A contribution to the climatological study of phthisis in Pennsylvania.
- William Pepper
- Date:
- 1887
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A contribution to the climatological study of phthisis in Pennsylvania. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![of fifty or sixty years, when it is said to have been quite prevalent. It has been declinin'? the ])ast three years, and is now rarely seen, though the word malaria is often improperly applied to sickness. Consumption is not very prevalent in the malarial district. “Rheumatism is rather a freipient disease. “ Pneumonia may prevail at all seasons of the year among us, but it is far more frequent and fatal during the months of March and April than at any other period of the year. Its victims are mostly active business men past forty years of age. “Bright’s disease occurs now and then, but it is not a frequent dis- ease.” No. 3. Troy; population, 1,500; elevation, 1,148 feet. Sheltered by mountains. North, south, and west winds prevail; east winds rare^ Fogs rare. Soil good; subsoil, clay. Few marshes. The population is American, German, and Irish, and is engaged chiefly in farming and lumbering. Consumption rare and chronic; cases of phthisis cured by removal to this county. Phthisis always hereditary. No malaria. Rheumatism, pneumonia, and Bright’s disease prevalent. Dr. Dare writes that Bradford County is damper than Sullivan, Tioga, and Potter Counties, owing to retention of water in clay subsoil. Fogs prevail along the valleys, and especially the Susquehanna. Dr. Dare speaks of a family of Smithfield, near Troy, of which all the children have died of consumption. The house is on an elevated ridge, “ but damp in consequence of the clay subsoil.” Dr. Dare’s own case is an instance of the benefit of removal to Brad- ford County. He resided in Chester, Delaware County, in 1857, was then thirty-five years of age, and had pulmonary haemorrhage, being the only survivor of six children, all but one having died of consumption between the twentieth and thirty-fifth year. The family lived in Cumberland County, N. J. “ After being prostrated one year I came to Troy, Brad- ford County, Pa. Since then I have had but one haemorrhage, which occurred the following summer, and since that time I have been perfectly well.” “The other members of my family were all attacked with pul- monary haemorrhage as I was, and died in about one year after. 1 can see no reason, if I had remained in that section of the country, why I would have fared any differently.” Butler County.—No reply. Cambria County.—Two replies from Johnstown ; population, 2,500 ; elevation, 1,200 feet. The town is sheltered and comparatively warm. Northwest winds prevail. The air is cool and damp, and there are sud- den changes of temperature. There are high hills. Soil is of medium quality. Consumption is said to run a chronic course, and, in a majority of cases, is hereditary. No prevalence of malaria, but rheumatism, pneu- monia, and Bright’s disease prevail. No. 2 says there are fogs in the autumn. There is much shade, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28270538_0051.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
