Medical topography of Brazil and Uruguay

Front matter

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BRAZIL AND URUGUAY:

INCIDENTAL REMARKS.

Chapter I

Bad effects of impure and heated air in a ship — An accident to one of many visitors — Escape of a prisoner — A murder by a runaway slave — A drowned man — Medusae in the Chesapeake — Departure of the Delaware from Anna polis and arrival at Hampton — Two French ships of war — Visit from the President of the United States — Atmospherical phenomenon — Arrival of the Constitution and departure of the Delaware and Cyane — Men in danger and boys in a shower — Suitable dress for sailors — Means of preventing the ill effects of a crowd ....... page 13

Chapter II

Change of disease produced by change of climate — The north-east trade wind and equator — A marine plionnmenon and visit from Neptune — Initiation into his mysteries — A seaman saved without a life-buoy — Two Argonauts and no Thrasher — Best mode of playing on the Scotch fiddle and reconciling persons of opposite creeds — Arrival of the Delaware at Rio de Janeiro — Pedro II. espouses the Princess Theresa of Naples — Improvements in the city — Black soldiers substituted for white — Change in the government of Brazil and its causes — Imperial family ; and the farewell letter of Pedro I. to his son ........ 23

CHAPTER HI.

A marriage in a diplomatic family, and wives in a convent. Romantic excursion — Improvements in the Botanical garden — Wild ducks become tame — A summer house — Vegetable kingdom of Brazil — Productions in the province of Rio de Janeiro, and requisites to a proper knowledge of them — Cactuses — Enumeration of fruits. — The Pitanga, Cardo, Maracaja, Guava, Banana — Medicinal properties of the juice, and great utility of the whole plant — The cambooa audits species — Virtues of the bark — The Calambola, Cocoa tree, Mangoo, Caja, Caju, Breadfruit, Papaw, Arbacate, Aresa, Fruto de Conte, and its varieties.— The Genepa, Sapucaia, Figs, Fruits of the Palms. — The Pinao, Espinatree, Legumes, Coffee, and Cacao. — Nutritious roots, Yams, Mandioca ; its cultivation and properties — Precious woods and medicinal plants . 34

CONTENTS- CHAPTER IV.

National Museum— Specimens from the vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms — Paintings— Fish found at and near Rio — Quadrupeds — The Capybara — Animal nutriment used by the Fluminensians— Depredations committed by ants — Animated nuisances — Chigues — Centipedes — Scorpions — Worms, terrestrial and aqueous — Description of one of the latter — Its singular formation — Lizards — Iguanas — Serpents . . \ • • page 55

CHAPTER V.

Species of the human race in Brazil— Population of the whole empire and its provinces taken separately — Manners and customs — Character and disposition — Indolence and inactivity — Public institulions — Colleges — Medical Schools — Foundation — Professors in thatof Rio, and course of instruction — Manner of election — Examination of professors, subsiiiutes, and students — Faculty of Brazil — Rare treatment of a patient and fatal result — A commencement, and its ceremonies . . . . . . . .70

CHAPTER VI.

Hospitals at Rio — The Miseracordia — St. Francisco de Penitencia — St. Francisco do Paulo — Nostra Senora de Monte do Carmo — Dos Lazaros — Military and naval hospitals — Description — Physicians, diseases, and revenues — Excellent site for a hospital on the island of Enxada — Importance of eslablishing one for the use of American seamen — Means of support, ample — Fluminensian physicians and surgeons — Dentists and apothecaries — Exorbitant prices of medicines, and best method of supplying the U. S. squadron with the latter . 85

CHAPTER VII.

Academy of Fine Arts and its exhibition — Hotel Ravot, and its landlady — Fountain of Carioca — A funeral, and mode of interment — Royal Mausoleum — Diseases of the country — Gastric and enterilic disorders — Hepalitis — Icterus — Urticaria — Herpes — Ulcers — Phthisis — Small -pox — Scarlatina — Fevers — Ophthalmia — Hernia — Hydrocele and Elephantiasis — Treatment of the former, and pathology of the latter — Its varieties — Cases seen — Disasirous effects — Advantages derived from the use of affected parts — Remedies employed — Remarks on the climate — Winds — Temperature — Weight and moisture of the air • . . • . . . • .98

CHAPTER VIII.

