Copy of a letter to the editor of the Association Medical Journal, relative to the Report on the cholera which attacked the fleet in the Black Sea, published by Sir William Burnet.

  • Macloughlin, David, 1786-1870.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Copy of a letter to the editor of the Association Medical Journal, relative to the Report on the cholera which attacked the fleet in the Black Sea, published by Sir William Burnet. 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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    CAN THE ATTACK OF CHOLEILV BE SUDDEN ? Lettek from D. Maclouglin, M.D. Sir,—I have read the Report on the cholera which attacked the fleet in the Black Sea in August 1854, published by the Naval Medical Department; and, as everything coming from such a source claims attention from the profession, will you permit me through your Journal to notice some pathological points relative to cholera in that Report, which appear to re- quire explanation. In that Report, it is stated, “ that men, in perfect health, were roused from sleep by severe cramps, and other unmis- takeable symptoms of cholera; “that others were brought from various parts of the ship, and even from the yards, where they had been attacked while reefing”; and “that others fell as if they had drank of the concentrated poison of the upas-tree”. There cannot be a doubt that such cases of apparent sudden attacks as these stated did occur in the ships in the Black Sea. But were these men perfectly healthy and free from diarrhoea when they went to bed, or when they were attacked in various parts of the ship, or when they went aloft, or before they fell as if they had drunk the concentrated poison of the upas tree? It has been fully ascertained by accurate researches at the bedside, and by accurate researches by autopsy after death.