314 



EPIDEMICS. (YELLOW FEVEE.) 



course that it carried off those who were at- 

 tacked in two or three hours, so that the first 

 shivering fit was regarded as the commence- 

 ment of certain death. Among the poorer 

 classes the deaths were innumerable, and no 

 precautions averted death from the houses of 

 the rich. This time the sweating-sickness last- 

 ed six months, and reached its height about six 

 weeks after its first appearance. 



But a heavier affliction was in stcre. In 

 May, 1528, the sweating-sickness again broke 

 out in England, and fourteen months later 

 brought a scene of horror upon all the nations 

 of Northern Europe scarcely equaled during 

 any other epidemic. It appeared at once with 

 the same intensity it had shown before, was 

 ushered in by no previous indications, and be- 

 tween health and death there lay but a brief 

 term of five or six hours. Once or twice again 

 this fearful epidemic visited localities in Europe, 

 but by the autumn of 1551 it had vanished from 

 the earth. 



Yellow Fever. The New World has contrib- 

 uted its quota to the epidemic diseases that 

 afflict humanity. There is reason to believe 

 that yellow fever existed among the native 

 tribes of Central America and the West Indies 

 for many years prior to the discoveries of Co- 

 lumbus, while it is certain that before that 

 date it was unknown in Europe, and probably 

 unknown in Asia and Africa. The history of 

 general literature, and especially of medical 

 science, from 1492 till a comparatively recent 

 period is not only scanty but almost buried 

 under a mass of illiteracy and quackery. It is 

 therefore hard to find trustworthy records of 

 the appearance of yellow fever until within 

 the last century or century and a half. There 

 is, however, reason to suspect that the Span- 

 iards in San Domingo suffered from yellow 

 fever during the first year (1493) they passed 

 on that island ; it is more certain that they 

 did suffer in 1494, the year that is usually 

 given as the first when white men were at- 

 tacked with the disease. 



The scanty and unsatisfactory records for 

 the one hundred and forty-four years from 1493 

 to 1635 justify the belief that not fewer than 

 nineteen yellow-fever epidemics occurred in 

 Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, and the Isthmus 

 of Darien, while it is probable that Mexico 

 has yearly suffered from the disease since the 

 foundation of Vera Cruz in 1519. 



One of the curious and ridiculous theories at 

 one time believed by the credulous attributed 

 the yellow fever to the importation of slaves 

 from Africa. The first three hundred Africans 

 were brought to Cuba in 1521 or 1523, and dur- 

 ing the succeeding two hundred and forty-two 

 years about 60,000 more were imported ; but 

 after 1763 the importation increased so enor- 

 mously that in 1774 Cuba had a colored popu- 

 lation of 75,180. In 1762 Havana was besieged, 

 captured, and held by a force of 30,000 Eng- 

 lish soldiers and sailors. During that year the 

 disease claimed many victims, and was prob- 



ably for the first time carried by invalid offi- 

 cers or men into Great Britain, so that it is 

 not surprising that many historians should have 

 erred in saying that the disease first appeared 

 in this year ; yet there are ample proofs that 

 it was an epidemic in Havana the year previ- 

 ous (1761). 



From 1635 the historical record of the visit- 

 ations of yellow fever becomes more and more 

 authentic, and no doubt is entertained that the 

 first European settlers in Guadeloupe, in 1635, 

 suffered severely. During the ensuing one hun- 

 dred and twenty-eight years, from 1635 to 1762, 

 history records 208 invasions of yellow fever in 

 eighty-six of these years in 43 different locali- 

 ties. Among these there were in what are 

 now the United States, from 1691 or 1693 

 (when Boston was invaded by yellow fever 

 its first positive appearance in this country) to 

 1762, not fewer than 44 epidemics in 12 differ- 

 ent places. 



It is contended by some authorities that epi- 

 demics of yellow fever are not indigenous to 

 the United States, but due wholly to importa- 

 tion from foreign lands, such as the West In- 

 dies, and notably from Cuba, between which 

 and the United States about 2,000 vessels ply 

 annually, carrying goods amounting to more 

 than seventy million dollars. 



Thus, in Florida there has never been an 

 epidemic of yellow fever that could not be de- 

 monstrably traced to direct importation from 

 abroad, the epidemic of 1841, at St. Augus- 

 tine, was imported from Havana; that of 1822, 

 at Pensacola, from the same place ; that of 

 1825, at Pensacola, from the West Indies; that 

 of 1834, at Pensacola, was imported in war- 

 vessels ; that of 1839, at St. Augustine, was 

 carried thither from Charleston, S. C. ; that of 

 1839, at Pensacola, was carried from Mobile 

 and New Orleans; that of 1841, at St. Augus- 

 tine, was imported from Havana ; those of 

 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, and 1847, at 

 Pensacola, were imported in war-vessels; those 

 of 1862 and 1865, at Key West, were imported 

 from Havana; that of 1867, at Pensacola, was 

 imported from Jamaica; that of 1869, at Key 

 West, was imported from Cuba; that of 1871, 

 at Cedar Keys and Tampa, from Havana ; those 

 of 1873 and' 1874, at Pensacola, from Havana, 

 as was also the scourge that devastated the 

 little seaport town of Fernandina in 1877, and 

 the more recent epidemic of 1888. 



The following is a statement of the principal 

 localities in the United States where yellow 

 fever has appeared, with their elevations above 

 sea-level, dates of beginning and suspension of 

 the disease, and mortality when known : 



Alabama, Blakely, 25 feet, 1822. Cahawba, 1T5 

 feet, 18-21. Citronelle, 65 feet, 1853. Dop River Fac- 

 tory, 30 feet, 1853. Demopolis, 125 feet, 1853. Fort 

 Claiborne, 75 feet, from July 4 to Dec. 1, 1819. Fort 

 Monran Island, 20 feet, Auff. 13, 1867. Fort St. 

 Stephen, 75 feet, July 4 to Dec. 1, 1819. Hollywood, 

 75 feet, 1853. Mobile", 20 feet, 1705 ; 1765 ; 1766 ; 1819 ; 

 1821; 1822; 1824; 1825; 1827; 1828; Sept, 14, 1829, 

 mortality 130 ; Sept. 10, 1837, mortality 350 ; 1838 ; 