Convents of St. Antonio and Ajnda — Passeio Publico; its plants, statues and

terrace — Convent of St. Benedict, carvings and cloisters — Heavy rain Visit

to Praya Grande — Polite stonecutter — Mangaroo and Induassu trees An

adventurous maid — Gorge of Tejuca — River Maracanan — Parasitical plants

Splendid cascades — Chalybeate spring, and an aqueduct — Beautiful prospect ......... 114

CONTENTS. 9

CHAPTER IX.

The new-year celebrated — Pedro II. and suite — The princesses Januaria and Francisca — Imperial library ; Canon Januario ; its president; contents — A ride on horseback — Great aqueduct — Butterfly catchers — Encounter with deserters — Retreat — Accident and narrow escape — Politeness of a horse — Fountain of Santa Anna — Palace of St. Christovao — Duchess of Goyaz and Marchioness of Santos — A fall in a tan-yard — Imperial chapel — High mass — Congregation — Ceremony — Ministerial embrace — African belle — Excursion to the summit of the Corcovado — False alarm — Rustic pavilion — Splendid panorama — Imperial visit to the Delaware — An awkward mistake corrected . page 126

CHAPTER X.

Departure of the U. S. squadron — Trial of speed — A case of fractured thigh — Danger from a fallen rope and a change of topmasts — Arrival at Montevideo — Scarce and bad lodgings — Search for old acquaintances and lost friends — Affectionate reception — A visit cut short — A portrait taken after death — New Camposanto — Acquaintances found — A suicide — Attempt at assassination by an infernal machine — Montevidian newspapers — Extracts from them — Enormities committed by Rosas and his partizans ... . . 145

CHAPTER XL

Carnival celebrated in usual mode — Deeds of our landlord — An American obtains remuneration for loss of property and personal injury — A butchery and masquerade — An injured lady and sorrowful mother — Prolificness of Uruguayan women — Corporal Bond at the battle of Cagancha ; a ball ; and guard-house — Jack Falstaff's company revived — Return to the ship attended with difficulties — Cells in a hotel instead of chambers — English corvette Pearl fails to salute Washington's birthday — A tempest and hazard to an open boat — A mortal injury of the lungs ....... 159

CHAPTER XII.

Topographical remarks on Uruguay — Its discovery — General Artigas besieges Montevideo, and is forced to take refuge in Paraguay — Extent of Uruguay — Its government — President Rivera — Incidents in his life — Battles in which he distinguished himself — His exploits against native and foj^ign enemies — War with the Indians — His valor and generosity — Death oPGeneral Lavalle — Cruelty of Ex-president Oribe, and massacres by the Mazorqueros — Entre Rios the scene of action — Campaign of 1841, and expulsion of the Buenos- Ayreans — Pastures of Uruguay, and some of its vegetable productions — Aborigines and other inhabitants — Tape3 and Charua Indians — Adventures of Mr. Mundell — Difference in the manners and customs of the people — Want of religion — Description of the Gauchos; their dress, arms, and manners . 172

CHAPTER XIII.

Principal towns of Uruguay — Its capital, increase, and improvement — Commerce — Topography — Harbor — Geology of its site and vicinity — Minerals and Quarries — Scarcity of water and the kinds drank by the citizens — The ca-

10 CONTENTS.

thedral— Votive offerings— The Cabildo and prisoners — Watchhouse, and city Hospital — Foundlings wheel and inscription — Physicians — Bad treatment of patients — Revenues of the hospital — A private one, kept by a young physician — Faculty of the city and country ... . . page 186

CHAPTER XIV.

i

Principal diseases — Treatment of an epidemic fever — Exanthemata — Ravages of small-pox — Pulmonic disorders — Dysentery from illy prepared and unsound food — Complaints common to crews of men-of-war — Remarks on the climate — Average of the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer — Prevalent winds — Nuisances on board vessels at anchor off the city — A great drought and its consequences — A pampero — Fossils, fish, seals, insects, birds, and beasts — Vegetable productions — Indigenous, exotic, and medicinal plants — Discovery of a valuable remedy ....... 197

CHAPTER XV.

