Stubbins Ffirth (1784–1820) was an American trainee doctor notable for his unusual investigations into the cause of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

. He theorized that the disease was not contagious, believing that the drop in cases during winter showed that it was more likely a result of the heat and stresses of the summer months. While correct in noting that yellow fever was significantly more prevalent in summer, Ffirth's explanation proved to be incorrect. It was a full six decades after his death that a breakthrough would be made, with Cuban scientist

Carlos Finlay Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes ''Aedes aegypti''. Biography Early life and ...

discovering the link to

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

es carrying the disease.

Works

The 1793 yellow fever epidemic, the largest outbreak of the disease in American history, killed as many as 5,000 people in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

– roughly 10% of the population. Ffirth joined the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1801 to study medicine, and in his third year he began researching the disease that had so significantly impacted the area. At the time, the causes of yellow fever were unknown, and Ffirth set out to prove that it was not contagious. He was so sure of his theory that he began to perform experiments on himself. Ffirth chose to bring himself into direct contact with bodily fluids from people that had become infected with

. He started by making incisions on his arms and smearing infected

vomit Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenterit ...

into the cuts; he then proceeded to pour it onto his eyeballs. He continued in his attempts to infect himself by frying the vomit and inhaling the fumes, and finally, when he did not become ill, he resorted to drinking the vomit undiluted. Endeavoring to prove that other bodily fluids yielded the same results, Ffirth progressed on from vomit, also smearing his body with

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

, saliva, and

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra. Cellular ...

. He still failed to contract the disease and saw this as proof of his hypothesis that yellow fever was non-contagious. However, it later emerged that the samples used by Ffirth for his experiments had come from late-stage patients who were no longer contaminated with the virus. Ffirth published his findings in his 1804 thesis, ''A Treatise on Malignant Fever; with an Attempt to Prove its Non-contagious Non-Malignant Nature''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ffirth, Stubbins 1784 births 1820 deaths 19th-century American physicians People from colonial Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania alumni