Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4

This volume offers a vivid snapshot of late‑eighteenth‑century medicine, chronicling a series of yellow‑fever outbreaks that swept through Philadelphia from 1797 onward. Drawing on the author’s firsthand visits to patients, the text weaves together weather reports, street‑level observations, and detailed case notes, creating a picture of how disease was perceived and recorded before modern microbiology.

Beyond the raw descriptions, the work probes the prevailing theories of its day—whether the fever spread through “foul air” from ships and marshes or through direct contagion—and even defends controversial treatments such as blood‑letting. Listeners will hear the urgency of early physicians grappling with a mysterious illness, the social panic it provoked, and the early attempts to link environment and health. It serves as both a historical record and a reminder of how far public‑health thinking has traveled.