Admiral Brown's squadron arrives — The American departs from Montevideo and returns to Rio — Death of an officer and his burial — Trick of a hostler, and another tumble — A rustic procession — Great falls of Tejuca — Anniversary of the abdication of Pedro I. celebrated by his son — Island of Paqueta — Village of Piedade — Journey to Mage — Freixal — A faithful guide — Incidents — Crooked and difficultroad — A rapid stream — Valleysand mountains — Boa Vista — Risk9 of travelling by night — River Pacacu, and fazenda of a retired gentleman — A hospitable reception — Curiosities, and cure for the bite of a snake — Annona muricata climbed by a huntsman — Bamboos, and a strange tree with a curious fruit — Kind treatment from a farmer and his wife — View from the Organ Mountains — The meeting of two brothers, and their mutual joy . . 208

CHAPTER XVI.

Visit to the Hospital dos Lazaros — Recaptured Africans in the frigate Crescent — One spectator at an opera — Dissolution of the Brazilian assembly — A friar among the hucksters — Baskets used for beds — A coffin shortened to suit its place of burial, and funeral urns offered for sale — Arrival of exploring vessels — Festival of Corpus Christi — St. George and retinue — Fatal accident and horrid sight — A boat race, and another one of ships — Wonderful escape — Rebellion in St. Pauls— Visit to the small falls of Tejuca . . 232

CHAPTER XVII.

Second trip to the La Plata — Advantage of a saint's day — Company imprisoned at a ball — A Spanish olio — Affairs of Buenos Ayres — A drowned boatman, and gratitude of one saved — A mist, and death from a surfeit — Funeral unceremoniously stopped by a bull — A saladero, and mode of making jerked beef— The English ball — People amused at the expense of government — Murder of a Frenchman — Uncertainty of life, and loss of an acquaintance — A fall, followed by immediate death — Bad weather and sea birds — Marriage of the emperor announced— Prince Alderbert of Prussia aod African milk create disturbance . ... . . . , 245

CONTENTS- 1 1

CHAPTER X7III.

Strangers' ball, and a bold dragoon — Ministers insulted unintentionally — Ball given by the Emperor to Prince Alderbert — A sumptuous supper and attentive servants — A sermon by Canon Januario — Attempt to get small-pox out of a vessel .by keeping the disease on board — Cure for drunkenness — A dying youth — A ball at the Imperial Quinta, or rural palace — Ceremony — Paintings — Rudeness of an attach^ — The day of the dead — Return of the Delaware to the La Plata — A seaman killed — Battle of Gualeguay — Defeat of the Uruguayans at Arroya Grande — Massacre of prisoners — Emancipation of slaves — Interference of French and English — A patriotic belle — Preparations for defence — Camp of freedmen — Proclamation of Ex-president Oribe — A pampero, and fall of a house cause several deaths — loss of the U. S. corvette Concord — Miasmatic fevers of Africa and their treatment — Excessive heat at Rio and its effects — The Delaware leaves the coast of Brazil — Prevailing winds and a comet — Disappointment off Madeira, and arrival in the Mediterranean . page 264

BRAZIL AND URUG UAY.

CHAPTER I.

Bad effects of impure and heated air in a ship — An accident to one of manyvisitors — Escape of a prisoner — A murder by a runaway slave — A drowned man — Medusa in the Chesapeake — Departure of the Delaware from Annapolis and arrival at Hampton — Two French ships of war — Visit from the President of the United States — Atmospherical phenomenon — Arrival of the Constitution and departure of the Delaware and Cyane — Men in danger and boys in a shower — Suitable dress for sailors — Means of preventing the ill effects of a crowd.

What man has his existence more varied than the one combining the occupation of a sailor with that of a physician. The first allows him never to cease changing place ; the second makes him always varying thought by the multiplicity of subjects it embraces. While wind and water is tossing his body, his mind is agitated by ideas and commotions created in the practice of his profession. Bat neither of the above two occupations causes more agitation of body or mind than the receipt from the navy departments of a certain communication in a brown envelope, when it is not in the least expected; and a long vista of immediate pleasures on shore and at home has just been presented to the imagination of the receiver. In August, 1S41, it was my lot to be thus deluded and with the appurtenances required for a long cruise, I embarked in the steamboat Robert Morris, and proceeded from Philadelphia to Newcastle. She had a pleasant passage down the Delaware ; but I was a little vexed, though it was summer, to find that at the same time I had given my old great coat away, I had left the new one behind. At Newcastle the passengers got into the railroad cars ; in an hour were at Frenchtown ; there we went on board another boat, and reached Baltimore before two o'clock. At the wharf laid the George Washington, and a crowd of men 2 women, and children were rushing on board her to take passage. The boat was hardly large enough to contain them, and before a half had been received was thrown into confusion by a single drunkard.

