Pneumonia: its supposed connection, pathological and etiological, with autumnal fevers; including an inquiry into the existence and morbid agency of malaria. By R. La Roche ..

Front matter

ITS SUPPOSED CONNECTION,

PATHOLOGICAL AND ETIOLOGICAL,

AUTUMNAL FEYERS;

Chapter I. Page

Belief in the connection of pneumonia with autumnal fevers long entertained.

Pneumonia common where fevers seldom or never are seen Pneumonia not necessarily prevalent where fevers are common The two diseases prevail in different seasons .... They appear under the influence of opposite winds Pneumonia is of yearly occurrence — not always so fevers Their altitudinal range is not the same .....

CHAPTER II. Existence and morbid agency of malaria 101

The agency of malaria not universally admitted . . . . .110

Objections made to the agency of malaria, various . . . .112

The appearance of fever where there are no marshes does not disprove the agency of malaria ......... 113

The non-detection of malaria in the atmosphere no proof of its non-existence and agency 116

Fever not due to the action of any known gases . . . . .118

Not true that nothing is found in the atmosphere of sickly localities . 120 Chemists not more successful in discovering other morbid poisons in the atmosphere ........... 124

Nature and condition of fever localities lead to the opinion of the existence of malaria .......... 128

The danger of an attack of fever increased in proportion to proximity to

such localities 130

These effects are not due to heat alone 134

Fevers are not the effects of humidity alone . . . . . . 139

A high dew-point not sufficient to account for the occurrence of fever . 163 Heat and humidity combined not the efficient cause of fever . . .168 Vicissitudes of- temperature will not account for the occurrence of periodic fever . . . . . . . . . . .169

The attack is sometimes too sudden, and follows on too transient an exposure to infected regions, without appreciable atmospheric vicissitudes, to be the effect of these or any other kindred cause . . . .173

Fever not the effect of a particular electrical state of atmosphere . .177 xvm

CONTENTS.

PAGE

The preceding facts lead to the belief in a poisonous agent floating in the atmosphere .......•••• 177

The innocuousness of some marshes, and of localities similar to those that are sickly, no proof of the non-existence or non-agency of malaria

The exemption may be explained in various ways

Elevation

Degree of heat ....

Sheltering from the action of the sun Free ventilation ....

Humidity of the soil

CHAPTER III. Existence and morbid agency op malaria, continued ..... 201

Occurrences on shipboard prove the agency of malaria .... 201

The cause of fever wafted by winds passing over sickly localities . . 209 The effects of drying, overflowing, and reclaiming marshy and sickly

localities, and vice versa, prove the existence and agency of malaria . 220

The first effects of clearing land, &c. injurious . . . . 221

Partial draining injurious ......... 223

Injurious effects of the overflow of land ...... 224

Bad effects of copious rains followed by great and desiccating heat . 234

Injurious effects of upturning the earth in hot weather .... 238

Beneficial effects of complete drainage 244

As cities enlarge and improve, malarial fevers decrease in them . . 254 Beneficial effects obtained from the draining of marshes prove the existence and morbific agency of malaria ....... 258

The effects of covering sickly places with water lead to the same belief . 260

CHAPTER IV. Existence and morbid agency of malaria, continued 265

The effect of the "washing" of sickly places lead to the same belief . 265 Some forms of malarial fevers resemble diseases produced by putrid substances introduced into the circulation ...... 271

The geological formation of sickly localities, and the plants growing

therein, &c, lead to a belief in the malarial doctrine .... 273

Cause more effective near the surface of the earth than at a distance . 274

Cause of fevers destroyed or mitigated by sanative measures . . 275

Cause arrested by trees, &c 278

Fever arrested by removing sources of infection 283

Fever sometimes connected with the existence of certain fogs or mists . 284

The atagnant water of marshes injurious to health .... 285

\ paludal atmosphere enfeebles health ....... 287

Effect of a paludal atmosphere on the duration of life .... 291

Cause of fever produces an impress of greater or less strength on all

placed under its influence m 293

CONTENTS. XIX

PAGE

The cause of autumnal fevers produce an impress on the lower order of

animals and on vegetables . . . 295

The great diffusion and mortality of autumnal fevers is explained only on

the supposition of the cause being a gaseous poison . . . . 298

Autumnal fevers under the influence of various exciting causes . . 304 The malarial origin of such fevers confirmed by the violent manner the

cause often acts .......... 305

The cause of fever extends its action to the foetus in utero . . . 305 The cause of autumnal fever appears to be neutralized by the poison of

some zymotic diseases which have no effect on common complaints . 308

Cause of autumnal fever antagonistic to that of some other diseases . 310 Other objections urged against the malarial origin of periodic or autumnal

fevers 320

Chapter V

Pneumonia and autumnal fever compared in reference to their causes, mode of progression, symptoms, anatomical characters, and the circumstances by which they are influenced ...... 335

The causes of autumnal fevers and pneumonia are different . . .335

Causes of pneumonia 347

Autumnal fevers, if not produced like other zymotic diseases, are localized in certain places ; not so pneumonia ....... 354

The opinion is incorrect, for it leads to the inference that the same cause produces diseases differing widely in symptoms and anatomical characters 358

Affinity of morbific and therapeutic agents for special organs not to be

Distinctive symptoms and pathological conditions different in pneumonia and malarial fevers .......... 361

Odour of the surface peculiar in some malarial diseases ; not so in pneumonia ............ 370

The condition of the urine different in the two diseases . . .374

Anatomical characters different in the two diseases .... 377

The two diseases differ widely as regards the duration of the process of incubation . . . . . . . . , • . . 380

Process of latency governed by definite laws ...... 387

In some forms of autumnal fever the susceptibility of the system exhausted by one attack — not so in pneumonia ....... 395

CHAPTER VI. Pneumonia and autumnal fevers compared in reference to the powers of

acclimatization ages, sexes, and races of those affected: prevalence

of the two diseases at the same time, and in rapid succession, no proof

of identity 403

The power of acclimatization does not extend to pneumonia . . . 403

XX CONTENTS.

PAGE

Pneumonia and autumnal fevers affect different races . . . .411

Difference of susceptibility of the two sexes . . . . . .418

Difference of susceptibility of the two diseases at different periods of life 421 Effects of the passions and emotions in the two diseases . . . 425

The prevalence of the two diseases at the same time and in rapid succession no proof of identity ......... 428

Pneumonia and autumnal fevers are not convertible diseases . . . 433

Chapter VII

Pneumonia and autumnal fevers, although independent of each other, as regards nature and cause, combine together, and form, like other complaints, hybrid diseases, which must not be considered as peculiar

forms of either 437

Cases of pneumonia marked by symptoms appertaining to autumnal

fever, are the results of complications ...... 437

The complication of diseases more or less distinct in their nature, and the

modifying influence of epidemic over other complaints, are well known

- to etiologists and pathologists 452

Diseases arising from various species of malaria mix together and form

compounds 461

Diseases due to specific contagious poisons amalgamate together, or with

other complaints, and form hybrid complaints, or exist together in the

same subject 465

Pneumonia, like other inflammations, sometimes assume a periodic type,

independently of a malarial influence ...... 468

The success of the anti-periodic treatment in pneumonia — supposing it

true — no proof of the identity in question ... . 471

The hypothesis of the identity of pneumonia with autumnal fever not

supported by facts and solid arguments 489