An essay on the nature and treatment of the malignant contagious ulcer, as it generally appears in the British Navy / by James Litle.

  • Litle, James, active 1792-1839.
Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the nature and treatment of the malignant contagious ulcer, as it generally appears in the British Navy / by James Litle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    I have often remarked a tendency to indispo- sition pervade a ship’s company, ultimately as- sume the type of synochus, and threaten to be- come general; which I could satisfactorily trace to the above causes. The decks may certainly be washed ; but it ought to be put in practice only when they can soon be made perfectly drj’^. As the health of British seamen, from their own inattention to their mode of living, is very easily deranged, the preservation of it must ever there- fore rest with the officer. Other exciting causes may also be adduced as ])ropagating disease in the navy ; such are, ex- cessive fatigue, depression of mind, and all other irregularities that tend to exhaust animal energy. And perhaps to some of their separate or colla- teral influence, may be ascribed the different phe- nomena whichthosediseases respectively assume, only in a ratio proportioned to the degree of their deleterious powers. The peculiar circumstances of the malignant ulcer’s affecting the lower limbs only, we have already endeavoured to explain^ Anthrax and Buboe, accompanying the plaguer even in its early stage, will bear a proportionate analogy to the local occurrences above described, and their taking place on different parts of the body so early in that disease, may be attributed to the highly septic nature of the complaint: for no disease with which we are acquainted brings . D 2