A Treatise on Malignant Fever; with an Attempt to Prove its Non-contagious Non-Malignant Nature

Firth, Stubbins, 1775-ca. 1820.

A treatise on malignant fever; with an attempt to prove its non-contagious nature... Philadelphia: Printed for the author, by B. Graves... 1804. √ó, [11]-60 p. ; 21 cm.

The author's inaugural dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania. The most remarkable portion of this work ("Experiments on the black vomit, &c." pp. 53-60) describes fifteen experiments which Firth undertook in 1802 and 1803 to prove the non-contagiousness of yellow fever. Most of these Flirth performed on himself: sleeping in the same bed with patients; filling subcutaneous pockets in his arms and legs with fresh vomit, blood, bile, sweat, saliva or urine from yellow fever victims; ingesting black vomit, inhaling its vapors, etc. (Miner)

Ffirth published his findings in his 1804 thesis, A Treatise on Malignant Fever; with an Attempt to Prove its Non-contagious Non-Malignant Nature.

From Catalog I

Fifteen self-experiments. Subcutaneous injections of fresh vomit, blood, bile, sweat, saliva, and urine from yellow fever victims. Ingestion of black vomit. Inhalation of its vapors. All survived. Conclusion: the disease is not transmitted by these routes. Correct. Mechanism identified: none. The mechanism was Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The dissertation is simultaneously a monument to experimental courage and one of the most poignant documents in the history of medicine's long road to germ theory.