Stubbins Ffirth

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stubbins H. Ffirth (* 1784 in Salem (New Jersey) ; † 1820 ) was an American doctor who became known through self- experiments on yellow fever infections.

Act

After the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793, Ffirth soon enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania . As a doctor in training, he later carried out examinations for the infectivity of yellow fever in order to complete his medical studies with a degree. To this end, he carried out some self- experiments.

Ffirth's goal was to prove that yellow fever was not an infectious disease . Based on the observation that the number of yellow fever cases was significantly higher in summer than in winter, and based on patient observations, he suggested that yellow fever is an illness that is mainly caused by increased excitement such as heat and eating or noise was caused. As a result, from 1802 he began to inject the typical black vomit in various ways. Practices were the introduction through incisions in the arm, instillation in the eye area, inhalation of vapors of the vomit, as well as the various kinds of consumption. He then introduced other body fluids such as blood , urine and saliva into his bloodstream . In all of these series of tests, only minor symptoms such as headaches , sweating , nausea or inflammation occurred , but not an infection with yellow fever. He published his results and submitted them to the University of Pennsylvania in 1804 as a successful dissertation, whereupon he received his doctorate.

It was later found out that yellow fever is actually transmitted through mosquito bites and that the yellow fever virus is the cause. On the one hand, this explains the difference in the number of illnesses between summer and winter, but on the other hand it also raises the question of why Ffirth did not fall ill. Assumptions range from sheer luck to the assumption that the patients whose bodily fluids Ffirth used were in a late stage of the disease where transmission no longer takes place.

literature

  • Stubbins Ffirth, A Treatise on Malignant Fever; with an Attempt to Prove its Non-contagious Non-Malignant Nature, 1804, Graves, Philadelphia
  • Alex Boese, Elephants on LSD, Rowohlt, 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-62439-1

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NN: Stubbins H. FFIRTH (1784-1820). JAMA . 1964 Jul 27; 189: 319-20. PMID 14160499
  2. ↑ http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53568/
  3. ↑ Smaglik P. It could be worse. Nature. 2003 Oct 16; 425 (6959): 745. PMID 14562109
personal data
SURNAME Ffirth, Stubbins
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ffirth, Stubbins H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor
DATE OF BIRTH 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Salem, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH 1820