Observations on the influence of epidemics of fever in checking the advance of those of cholera / by Robert Lawson.

  • Lawson, Robert.
Date:
[1870]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the influence of epidemics of fever in checking the advance of those of cholera / by Robert Lawson. 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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    Silesia in the-course of 1848, and towards the close of the year in England, before the cholera acquired much force; the same feature was observed in Sweden and the United States and Canada. The relations of the two epidemics in India, in 1864 and '05, has already- been noticed. The immunity of Persia, Arabia, and West Coast of the Red Sea from cholera, in 1864, seems to have been connected with the prevalence of fever in these countries that year, and in 1865, when the epidemic extended to them, it established itself slowly, and only when the fevers previously occupying the various districts diminished. In this way, it did not radiate from Suez, where the pilyrims were supposed to have carried it, but from Alexandria, and then extended eastward and southward in a regular manner, not along certain lines of communication, but over the whole face of the country, and the same peculiarity was observed through Syria, and as far as the Euphrates. In submitting these remarks to the Profession, it appears advisable to remove an ennneous impression regarding the scope of my views as to pandemic influences which seems very generally entertained, that is, that I regard them as the sole causss which produce epidemics. It is difficult to understand how this misconception could have arisen, as in all my papers on the subject it was expressly stated that, in accounting for the local developments of disease we have to deal with, both causes connected with persons, and with localities as distinguished from persons, must be taken into consideration, as well as those of a more general nature. It is true, that if the operation of general causes be conceded, the influence hitherto attributed to those depending on persons or localities must be profoundly modified, but their recognition, and the true limits of their operation, are no less necessary for a philosophical expla- nation of the generation and spread of epidemics than before the pandemic influences were thought of. LONDON: Printed ro» Hek Majmtt'b Stationery Omcs, BY HARRISON AND SONS, Pbinteb» in Obdikaet to Her Majesty. [20—7 I 70—C59w]