A letter to Sir James M'Grigor, M.D. F.R.S. C.T.S., director general of military hospitals, &c. on the sanitary management of the Gibraltar fever / by David Barry.

  • Barry, David, Sir, 1780-1835.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir James M'Grigor, M.D. F.R.S. C.T.S., director general of military hospitals, &c. on the sanitary management of the Gibraltar fever / by David Barry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    A LETTER SIR JAMES M'GRIGOR, M.D. F.R.S. &c. &c. &C. Sir: Since my return from the mission on which I had the honour of being sent by you, to Gibraltar, in 1828, when the black-vomit yellow fever raged there with such fright- ful mortality, it has often occurred to me that a great saving of human'life might be effected, on any future simi- lar occasion, by the timely issue, as a standing order, of a well-digested code of sanatory instructions, based on the general, and local history, of the disease, commensurate with the actual state of science, and sanctioned by the con- stituted medical authorities of this country. Why the government has not already called on some of these learned bodies to legislate, publicly, on this important subject, I know not. The diversity of professional opinion, the dis- crepancy of alleged facts, and perhaps a disinclination to brave, gratuitously, the rancour of party criticism, may have contributed to deter them from a spontaneous effort to form a Code Sanitaire. Be this, however, as it may, the medical officer, whenever he has had to contend with this dreadful scourge, has generally found himself taken unpre- pared, and always unprovided with any authorised system of medical police to guide him in his difficulties, to save him from indecision and error, from useless, and perhaps pernicious, experiment. It was with a view to lead towards a remedy for this evil, that I have ventured to draw up the few sanatory sugges- tions which I now take the liberty of submitting to you and Sir W. Franklin, for your approval. They aim at but one B