Hygienic and medical reports / by medical officers of the U.S. Navy ; prepared for publication ... by Joseph B. Parker, assistant to the Bureau.

Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hygienic and medical reports / by medical officers of the U.S. Navy ; prepared for publication ... by Joseph B. Parker, assistant to the Bureau. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    158/1132 (page 148)
    is situated on an eminence overlooking the city and harbor, and in a sanitary point of view its site is well chosen. The peculiar disease, beri-beri/'prevails here quite exten- sively during the summer and spring. Dr. Van Laren very kindly allowed me to see the cases he had under treatment in the hospital. The majority of these cases only complained of l)ain about the legs, especially in the calf; in all there was more or less ansesthesia of the surface. Several had oedema of the lower extremities 5 and all were ansemic and broken down. As the doctor has had quite a number of cases under treatment every year, his opportunities for observing the course and pecu- liarities of the disease have been great. According to his ex- perience, the disease is very rarely fatal, but it is ai)t to leave the patient broken in health. Although he has had several fatal cases, he has been unable to investigate the pathological lesions of the disease by ])ost-mortem examination, owing to the Japan- ese prejudices on that point. He informs me that this disease, as far as his exx)erience goes, prevails more extensively among sailors, and those who lead confined and studious lives, than among the lower classes, who are compelled to toil for their daily bread by muscular labor. All the cases he showed me were of the former class, without exception. He thinks the disease the result, in part, of malnutrition. The general i)lan of treat- ment i)ursued in these cases was tonic, iron, quinine, good nour- ishing diet, and a general observance of every sanitary meas- ure. Most of the cases then under treatment were progressing favorably. On the 25th of September we received telegraphic orders to proceed to Tientsin, China. We arrived at that place on the 30tli of the same month. Tientsin^ China.—Tientsin is situated in the province of Pechili, on the south bank of the Peiho, sixty miles from its mouthj and lies in latitude 39° 10' north, and longitude 117° 3'