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Clark, John.
Observations on Fevers, Especially Those of the Continued Type, and on the Scarlet Fever Attended with Ulcerated Sore-Throat, as it appeared at Newcastle upon Tyne in the year 1778 : Together with a Comparative View of That Epidemic with the Scarlet Fever as descibed by the Authors, and the Angina Maligna.
Publisher: Printed for T. Cadell, London;
Date of Publication: 1780
Stock Code: 8664
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp. xxviii, 398, [2] errata etc. Lacking the half-title. The verso of the final leaf is an ad for Clark’s previous work “Observations on the Diseases in Long Voyages to Hot Countries”. Modern plain brown quarter morocco with marbled paper-covered boards. New endpapers. A sympathetically rebound ex-library copy with partial stamp to title page, and pencilled numbers to verso; ownership initial stamp to foot of title page and inscribed initials at head. Scattered very light foxing and toning; later leaves slightly rippled and faintly creased. A Very Good copy overall. Important and rare medical work on the causes and treatment of contagious disease, based upon first hand experience by Dr John Clark, founder of the Newcastle Dispensary. Dr Clark (1744-1805) studied medicine at Edinburgh and spent four years as a surgeon’s mate in Indian and Chinese waters, noting the influence of climate on health; his “Observations on the Diseases in Long Voyages to Hot Countries” earned him an award of one hundred guineas by the East India Company. Clark practised in Newcastle upon Tyne from the mid 1770s and devoted himself to the treatment of the poor, and the establishment of a Dispensary for the relief of those ineligible for admission to the Infirmary. He kept records of cases treated there, contributing to his understanding of epidemics and the success of different methods of their treatment, and drew up rules for the prevention of contagion, as well as striving to improve the working of the Infirmary in the town. Many of his proposals to combat overcrowding, improve poor ventilation and separate medical and surgical patients, were adopted at the Infirmary, and local historian Mackenzie states “Dr. Clark was the greatest benefactor of the afflicted poor that ever appeared in Newcastle”. Rare. £650.00