Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1715

HENRY INGERSOLL BOWDITCH (1808-1892) Consumption in New England: or, Locality one of its chief causes. Ticknor & Fields 1862 vi [5]-104 pp., maps (part fold.). 23.7 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1713

Bowditch made detailed investigations over a period of eight years into the etiology of pulmonary tuberculosis, then known as consumption, in Massachusetts and presented the results of his research at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society in May 1861. He had hoped to publish his address much earlier in accordance with the wishes of the Society but the onset of the Civil War and desire to add additional documentary evidence caused the delay. Bowditch found that the "facts, as I believe, indicate that dryness of the soil, in the surroundings of any place, is the prominent characteristic of the former, or of places comparatively free from consumption; while dampness of the soil characterizes the latter, or--as they may be aptly called--consumption-breeding districts" (Preface, [p. v]). He commented that "the explanation will remain long, if not forever, among the arcana, of which so many exist in our apparent knowledge of the causes of disease" (Preface, [p. v]).