Note 29 — OF THE DYSENTERY.

The Dysentery has been long alledged to arise from a putrescent Cause in Camps; from the Smell of corrupted dead Animals, and of Excrements, during the Heat of Summer. Ramazini, in his Chapter on Camp-Diseases, informs us, that Dr. G. Erric Barnstorff, Physician to the Duke of Brunswick, who served five Campaigns with the Brunswick and Lunenburg Troops in Hungary, told him, that the Camp Diseases, particularly the Malignant Fever and Dysentery, took their Rise from the Troops remaining long encamped on the same Ground, and being exposed to the corrupted Steams of the Bodies of dead Men, Horses, and other Animals, which lay unburied; and of Excrements, which were not covered with Earth. And these Causes have since been particularly taken notice of by Dr. Pringle, in his Observation on the Diseases of the Army.

Many have imputed the Cause of this Disorder to the eating of Fruit in excess, because it generally appears about the Middle of Summer, the Time the Fruit begins to be in Season, and continues through the Autumn. But from later Observations this should seem to be a vulgar Error. Dr. Pringle (part i. ch. iii. p. 20.) tells us, that, in the Year 1743, this Sickness began and raged before any Fruit was in Season, except Strawberries, (which from their high Price the Men never tasted) and ended about the Time the Grapes were ripe; which growing in open Vineyards were freely eat by every body. And Dr. Tissot, in a Treatise which he published, called Avis au Peuple sur la Santé, in his Chapter on the Dysentery, § 320, says, that ripe Fruit, especially the Summer-Fruits, are so far from being the Cause of the Disorder, that they are the great Preservatives against it: he says, that, in the Years which the Fruit is most plentiful, the Dysentery is least frequent; and he relates several Instances where the Use of ripe Grapes proved a Cure for the Disorder. Eleven People were attacked by the Dysentery, nine eat Fruit, and all recovered; the other two, a Grandmother and Child, from Prejudice, eat none, and both died. A Regiment of Swiss Soldiers, in Garrison in the South of France, had the Dysentery very frequent among them. The Captains purchased some Acres of a Vineyard, and carried the sick Soldiers to the Field, and gave them the Grapes to eat; and ordered the Men in Health to live upon them chiefly. After this not one Person died, nor was any one seized with the Distemper.—In an Account of a Treatise on the Dysentery, published at Hamburg in 1753, which was epidemical the Year before, in August and September, we are told, that it did not proceed, as is commonly believed, from the eating of Fruit; for it was observed, that those who eat Fruit freely escaped better than those who abstained from it altogether. Vide Comment. de Rebus in Hist. Nat. & Medecin. Gestis, vol. II. par. iv. sect. v.

Generally in August and September we have People admitted into St. George’s Hospital for the Dysentery; who have certainly not catched the Disorder from eating of Fruit, but from working in the Fields, and being exposed to Causes similar to those which produce the Dysentery in Camps.