**51** Chap 5.

Abstract

From November 1797 to March 1798, scarlatina angiosa occurred in almost every town in the county of Cumberland, Maine. Barker reports on fifty cases treated, with the deaths of two children, one of whom was dissected. He comments on a change of medical philosophy in which “bile . . . [was considered] the mischievous cause” in 1784 but the cause was thought to be “septic acid” in 1797. He reviewed inflammatory fevers in 1799–1800 and measles in 1803–1804 in seaport towns, and scarlatina angiosa inland, with descriptions of patients aged eighteen months to thirty years. Barker referred to a “golden opportunity,” that is, an ideal time to see and treat patients for the best outcomes. He also wrote about hooping (whooping) cough in Maine from 1795–1806 and about quinsy or croup as he had found it earlier in Barnstable county, 1774–1780.