Medical Sketches of the Expedition to Egypt, from India

MEDICAL SKETCHES OF THE EXPEDITION TO EGYPT , FROM INDIA.
BY JAMES M‘GREGOR, A.M. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, of London; Surgeon to the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards; and lately Superintending Surgeon to the Indian Army in Egypt.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, 32, FLEET-STREET; BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; AND GILBERT AND HODGES, DUBLIN. 1804.
W. Marchant, Printer, 3, Greville-Street, Holborn.
TO SIR LUCAS PEPYS, BART. Physician General, &c. &c. THOMAS KEATE, ESQ. F. R. S. Surgeon General, &c. &c. AND TO FRANCIS KNIGHT, ESQ. Inspector General of Hospitals, &c. &c. The Members of the Army Medical Board, THESE SKETCHES are dedicated, with the utmost respect, by their most obedient and very humble servant, JAMES M‘GREGOR.


Transcriber’s Note: the above errata have been corrected, and in addition, those listed below. Where there were two spelling variants in use in equal measure (e.g. diarrhœa/diarrhæa; Signior Positti/Posetti), both are left as printed.

In consequence of orders, from the Court of Directors to the Government in India, it became my duty to give some account of the health of the troops employed on the late expedition from India to Egypt, and to describe the prevailing diseases.
The sources of information, to which I had recourse, were the reports made to me, and an extensive correspondence with the medical gentlemen of the army; particularly those employed in the pest-establishments. Besides these, to which my situation, at the head of the medical department of the army from India, gave me access, other sources of information, regarding the plague, were open to me, as a Member of the Board of Health in Egypt.
Some may think the present a very short, and many may think it an incomplete account; but, I trust, it will not be found incorrect. I have purposely avoided doubtful speculations and hypotheses. Anxious, above all things, to adhere closely to facts, and keep these unmixed with any notions of my own, I have, in most cases, published the extracts from letters to me, without altering a word of the correspondence.