Remarks on some of the opinions of Dr. Rush respecting the yellow fever which prevailed in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1793 / By William Patterson.

  • Patterson, William
Date:
1795
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on some of the opinions of Dr. Rush respecting the yellow fever which prevailed in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1793 / By William Patterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [ ] But although the dread of contagion neither can. nor ought to be extinguifhed in the mind ot man; it certainly riiay Be modefated, and oiredted to ufcful purpofes. Reduced within I^oper boiihds, it may be equally fubfervieht to t c fecuririg fubmiflion to regulations calculated dr the general lafety, and to the encourage* ^ent of thofc^ who are obliged to eJtpofe them- felves in the publick fervice. The approach of a pefiilential diftemper, or the poflibility of it, ihftead of plunging us intd defpondehce, fltould arohfe us to vigilance and precaiitiori. Timely meafures may prevent its accefs; or cannot fail to mitigate its attendant evils, and reflrain its devaftation. It cannot be¬ come epidemical without the concurrence of a certain ftatc of the air, which may happen to be remote. Several peffons efcapd infeaion in fca- forts the rtioft favourable to Us propagation; and fo far IS even the adtual peftilence from being in- Mllibly mortal, that, upon the whole, a ebnfid- erable proportion ot the infeded recover. ( Thefe are confolatory fadt^,- driv/ti from ex¬ perienced obfervers; and they are fads which ' may be fitly oppofed to the popular notions of i contagion, fo apt to affed the imagination in ^ moments of conflernation and difmay. They may contribute to animate thofe, who, by their fta-