A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, K. G., governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser, Esq., inspector of hospitals and medical superintendant of quarantine at Gibraltar.

  • Fraser, W. W. (William Wemyss)
Date:
1826
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter addressed to His Excellency the Right Honorable General the Earl of Chatham, K. G., governor of Gibraltar &c., relative to the febrile distempers of that garrison / by W.W. Fraser, Esq., inspector of hospitals and medical superintendant of quarantine at Gibraltar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    The fact which is noticed relative to seclusion in the dock yard of Gibraltar, it is contended, is equally conclusive with that quoted from Arejula; it is notorious, and has official authenticity. It is proper here to notice, that in several publications the names of Messrs. Keeling, Linblad, and Pringle have been made use of, either carelessly, or from in- correct authority. The published paragraphs are in direct contradiction to the written statements, with which those gentlemen favoured me, as soon as they were informed that their names had been misapplied, relative to the effects pro- duced in their establishments by seclusion, and by their de- parting from that measure. Now, it really appears to me, notwithstanding all the endeavours which have been made to render nugatory facts similar to those above quoted, and duly appreciat- ing the statements of those, who have written at tbe beds of the sick—accepting, at the same time, Doctor Jackson's opinion of an influence in the presence of the sick in various situations; his admission of the higher degrees of infection existing in sick wards; and considering the good effects of seclusion in Gibraltar; we.can be warranted in drawing no other conclusion than that the malady is infectious;—and most probably, in the degree of typhus fever, because, inde- pendently of other properties which tend to assimilate these disorders, the communicability of the epidemic, like typhus fever, is dissipated by pure air. I cannot however assent to Doctor Jackson's opinion as to influence by the radiance of the organ of vision; because, had the eye been the conduct- ing medium, the disorder would have spread in our camps on the Isthmus, where the sick often passed within eye-shot of their comrades. I also object to giving weight to the his- tories of persons having escaped when exposed to the in- fluence of the sick, as by any means comparable to the gene- ral instances of direct communication which have been cited. It would be yielding to negative evidence, in opposition to proof as positive as can be adduced in regard to intangible matter. The escape of the buriers at Xeres, noted by Doctor Jackson, (five only of whom, by the way, were susceptible), it is submitted, could only prove, that a few persons who had previously, some of them perhaps unconsciously, as in childhood or youth, passed the Epidemic, were especially chosen for this office, agreeably to the Spanish custom ; or that persons were employed in this horrid service, whose happy hardihood of constitution alike defied specific con-