William Currie - An Historical Account of the Climates and Diseases of the United States of America.... - 1792

William Currie, An Historical Account of the Climates and Diseases of the United States of America; and of the remedies and methods of treatment, which have been found most useful and efficacious, particularly in those diseases which depend upon climate and situation. Collected principally from personal observation, and the communications of physicians of talents and experience, residing in the several states.

Octavo: 4, 409, v pages. Contemporary calf (worn but solid), rebacked with original red calf label. The first two pages of endpapers are detached and browned, and need to be restored and replaced. Generally a very good and clean, and complete, copy. Around a dozen leaves in the book are toned, particularly title and early end papers, otherwise a good copy.

Currie served as a surgeon with the Continental Army (1776-83) and was one of the founders of the Philadelphia College of Physicians. Dedicated to the Philadelphian physician John Redman, this work "is of great practical and historical value because it was the earliest attempt to provide a general view of disease and climate in America. [Currie] established a network of medical correspondents to send him observations and other pertinent data. Proceeding geographically from north to south, he discusses the climate and diseases of each of the thirteen states and includes meteorological tables and mortality statistics when available" (Heirs of Hippocrates). Accounts are given of the particular climates of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. Currie also examines the natural and human-induced causes behind alterations in temperature. "The surface of a country may be changed by the arts of human industry in clearing is woods, draining off its water, and levelling its mountains, (as is exemplified in China) where by these means the air, in very unfavourable situations, has been rendered exceedingly wholesome, according to the accounts of the observing Lind. 'A transient view of the cause of winds will convince us that their course may also be changed'" (pp. 80-1).

A year after this work, Currie published one of the first medical accounts of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia (based on his own treatment of infected patients there), in which he promoted quarantine and cleanliness as a means of avoiding the spread of contagion. He is also remembered for his heated disagreements with Benjamin Rush.

Cushing C655; Eimas 1121; ESTC W20440; Evans 24239; Garrison & Morton 1775; Howes C-960; Sabin 17999. Heirs of Hippocrates 112.

Peter Harrington notes that ‘only one copy is recorded at auction in the past 15 years’ and prices its copy at 3,517 Euros.