Thoracentesis and its general results during twenty years of professional life : remarks made at a stated meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine, held April 7, 1870 (by invitation) / by Henry I. Bowditch.

  • Bowditch, Henry I. (Henry Ingersoll), 1808-1892.
Date:
1870
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thoracentesis and its general results during twenty years of professional life : remarks made at a stated meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine, held April 7, 1870 (by invitation) / by Henry I. Bowditch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    I may here remark that one -wonders at the fears of Morgagni, whca ho remembers that Fabricius Hildanus describes several examina- tions of bodies of persons dying of consumption, and this more than a century before Morgagni lived. The following resume of the authorities on the subject since 1793 up to the present time, will include my third period, or that of nearly utter denial of the idea of contagion in connection with consumption. Only two writers of note and of undoubtedly strong minds, and these Americans, can be found to defend the proposition of conta- giousness. These two writers are nearly at the two extremities of the period now under consideration, viz.: Benjamin Rush,* 1793, and Drake,t 1854—about a half a century later. Dr. Rush is fully convinced of the contagiousness of the disease, and quotes what I cannot but tliink rather apocryphal cases sustaining his views. Dr. Drake, without taking the affirmative decidedly, nevertheless evidently leans very strongly towards it; quotes facts, and argues analogically that such a proposition is quite in accordance with the fitness of things. Meanwliilc a certain number, especially in the earlier part of the century, are in doubt. Dr. Heberden,J for example, 1802, has not been able to make up a decided opinion upon the subject; but ho had seen several cases in which he could not find any more plausi- ble reason than contagion, from the patient having been constantly in attendance on anotlicr, and even sleeping in the same room. The very same year, Haygarth§ and Darwin|| decided against the pro- position. Wilson,Tr 1803, says it is rarely attributable to contagion, but it is wisest to avoid sleeping with a consumptive patient. Little is said by authors ujion the subject till 1809; and from that period up to the present time, authorities may, with the exception of the two first (viz.. Rush and Drake), be classed either as being in doubt, and, at times, very decided opposition to the idea of conta- gion ; or they ignore the whole subject, and thus virtually seem to considar it beneath their notice. In tlie first class we find Portal,** 1809; Laennec,tt 1818; Cow- an,tJ1835; Davics,§§ 1835; Ajicel,l|i 1852; WatsonUt, 1857; and * Medical Inquiries, 1793. t Diseases of tlie Interior Valley of North America. 1854, Vol. 2. t Commentarii do Morlionira liistoria ct curatione. Lond. 1802. { Havf^arth. YouiiK, p. 395. 11 T. Bediloes. Hvwia, or Essays Moral and Physical. Bristol, 1802. II A. P. Wilson^ 'Treatise on Felirile Diseases, 1803. ** Portal, Observations sur la Nature et le Traitcmcnt de la Pleuro-Pneiunonie. Paris, 1808. tt Laennec. L'Auscultation Slediato. Paris, 1818. It Cowan. Translation of Louis on Phthisis. London, 1835. ^^ T. Da\ ics. Lectures on Piseases of the Lungs and Heart. Lond. 1835. llil II. Anecl. Treatise on Tuberculosis, the Constitutional Origin of Consumption and Scrofula. Lond. 1852. HH Thonnis Wabion. Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic. London, 1857.