Observations made during the Epidemic of Measles on the Faroe Islands in the Year 1846 TOGETHER WITH A Biographical Memoir

New York: Delta Omega Society, 1940. First English translation.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF 19TH CENTURY EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF MEASLES ON THE FAROE ISLANDS.

13.5 x 20.5 cm hardcover, brown cloth binding, gilt title to spine, bookplate of Henry Rust O-Brien, M.D., to front paste-down, his signature on front free endpaper, i-xxxvii, 111 pp, tables. Very good in custom archival mylar cover.

PETER LUDWIG PANUM (1820 – 1885) was a Danish physiologist and pathologist born on the island of Bornholm in Rønne. After completing his medical studies in 1845, Panum assumed a position at Almindelig Hospital in Copenhagen. During 1846 he was chosen by the government to undertake research of a measles epidemic in the Faroe Islands. As a result of his investigations which included examinations of the cultural practices, he published a classic treatise titled "Observations Made During the Epidemic of Measles on the Faroe Islands in the Year 1846". Later he studied with Rudolf Virchow at the University of Würzburg (1851), and with Claude Bernard in Paris (1852–53). From 1855 Panum was a professor at the University of Kiel, where he established a laboratory for physiology. In 1856, he published his research into what is now known as an endotoxin. This is now acknowledged as the first systematic and scientific studies of endotoxins, a substance once referred to as "putrid poison" that was thought to be responsible for symptoms and signs observed in individuals with sepsis.

Cited by Pickover in The Medical Book. 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine (2012): ";. Among the most famous epidemiologists of the 1800s were Danish physiologist Peter Panum (who studied the spread of measles), John Snow (the spread of cholera), and English physician William Budd (the spread of typhoid fever). Panum's studv was of paramount importance, being among the first extensive contributions to the modern field of epidemiology. In 1846, the Danish government asked 26-year-old Panum to study the spread of measles in tlie Faroe Islands, located in the North Atlanhc Ocean. Although preventable today, the anti-vaccine movement is allowing its reappearance. In 1846, measles had not caused death in the Faroe Islands for 65 vears, but suddenly more than 6,000 of the 1782 inhabitants fell victim to measles. Coastal valleys separated the various populations of the islands, so the history of the disease in each small settlement could be studied in isolation from those in the others. By studying the various villages, Panum determined that the incubation period for measles was about two weeks. He also supplied evidence of longlasting immunitv by interviewing old people who had been infected many years earlier, none of whom contracted measles in 1846. Panum was convinced that measles was spread infectious agents via contaminated articles or by close human contact."

PROVENANCE: HENRY RUST O'BRIEN (1891 - 1970) earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1919. His first tour of duty in Siam was with the Department of Public Health under the Rockefeller Foundation, from 1921-1923. His work there focused on effective control of the hookworm. After his return to the U.S. in 1923, he worked as an assistant resident in surgery at the Cincinnati General Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1925 he was appointed as a missionary to Siam by the PCUSA Board of Foreign Missions. Following his resignation from the Board of Foreign Missions in 1933, O'Brien worked as a government physician and surgeon. He also worked in medical education for the U.S. government and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.