History of the pestilence, commonly called yellow fever, which almost desolated Philadelphia, in the months of August, September & October, 1798 / By Thomas Condie & Richard Folwell.

  • Condie, Thomas, 1775?-1814
Date:
[1799]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the pestilence, commonly called yellow fever, which almost desolated Philadelphia, in the months of August, September & October, 1798 / By Thomas Condie & Richard Folwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ve Sat heat of fummer, emit a very difagreeable ftench. There are feveral finks dug, to receive the water from the gutters, in thofe parts of the city, where there is no other declivity to carry it off. ‘I'wo of thefe, which are the moft remarkable, are fituated in Market-ftreet, at the corner of Fourth-ftreet. They, like the apertures to the Dock-ftreet fewer, exhale the moft noxious effluvia; for, dead animals and every kind of naufea, are thrown into them, andthere remain till they become putrified. During the ficknefs in fummer 1797, Dr. Pafcalis mentions, that being frequently called out dur- ing the night, he could ftrongly perceive the fmell iffuing from thefe finks in Market-ftreet as far as Mulberry-ftreet on the one fide, and Chefnut-ftreet on the other. A few years ago, there were numbers of marfhes and ponds of {tagnant water, in the out-lots of the city, which periodically fubjeted the inhabitants furrounding them to fever-and-ague. ‘Thefe public nuifances are now either drained, filled up, or built upon; fince which, but few are troubled with this complaint. ‘There are, ftill, fome re- maining in Southwark and the Northern Liberties: there are alfo many vacancies on the bank of the river, which are co- vered with a thick bed of miery filth ; the wharves, likewife, at times, become filled up with i impure fubftances from the adjoining ftreets; and, during the fummer, emit, at low wa- ter, a very vient fei: A {mall ftream of water, called Pege’s Run, pafles through Spring-Garden and the Nor- thern Liberties, the bottom of which is wide and miery 3 its banks are unimproved, and rendered offenfive by the offals which are thrown upon them from the flaughter-houfes, tan-yards, &c. adjoining. Beyond this, upon the Delaware, the improvements called Kenfington, are fituated. A great part of which, at high water, is nearly furrounded by the tide, which, when low, leaves a broad, muddy marfh, more than a quarter of a mile round its fouth and welt parts.— Upon this, the heat in fummer, as might be expected, pro- duces fimilar effects. One other fource of putrid animal exhalation, which very forcibly attraéts the notice of ftran- gers, is moft fenfibly difcovered in thickly inhabited places during the fummer months. Mboft every dwelling of the city has a privy-houfe, fituated generally at the fartheft end of the yard; but the houfes on the bank fide of Front- {treet, have them in their cellars: many of the finks, over which they ftand, are dug to the depth of between twenty to thirty feet, and built round with bricks: ‘They are not