Medical inquiries and observations / by Benjamin Rush, M.D. professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania.
- Benjamin Rush
- Date:
- MDCCLXXXIX [1789]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medical inquiries and observations / by Benjamin Rush, M.D. professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. 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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![The air, when dry in Pennfylvania, has a peculiar1 elafticity, which renders the heat and cold lefs infup- portable than the fame degrees of both are in moifter countries. It is in thofe cafes only when fummer fhowers are not fuccceded by north-welt winds, that the heat of the air becomes oppreffive and diftreffing, from being combined with moifture. „ 0 rROM month of January a thato came on fuddenly, which opened our rivers fo as to fet the ice a-driving, to ufe the phrafe of the country. In the courfe of one night, during the thaw, the wind (hifted fuddenly to the north-weft, and the weather became intenfely cold. The ice, which had floated the day before, was fuddenly obftrufted ; and in the river Sufquehannah, the obftruftiona were formed in thofe places where the water was moft (hallow, or where it had been accuftomed to fall. This river is leveral hundred miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile and an half in breadth, and winds through a hilly, and in many places a fertile and highly cultivated country. It has aa yet a moft difficult communication with our bay% and the fea, occasioned by the number and height of the falls which occur near the mouth of the river. The ice in many places, efpecially where there were falls, formed a kind of dam, of a moft ftupendous height. About the middle of March our Weather moderated, and a thaw became general. The effects of it were remarkable in all our rivers ; but in none fo much as in the river I have mentioned. I ihail therefore endeavour in a few words to defcribe them. Unfortunately the dams of ice did not give way all at once, nor thofe which lay neareft to the mouth of the river, firft. While the upper dams were fet a-floatby the warm weather, the lower ones, which were the largeft, and in which, of courfe, the ice was moft impacted, remained fixed. In confequence of this, the river rofe in a few hours, in many places, above 3o feet; rolling upon its furface huge lumps of ice, from 10 to 40 cubic feet in fize. The effefts of this fudden inundation were terrible. Whole farms were laid under water. Barns—ftables—horfes—cattle—fences—mills oi' every kind, and in one inftance, a large ftone houfe, 40 by 30 feet, were carried down the ftream. Large trees were torn up by the roots—feveral fmall iflands covered with woods, were fwept away, and not a veftige of them was left behind. On the barns which preferved their fhape, in fome inftances, for many miles wire to be feen living fowls ; and, in one dwelling, a candle was feen to burn for fome time, after it was fwept from its foundation. Where the fhore was level, the lumps of ice, and the ruins of houfes and farms, were thrown 2 quarter of a mile from the ordinary height of the river. In fome inftances, farms were ruined by the mould being fwept from them by the cakes of ice, or by depofitions of fand ; while others were enriched by large depofitions of mud. The damage, upon the whole, done to the ftate of Pennsylvania by this frefh, was very great. In moft places it happened in the day time, 6r the confequences muft have been fatal to many thoufands. I know of but one ufe that can be derived from recording the hiftoryof this inundation. In cafe of (irniliar obftrudlions of rivers, from caufes fuch as have been defcribed, the terrible effects of their being fet in motion b/ means of a general thaw, may in part be obviated, by removing fach things out of the courfe of the water and ice, as are within our power ; particular] eat'Je, hay, grab, fences, and farming utenfils of all kind.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21151775_0076.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
