CONTENTS OF NO. VI. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ESSAYS AND CASES. ART. I.-An Essay on the Fevers which prevailed in Natchez in 1837, '8 and '9. By SAMUEL HOGG, M. D. - ART. II.-Cases of Fracture of the Skull, presenting some singular ART. III.-Proofs of the Health-preserving properties of the Juss- ieua Grandiflora. By SAMUEL A. CARTWRIGHT, M. D. 428 ART. IV.—A Case of Purpura Hemorrhagica successfully treated. On the new Vegetable Alkalies, Veratria, Delphinia, & Aconitine THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. JUNE, 1840. ART. I.-An account of the Epidemic Fevers of Natchez, Mississippi, in the years 1837-'8-'9. BY SAMUEL HOGG, M. D. Nor only the medical profession, but the public in general, have a claim on the physicians of Natchez for at least a passing notice of the malignant epidemics which have scourged this devoted city during the years 1837-'8-'9. No one of the faculty having undertaken the task, I deem it my duty, however feeble my efforts may prove, to give to the public such information on this interesting subject as my limited means will enable me, hoping that my brethren will take the remarks for what they may be worth and will withhold their criticism. In advance of the observations proposed to be made on the two epidemics, it may be proper to give a topographical description of the city of Natchez, the character of the seasons, and a general view of the diseases immediately preceding and subsequent to them, together with a general account of their treatment. Many of the facts upon which these observations are founded have come within the knowledge of the writer, the others have been communicated by medical men of the first respectability and may be relied upon. Natchez is situated on a commanding bluff, which forms the east bank of the Mississippi river, in latitude thirty-one degrees thirty-four minutes, and longitude ninety-one degrees twenty-four minutes, west from Greenwich, and fourteen degrees twenty-three seconds west of Washington city. It is laid off in regular squares, intersected by streets of moderate width and drained by sewers. The site of the city was originally undulating, with a delightful landscape extending back south and east-the country around for many miles is much injured by large gullies or bayous-the city is almost surrounded by them. In 1834 the citizens commenced extensive graduations, removing the hills and filling the bayous, of which there were many great improvements in building also commenced, which not only brought in much lumber, but made almost all the surrounding country mortar-beds or brick-yards. The population increased rapidly, principally composed of the laboring classes, stout, athletic and unacclimated, and the number of inhabitants in 1837 exceeded six thousand. What is known as "under the hill at Natchez" extends from the termination of the bluff to the margin of the river, a distance of from one to two hundred yards in width, and from a half to three-fourths of a mile in length up the riverits fixed population is between five and six hundred. On the west side of the river the country is low and level, intersected by bayous, lake Concordia and other smaller lakes, which seem to have been at some time the bed of the river. There are now many large cotton plantations on that side in a high state of cultivation, and the blacks are generally healthy and seem contented. The city is supplied with good provisions, excellent cistern water, and ice in the summer. The citizens generally were temperate, orderly and industrious in their different occupations during those years. The weather in 1836 was not in the extreme, either in temperature or in rain, the highest rise of the thermometer was 92° for a few days only at 3 o'clock, P. M., in July and August. The lowest was 24° for two or three days in November and December-there was no snow during the year. There were 113 days on which it rained and 63 days on which there was lightning and thunder; much rain fell previously to the month of August, and the Spring months were disagreeable. From the following meteorological register of the years 1837-'8-'9 I am indebted to our distinguished fellow-citizen and accurate observer, Dr. Henry Tooley, and deem it sufficiently important to give it in full: |