An account of the epidemical catarrhal fever, commonly called the influenza, as it appeared at Bath in the winter and spring of the year 1803 / [William Falconer].

  • William Falconer
Date:
1803
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the epidemical catarrhal fever, commonly called the influenza, as it appeared at Bath in the winter and spring of the year 1803 / [William Falconer]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/48 (page 6)
    [ « ] pretty universally over the body as the disease abated. The appetite was, in the cases I saw, almost entirely destroyed, and the thirst pretty considerable. Acid juices of fruits were to some particularly agreeable ; but after a few days’ use, seemed to create disgust. Iced creams, moderately taken, were highly accept- able, and served to cool the mouth and fauces; the heat and dryness of which were among the most un¬ easy symptoms. The pulse was variable, in some very quick, even to 150 in a minute; in others, not exceeding 80 or 90. Out of upwards of 100 persons afflicted with this complaint at the Hospital, the pulse in no instance exceeded 100 beats in a minute. In one of the worst cases I saw, the pulse never exceeded 72 beats in a minute, which was the usual number in health. Yet the patient at J;hat time had every other symptom of peripneumonic fever, great heat, thirst, and cough, with expe&oration so difficult, that I apprehended suffocation would speedily take place; and when, to relieve these urgent symptoms, she was bled, as she was, twice in one day, to four¬ teen ounces, the blood drawn was so tenacious as to bear being lifted entire with a pin out of the cup by the crust, without affording more than a few drops of serum. *