He behaved very rudely, and when several of the passengers spoke about putting him on shore, drew a keen, shining bowie knife, swore he would gut the first person who dared touch him, flourished the weapon to the dismay of the bystanders, and quickly cleared a wide space upon the forecastle. He then deliberately seated himself, and remained undisturbed with the knife drawn until a young, stout, broadfaced police officer leaped into the boat, walked boldly up, and told him to close the blade. Intimidated, he forthwith obeyed. " Now," said the officer, " put it into your pocket and leave the boat." The former was done, but the latter he declared he would not do : " For he had paid his half dollar for a passage." Whereupon the officer seized him by the shoulders and hustled him to the plank and thence upon the wharf before the drunkard had time to utter more than three additional oaths. This scene at an end, the loud applauses of the passengers ceased ; our apprehensions removed about having an incised or a penetrating wound to treat when unprovided with the means, we heard his cries of exultation at having obtained passage in another steamboat, and saw him swaggering at the Washingtonians. We were then presented with a scene of a more innocent sort than the preceding. It was a professional one. A well dressed, middle aged man came up leading his daughter, a girl of three or four years old. In one hand she held a cake, in the other she grappled a large slice of cantelope, and then began to cry and munch alternately.

The father, to explain the cause of her bad behaviour, said to the people near him, " He had brought her down to see if the fresh air on the water would strengthen her ; that she either had the hait, or the chicken-pox." To prove the correctness of his opinion he then pointed out an eruption on her forehead ; and to demonstrate the case entirely to the satisfaction of the spectators, wheeled the child around, stripped her to the waist, and displayed the same eruption on her back. This act ended, the curtain was dropped, and the. boat departed for the Chesapeake. While she ran down the Patapsco a band of music amused the company, while a barber supplied a variety of fruits and confectionery, and converted his razor into a cake knife. By five o'clock in the afternoon the Washington was along side and beneath the batteries of the U. S. Ship Delaware, commanded by Capt. Charles S. McCauley, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Charles Morris. In a few minutes she was boarded on every deck, over bulwarks and through ports, and overwhelmed by the visitors. They pried into every part, above or below ; inspected Colt's new carbines loaded at the breach ; looked at the cutlasses modeled after the Roman sword, and at the Paixhan guns destined to blow our enemies to atoms. It was well that no explosion occurred, as the crowd formed by the numerous visitors and the crew, 850 in number, was so thick that it was difficult to find the commander of the ship and report myself as come to relieve Fleet Surgeon Cornisk. Scarcely had the Washington departed with her passengers, when hundreds were disgorged on board the Delaware by the steamboat in which the bowie knife man had re-embarked. He was sobered by the passage from Baltimore, if not by the rough treatment from the police officer, and behaved decently in the former vessel. Perhaps the fear of rougher usage in her had a good effect upon him, and acted as an antidote to the liquor he had drank.

Retired at night to sleep in a state-room on the orlop-deck, its heat, the foulness of the air, offensive odor of tar, bilge water, and other mephitic substances, caused me to be seized with symptoms of suffocation as soon as I fell into a slumber, and to hastily leave the berth. In vain after long standing and walking was the attempt to sleep soundly, and the next morning my head was full, my eyes sore, my feelings wretched, and I blessed the orlop atmosphere, while I hurried to dress and breathe that of the upper deck ; the only proper place for persons to sleep in hot weather, and especially those accustomed to a free circulation of pure air ■while asleep and recently come from a long residence on shore. After they have been on board some weeks they may bear the atmosphere of an orlop-deck, if the temperature be moderate ; but when it ranges above SO , as it did for months on that of the Delaware, their lungs will suffer — every other organ of the body will become deranged — their strength be exhausted by loss of nervous energy, excessive perspiration, the inhalation of noxious gases, and the deterioration of all the solids and fluids entering into the composition of the animal economy. Let asthmatic individuals, with weak digestive powers, and everybody who has a feeble constitution, avoid the air of the orlop in summer, and sleep in it during the winter only when the weather is disagreeably cold. Almost as soon as I got upon duty I had satisfactory evidence of the ill effects, of bad air in the ship.

