A very rare and interesting little item of early epidemiology. After the Philadelphia outbreak of Yellow Fever in 1793 that killed nearly 10% of the city's entire population, serious attempts were made to prevent new importations of the virus. During the early 19th century, the most likely point of entry was believed to be sailors, travelers, and cargo arriving from the Caribbean. 

Our present work, issued in 1821, was set to address this concern specifically. At least one crew did not heed its advice [or the advice was inefficacious]. In April of 1822, the USS Macedonian left Boston to join Commodore James Biddle's West India Squadron. The few surviving sailors afterward dubbed it a "cruise through hell." In just 3 months of deployment, 76 sailors died from yellow fever. Another 52 of the crew were sick enough to wish for death. The ship returned to the United States and was quarantined at Virginia. 

We trace no other copies available or offered at auction. Only a small handful of institutional examples. 

Osgood M. D. David. Practitioner of Medicine in the City of Havana. Cautions to Seamen and Other Voyagers for Shunning the Yellow-Fever. Boston. Sewell Phelps. 1821. 20pp.

Generally good, crisp and clean. Removed from a larger sammelband a some point; textually complete with remains of sammelband binding on spine.