An account of the malignant fever, lalely [sic] prevalent in the city of New-York / by James Hardie, A.M. ; copy-right secured according to act of Congress.

  • Hardie, James, 1758-1826.
Date:
1799
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the malignant fever, lalely [sic] prevalent in the city of New-York / by James Hardie, A.M. ; copy-right secured according to act of Congress. 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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    Indeed, according to Doctor Rum, of Philadelphia, when a particular epidemic viiits any fpot, every other complaint is at once abibrbed, or loit wkh the then raging iicknefs. This, I apprehend, is now the general opinion of oar mofl eminent phyficians ; and had it been generally believed by the inhabitants of New-York, I am almofi convinced that the havoc in our city would have by no means been fo> great as it was; for I have little doubt that more than one half of thofe to whom the diforder proved fatal, might in all probability have been now in good health, had they, on the firft attack, applied the proper remedies; and mould this, or any other city in the Uni- ted States, be again 2 if lifted by a iimilar calamity, (which God forbid/ as a friend to my fellow citizens, I would ufe my utmoit endeavours, in preffing this truth upon their minds, that in fuch a fituation, delays art peculiarly dangerous But to return to the progrefs of the diftemper.— Whether any cafes of peililential fever exifted in the earlier part of Auguft, remote from the place where& was believed to have originated* I have not been able to afcertain : But of this I am certain, that about the 20th of the month, cafes of ahighly malignant nature appear- ed in various parts of the city, and in particular it began to range with great violence at the New Slip, in Cliff-ftreet and Jobn-ftreet, but more efpecially in Eden's-Alley and Rider-ftreet, where not a family efcaped it, nor was there a houfe in which it made its appearance, except two, viz. that of Mr. M'Mafters and me, where it did not termi- nate fatally to one or more individuals. About the fame time itlikewife fpread its ravages in Ann-ftreet, Fair-ftreet, Cherry-ftreet, Auguftus-ftreet, and alfo at the fhip yards, and about the beginning of September, I know of few places in the city where there were not fome folitary cafes. Our Heakh-Cornmiflioners began to be fomewhat ap- prehenfive with regard to the appearance of this peftilence foea \y as the 6th of Auguft, as may be feen from the followiAig letter addreifed to the Mayor;—