Letters on the yellow fever of 1822 / [Grant Thorburn].

  • Grant Thorburn
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters on the yellow fever of 1822 / [Grant Thorburn]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fever, a number of very dirty, suspicious looking vessels, apparent* ly Spanish or Portuguese, lay near the spot where it first commen¬ ced. What effect the contents of one of these nasty vessels might have, could they be discharged among the inhabitants of Bergen or Harlaem Heights, it is hard to tell. But one thing we all are sure of, that neither the sick, the dead, nor their bedding, has ever spread the contagion in the villages. By fever in a private sense, I mean individuals who took the fever. I believe there was not one who remained in the infected district till the beginning of October, but what had the seeds of the disease ripe in their blood; and wanted only some act of impru¬ dence, such as intoxication, colds, over-fatigue, &c. to set the dis¬ ease agoing. I could fill a volume of instances in support of this opinion, to which I was an eye witness, in the late and former fevers. If you think the above worth a place in your paper, I will give a few of them in my next. I will only state facts, and will therefore subscribe myself, Yours, GRANT THORBURN. New-YorJc, March, 1823. Gentlemen, In my last I stated that I never saw a single instance of what I would term a spontaneous case of yellow fever. The first case in my neighbourhood the season past, was Mr. Tate, a respect¬ able coloured man—temperate, strong, and healthy. He was one of the temporary watch—was on duty the night of the 3d of Sep¬ tember-—was dressed in thin clothes—no great coat—it rained in the night—he got partially wet—complained of pain in the bones next day—was out next night again—no great coat—weather