Thirty-six of her men were on the sick list at that time, and in a month fifteen had been attacked with fevers; but a part was probably contracted from the low grounds adjacent her anchorage off Annapolis. Some of these cases and others had a decidedly typhoid character, such as is often seen in crowded vessels. Three of them terminated fatally while the Delaware continued at that place; but they had no effect in deterring visitors, and she was daily inspected by hosts of them, who came from rivers, creeks, bays, islands and mainland, towns and cities, in row, sail, and steamboats, ships, brigs, and schooners. We were frequently incommoded by the crowd aboard, but derived much pleasure from the great number of very agreeable ladies and gentlemen who visited the ship. They came mostly from Baltimore, and a large party of them in the George Washington, chartered for the purpose. She ran along side in the afternoon, filled with the elite of that city, and laden with refreshments. When the company had gratified their curiosity they retired to the steamboat, took with them a portion of our officers, and commenced dancing to the music of a fine band brought with them. The boat in the meantime anchored near the ship, and the latter manned her yards, put a boy upright on her fore and main peak, and fired a salute in honor of Mr. Taney, Chief Justice of the United States, who was on board the former with his family. After the fright and admiration of the ladies had subsided, they danced with'double vivacity, and then descended to the cabin to a sumptuous repast. The gentlemen followed suit. Music and dancing were then renewed, and kept up until 8 o'clock in the evening, when a boat came for the officers. They took leave of their hospitable friends, received with mingled pain and pleasure the parting blessings of the fair, and returned to their floating castle, while the steamboat got under way, ran close by her, gave three cheers, and made for Baltimore.

Three days afterwards she came down with a company of volunteers, other gentlemen, and many ladies. After they had gone through the usual round in the Delaware, her officers were invited on board the boat, and the same merriment then ensued as just described, while, in the meantime, she proceeded to Annapolis. The company landed on the wharf, walked up the nearest street, followed by their band of black musicians, and ascended to the roof of the State-house. From the railing around the top of the dome, which is 160 feet high, they had a very beautiful prospect of the town, the adjacent country, verdant and luxuriant to a high degree, and of the Severn and Chesapeake, reflecting the landscape, and every tree, house, or other object on their banks. A vast heap of silvery clouds overhung the eastern shore of the bay. These were richly tinged with purple as the sun descended to the opposite horizon, and greatly increased the beauty of the scenery. Before our eyes were half fatigued by it we were hurried down to the boat by the unwelcome tolling of its bell, and carried back to the Delaware by night. Not long after, a child, one of the multitude of her visitors, fell down into her spirit-room from the orlop-deck, and was not hurt, but the mother thought him killed outright, screamed with affright and anguish, alarmed the whole ship, and was conveyed into the ward-room nearly in a state of syncope, and only resuscitated by the presence of her darling. The next day another one, a boy seven or eight years old, met with a like accident. He took a windsail for a post, pillar, mast, or some other solid and fixed body — leaned against it, fell through the hatch of the main-deck, thence through that of the berth-deck, and tumbled down upon the orlop. He was picked up from the foot of the windsail insensible from a violent concussion of the brain, and transferred to the sick-bay, where we were prescribing. Remedies were immediately employed, and in the meanwhile an aunt and other ladies who accompanied him on board, ran into the bay, screamed most awfully, wept and sobbed, commisserated the sufferer, and encircling the cot wherein he was laid, formed a dismal chorus, until he became sensible and answered a question. When the steamboat in which they had come was ready to depart, the boy was carried on board in the cot, and returned to Balti more. A short time afterwards we were pleased to understand he had recovered, and to receive the thanks of his relatives for attentions shown him.

