Copy of a letter from Mr. David Paterson, (1st), a surgeon in His Majesty's Navy, and late Surgeon to Prisoners of War at Forton, to the Commissioners for taking care of sick and wounded seamen, &c.

  • Paterson, David.
Date:
[1797?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Copy of a letter from Mr. David Paterson, (1st), a surgeon in His Majesty's Navy, and late Surgeon to Prisoners of War at Forton, to the Commissioners for taking care of sick and wounded seamen, &c. 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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    Vitriolic Acid as directed by Dodtor S^myth.*’ perfons, each carrying one fuming pipkin, went round a ward, following one another at fome diftahce, and holding the pipkins under each, bed, for a confiderable time, as they went dong; and they continued doing fo as long as the fumigation laftcd; The wards, by opening the windows and doors, were afterwards filled with atmofpheric air. The vapor, proceeding from the decompofition ©f the Nitre, by means of the concentrated Vitriolic Acid, was in fuch great quantity, that a ward 57 feet by 20, and 10 feet 6 inches high, was fiiled with it, by means of three pipkins, in the manner I have mentioned, in the fpace of fifteen minutes. On the wards being fiiled with Nitrous Vapor, Ibme of the patients who laboured under affeftions of the lungs were feized with fits of coughing; none of . ^ ^ i. them, however, fo any great degree. With little or • For a more panacular hiftory of tiic procefs Vide,' Dodlor J, C» Smyth’s letter to the Rjight Hoa. Earl Spencer, &c. &c. &C.- containing an account of the experiment made on board the Union' hofpital Ihip, to determine the effeft of the Nitrous Acid in- deftroying contagion, &c.