Notice concerning the fever that occurred in the Magdalene Asylum of Edinburgh, in the spring of 1821, as illustrating the influence of panic in propagating contagious diseases / by Robert Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Robert T.
Date:
[1821]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice concerning the fever that occurred in the Magdalene Asylum of Edinburgh, in the spring of 1821, as illustrating the influence of panic in propagating contagious diseases / by Robert Hamilton. 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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    ment of the Society, only premising further, that, like Vander Mye, I kept a regular record of the facts as they happened; and as to the candour with which the statement has been drawn up, I must, like him, rely upon the good opinion of my friends, and the intelligent discrimination of those to whom I have the honour of addressing myself. On visiting the Magdalene Asylum on Mon^ day, the 2d of April 1821, I learned that a girl was indisposed, and in bed. I was informed that in the morning she had gone, in her usual health, to the washing-tub, her general occupation, and that she had scarcely commenced, ere she com- plained of violent pain in the head, particularly the forehead, attended with giddiness, sickness, cold shivering, and occasional flushings, together with pain in the back, and uneasiness in the limbs. I found the pulse at 96; the tongue foul, and the thirst considerable. Previous to my seeing her, she had taken some opening medicine, which had con- siderably relieved the head. Fever was at this time prevalent in the town; and, perceiving the possibility of infection, I di- rected her to be immediately removed to the sick- room, and there to be kept as isolated as possible ; her bed-clothes to be placed in cold-water, her room to be well ventilated, and then locked up. I or- dered an emetic to be given immediately, and a smart purge to be administered a couple of hours . afterwards.