On Sunday night a young seaman, confined for misdemeanor, slyly crept to one of the hawse-holes, passed through it down the cable, got into the water, and swain for Kent Island; the tide swept him down the bay — his strength began to fail — he hailed a schooner repeatedly — cried "Help! help! Oh! save me!" — was unnoticed by her, but heard on board the Delaware by persons on watch, and brought on board insensible, by a boat sent for him ; for he had been four hours in the water and was completely exhausted. He did not revive until the next day, when he was aroused by a salute of seventeen guns fired by the ship in respect to Gov. Grayson of Maryland, who came on board in the morning with his family.

In the afternoon I availed myself of a steamboat along side of her, proceeded to Baltimore, thence into Virginia. While we were there a sadder tragedy than the above happened. This is the account given of it at Warrenton, near which it took place. A Mr. Dorson was conveying to jail a negro woman, unbound and afoot. They stopped at a spring to drink. He laid down hat and stick with the warrant for her committal, and stooped down to quench his thirst. The woman seized a large stone and threw it upon his head, ran off, and was not to be found. Shortly after he was found dead, with his skull fractured — his face in the water — his hands stretched out on each side the spring — and his hat, stick, and warrant where he laid them. Query, for medical jurisprudents : — Did he die from drowning or the injury inflicted on the head ?

On my return from Virginia to Baltimore I embarked in the steamboat Columbia, with about 400 passengers, many of whom were of the total abstinence society and very pious people. They had no more music than their own sweet voices, and, not to be selfish nor worldly, assembled in a squad upon the cover of the quarter-deck, and sang hymns and psalms until we had almost reached the Delaware. — What a contrast was this with respect to the fiddlers, pipers, and dancers — the gay and thoughtless visitors a few days preceding ! When we had got aboard they inspected her and my patients — thirty-two in number. These were affected with dysentery, fever, ophthalmia, and other complaints. Two patients ill of the two first named had died during our absence; one ill of the first lay at death's door and died the next week, making the third of the three diseased before mentioned. The crew had been farther unfortunate: one man while returning from a drunken frolic had thrown himself overboard from a schooner, swam out of reach of a boat endeavoring to take him and been drowned. Another man — one left upon the sick list when I went to Virginia— having recovered from the effects of his swimming excursion to Kent Island, had jumped out ot the sick-bay into the Chesapeake, and was supposed to have been drowned. Before he quit the ship he is said to have written a letter to his mother, and told her, " He wished she was in hell and he likewise." It is highly probable that if ever a man had a wish gratified, that he will have his last one, so far as it concerns himself; for how can such a wretch escape the just punishment of heaven ? Several days after he disappeared a dead body was found cast upon the beach of the bay south of the Severn, and was said to be his; but it was not certain whether it was, or the corpse of Foley, the man who drowned himself from the schooner.

On the 1 9th of September we had a gentle breeze from the northeast, followed by a calm, and were surrounded by innumerable medusas, or sea-nettles, of small size, nearly white, and with eight legs attached to their hemispherical heads. These curious animals swam around the ship a long time and then disappeared. Some days subsequently she was overrun by a host of people — volunteers in uniform, and plainly dressed citizens of all ages and conditions — brought by the steamer Patuxent. She approached in grand style, and made the ship very animated by the good company put on board. When she left her, the bands of music of the two vessels exchanged notes with each other, the soldiers fired a volley of musketry — many handkerchiefs were waved — many wishes expressed for our having a pleasant cruise and happy return. The boat now ran around the stern of the Delaware, was quickly lost in the shades of evening, and preparations were made for her departure from Annapolis — a place too agreeable to be soon forgotten by the officers of that ship. The next day she got under way, with a head wind, and beat down the Chesapeake, pursued by two schooners crammed with country people determined to board her at all hazards. One schooner, after several ineffectual attempts, gave up the chase and returned home : the other persevered, followed every movement, and succeeded when the Delaware was obliged to anchor. The schooner did the same, and, to show our desire to aid the persons on board of her in the gratification of their curiosity, a cutter was sent to bring them, as they had no boat large enough. Our companion ladders were unshipped ; the ladies could not readily climb up the sides of a ship of the line, and were hoisted on board in an arm-chair, covered with a flag and slung to the main-yard. A boalswain's-mate stood by in the gangway and regulated by his whistle the ascent of the ladies from the water and their descent to the spar-deck — precisely as if he had been taking in so many barrels of beef and pork; and, I am sure, with much less concern than he would have hoisted aboard a like quantity of ship's whiskey.