them in the other.] —Ed. } [In the healthiest of the West India islands, especially in those longest settled and best cultivated, — as Barbados, St. Vincent, Antigua, St. Chris- topher,— the proportion of sickness is less than in England; the most common complaints at home — colds, and the various lighter affections of the throat and respiratory organs—being comparatively rare.] — Ed.