316 



FEVER, YELLOW. 



cal In the West Indies the ravages of the fe- 

 ver were confined to a small body of foreigners, 

 but here the disease had full sway, with equal 

 climatic advantages, over an entirely unpre- 

 pared population. A similar high temperature 

 preceded and accompanied the epidemics of 

 17!):}, 1798, 1819, 1889, 1847, and 1853. In 

 17i;j there were 4,041 deaths in Philadelphia. 

 In 1798 there were 3,500 fatal cases in Phila- 

 delphia, 2,080 in New York, and over 200 in 

 Boston. 



At a recent meeting of the faculty in New 

 Orleans it was unanimously decided that yel- 

 low fever was a specific disease, originally im- 

 ported to this continent, but capable of hiber- 

 nating. The eminent Dr. Warren Stone, in a 

 lecture at Bellevue College, New York, says 

 that, in regard to the a3ttology or causes of 

 yellow fever, it is questionable whether it is of 

 local origin or imported. " It certainly has 

 not been imported in ships. The epidemic in- 

 fluence is wafted through the atmosphere in 

 waves or cycles. It always makes gradual and 

 regular approaches, so that in New Orleans we 

 know when it is coming by its prevalence in the 

 islands of the Gulf and places south of us. In 

 the year 1851 it began in Brazil, and, after 

 passing over the northern part of South Amer- 

 ica and the West India Islands, it reached New 

 Orleans in 1853. In 1855 it had traveled as 

 far as Memphis, and was severe in many of the 

 interior towns. Its history in New Orleans 

 the present year (1867) is remarkable. It first 

 appeared in a mild form and in several places 

 at once in the month of June. Although the 

 weather was favorable to its spread, it did not 

 increase in intensity, and only about nine cases 

 occurred per week. These cases evidently ori- 

 ginated in the city. But later in the season a 

 fresh wave approached from the direction of 

 Mexico, appearing in a violent form inlndianola, 

 Galveston, and New Iberia, and lastly in New 

 Orleans, where it appeared in severe form and 

 in increasing ratio, although the weather was of 

 the kind considered unfavorable to its propa- 

 gation. This was the general history of the 

 disease. It fixed upon a place, ran its course, 

 increasing in a definite ratio, declining in the 

 same way, and finally disappearing, but for the 

 time being affecting all who were subject to 

 attack and exposed to its influence. Debility 

 and other reasons render some persons more 

 susceptible than others to the peculiar poison, 

 but this is the case with all diseases. The 

 question of its contagiousness is of great im- 

 portance, and ought to be settled both for the 

 interest of sufferers from the disease and as a 

 guidance in the matter of quarantine. I am 

 perfectly convinced, beyond all doubt or hesi- 

 tation, that personally it is not contagions; 

 / know that it i* not. If the disease were con- 

 tagious once, it would always be so, for it is 

 the same disease in all places. It is a specific 

 disease, and the same person has it but once. 

 Acclimation is perpetual, hut it is very hard 

 to convince the human understanding of that. 



There are, however, exceptions to these rules, 

 as to every rule, and as there is to the rule 

 governing smallpox, for instance. I have ob- 

 served honestly at least, if not closely, and the 

 result of my observations has led me to believe 

 yellow fever non-contagious." 



The same eminent authority continues : 

 " Nothing more definite can be said than that 

 it is a disease incident to warm climates, and 

 induced by a peculiar poison totally intangible 

 and disconnected from any known causes of 

 disease. There is no combination of filth, no 

 combination of circumstances calculated to de- 

 teriorate health and excite typhoid or typhus 

 fever, that has anything to do with the genera- 

 tion of yellow fever. . . . Indeed, the disease 

 has always been more violent in the country, 

 when it once prevails there, than in cities." 

 In confirmation of this opinion, it is well known 

 that during the present year the cities and 

 towns above New Orleans had ample warning, 

 and that, stimulated by terror, they resorted 

 to every sanitary precaution. In New Orleans 

 the miasma from the canals and especially the 

 draining of the rice-chaff pond too late in 

 the season are popularly believed to have in- 

 creased the malignity of the epidemic. Es- 

 pecially is the mortality among children, which 

 rose to such unparalleled proportions, attribut- 

 ed to the insidious poison thus let loose. The 

 epidemic of 1858 was likewise attributed to 

 the cleansing of the canals and the exposure of 

 the extracted filth to sun and air. While yel- 

 low fever may not be generated by these causes, 

 there is good reason to suppose that it may be 

 moderated by a proper attention to sanitary 

 regulations. True, yellow fever, once epidemic, 

 does not confine itself to localities where filth 

 predominated, but spreads the virus through 

 comparatively clean neighborhoods. It is an 

 unquestioned fact that the streets of New Or- 

 leans were in an unusually bad condition. The 

 first cases of fever were in the vicinity of the 

 rice-chaff pond and other low places on the 

 levee. The fever has broken out for successive 

 years in this same neighborhood. 



The advocates of the germ theory trace the 

 fever of this year to the steamer Emily B. Sou- 

 der. This vessel arrived in New Orleans from 

 Havana on the 23d of May. She was de- 

 tained at quarantine only ten hours. The 

 Borussia arrived at quarantine on the 21st, 

 having five cases of yellow fever on board. 

 They were removed to the quarantine hospital, 

 and after disinfection and fifteen days' deten- 

 tion, she was allowed to proceed. On the 25th 

 the purser of the Souder died. Suspicion be- 

 ing strong that this was yellow fever, the 

 house was thoroughly disinfected. Some time 

 elapsed, when a glazier, residing in a straight 

 line back of the house where the purser of the 

 Souder had died, was brought to the Touro 

 Infirmary with yellow-fever symptoms, but he 

 recovered. In the mean time the assistant en- 

 gineer of the Souder was taken ill at the cor- 

 ner of Front and Girod Streets, and died at the 



