An Account of the Weather and Diseases of South-Carolina

CHALMERS, Lionel. An Account of the Weather and Diseases of South Carolina. London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1776. 1st ed. Two vols bound in one. viii, 222; 1v, 224pp. plus two folding charts.

Bound in full contemporary polished calf, raised spine bands, gilt tooling, red morocco spine label.

Chalmers, a Scottish emigrant and physician, studied the weather in South Carolina for ten years, beginning in 1750. His account of observations includes the impact of seasons on health, the effects of various illnesses and disorders, and hypotheses for treatment and prevention. An interesting text on early medical science in America.

MINER: After studying medicine in Scotland (he took a late degree from St. Andrews in 1756), Chalmers migrated to Charleston, S.C. (ca. 1737), where he began a long and prosperous practice in partnership with John Lining (#255). In 1750 Chalmers began keeping detailed meteorological records in an attempt to correlate weather conditions to the occurrence of various diseases. This effort culminated in the publication of the Account in 1776.