EDITOR'S TABLE. 



7\7 



YELLOW FEVER, AND WHAT TO DO 

 ABOUT IT. 



The rapid spread and appalling mor- 

 tality of the yellow-fever plague in the 

 towns of the Lower Mississippi have 

 profoundly moved the sympathy of the 

 country, and very naturally raised the 

 urgent question as to what shall be 

 done in so fearful an emergency. Gov- 

 ernor Bishop, of Ohio, has made a proc- 

 lamation, calling upon all the Christian 

 people of his State to assemble in their 

 houses of worship at a given date, and 

 offer their united prayers to Almigh- 

 ty God, imploring him to interfere and 

 stop the pestilence. It seems to us an 

 entirely proper thing to appeal to re- 

 ligious feelings on such an occasion as 

 this ; but it should be done in such a 

 way as not to evade the lessons they 

 teach, and we trust it will not be 

 thought ungracious if we point out 

 Governor Bishop's presentation of the 

 case as seriously at fault. Moreover, 

 he brings science into the case in a way 

 that is open to objection. 



There are different views in regard 

 to the expediency of such public action 

 as Governor Bishop has taken. Many 

 think it does more harm than good, but 

 that depends entirely upon the way it 

 influences human conduct. If reliance 

 upon Divine help, which, it is supposed, 

 can be especially secured by conspicu- 

 ous demonstrations of public prayer, 

 has the least effect in checking human 

 effort, such action as that of Governor 

 Bishop is injurious. Only when pray- 

 er quickens human exertion in such in- 

 stances as this is it beneficial ; if sub- 

 stituted for it, it is ill-judged and detri- 

 mental. 



This is simply the dictate of common- 

 sense, which enlightened rulers have 

 already acted upon. It is well known 

 that when the Scotch Presbyterians 

 petitioned Lord Palmerston to appoint 

 a day of national prayer, to induce the 

 Almighty to stretch forth his hand 

 and stop an epidemic, his lordship de- 

 clined to do it, on the rational ground 



that, until the people had done every- 

 thing in their power to prevent it, it 

 would be impertinent to call upon 

 Providence to interfere ; in other words, 

 they had no warrant to ask him to pro- 

 tect them from the consequences of 

 their own neglect. 



The Ohio governor does not pro- 

 ceed upon the sensible view of the 

 British premier. He assumes the in- 

 competency of science and the insuffi- 

 ciency of human effort, both of which 

 he declares to be " unavailing " to arrest 

 the plague ; and, these agencies having 

 failed, he proposes, as a last resort, to 

 utilize "the intervention of Almighty 

 God." 



But it is not true that human sci- 

 ence and human effort have proved 

 unavailing. They have indeed not 

 stopped the yellow fever, but does Gov- 

 ernor Bishop assume that they have 

 been thoroughly tried, and accomplished 

 every thing that is humanly possible? 

 But they have proved availing and great- 

 ly efficient in checking the pestilence 

 and diminishing its fatality ; and to de- 

 ny this is to convict the whole nation 

 of folly in the exertions it has put forth 

 to limit the ravages and mitigate the 

 sufferings of the plague-smitten dis- 

 tricts. Yellow fever may not now be 

 wholly preventable, but nobody denies 

 that it is partially so; and nobody knows 

 the degree to which it may be repressed 

 and escaped until far more vigilant, ef- 

 ficient, and comprehensive measures of 

 precaution are resorted to than have 

 yet been undertaken. 



But, besides basing his action upon 

 a wrong theory, which is to invoke 

 miraculous intervention, to obtain that 

 which can only be procured by natural 

 means, Governor Bishop's view is, be- 

 sides, not in the highest sense rever- 

 ential and religious. He instructs the 

 pious peoplo of his State to ask the Al- 

 mighty to stop the devastating progress 

 of the plague, as if that progress was 

 not in perfect accordance with provi- 

 dential intentions. To ask the Deity 

 to interfere in this way is to counsel 



