FEVER, YELLOW. 



317 



H6tel-Dieu on May 30th. On July 12th a sus- 

 picious case occurred at No. 157 Constance 

 Street. On the 13th another was reported at 

 No. 118 Constance Street, and a third at No. 

 116, and the focus of infection for this neigh- 

 borhood was established. Almost simultane- 

 ously the fever appeared at the corner of 

 Front and Girod Streets, and it broke out 

 across the graveyard from where the purser 

 of the Souder died. From these three foci of 

 infection the disease spread over the entire 

 city. Other infected vessels arrived. The 

 engineer of the steam-tug Charley Wood had 

 the fever. From him it spread to his family, 

 residing in Constance Street. This is the ori- 

 gin of this epidemic according to those who 

 accept the theory of importation. The virus 

 was taken to Grand Gulf by the steamer Por- 

 ter, whence it spread to Port Gibson. So 

 soon as the fever was declared epidemic, there 

 was a general exodus from New Orleans, and 

 the infection was carried to the inland towns. 

 In Canton, Miss., the fever broke out after the 

 arrival of a family who had had the disease in 

 New Orleans. In Grenada it is currently be- 

 lieved that the fomites were brought there in 

 a package of clothing sent from New Orleans. 

 The fever here was peculiarly fatal. A large 

 sewer had been opened and the decaying mat- 

 ter exposed to the air. The first eight cases 

 originated in the vicinity of this sewer, and all 

 died. A still worse type of the disease pre- 

 vailed at Dry Grove. It is difficult to account 

 for its introduction here, Dry Grove being a 

 small settlement remote from railroads. Some 

 of the cases were genuine yellow fever, others 

 were putrid fever. There were over 250 cases, 

 and 60 died. The first case occurred in the 

 neighborhood of a pond which had been re- 

 cently drained. In Vicksburg the greater part 

 of the population fled. At one time there 

 were not 3,500 souls left in Memphis, yet there 

 were 1,300 fever-smitten. It is estimated that 

 15,000 left during the first alarm. The fever 

 had been declared epidemic at Port Eads and 

 Grenada before the middle of August. 



In New Orleans the Howard Association, a 

 time-honored body of good Samaritans, organ- 

 ized. The Board of Health abandoned car- 

 bolic acid and other disinfectants, except lime. 

 The new cases were counted by hundreds. A 

 week later the Howards had more than a 

 thousand destitute cases under their care. As 

 many children were under treatment. There 

 were 103 cases reported in one square. A 

 Portuguese family of seven persons were buried 

 simultaneously. On the 20th of August the 

 Board of Health declared the epidemic beyond 

 human control. It had spread from Carrollton 

 to the Barracks, a distance of twelve miles. 

 Physicians were taxed beyond endurance. The 

 pestilence reached its height on the llth of 

 September. Before that period the supply of 

 hearses was insufficient. The sextons' offices 

 were kept open until 11 o'clock at night for 

 interments. Gloom overspread the city. Mu- 



sic of any sort had long been forbidden ; even 

 the church bells were no longer rung. The 

 stillness of death reigned unbroken, except for 

 the hurrying hither and thither of nurses and 

 physicians, or the passing of funerals. De- 

 prived of the exemption of former years, many 

 negroes were fever-stricken. Destitution added 

 its horrors. Business was at a standstill. Saw- 

 dust and barricades at every turn reminded the 

 passer-by not to disturb the struggle between 

 life and death. There was no other topic than 

 the dead or the dying. The ill demanded all the 

 time and care of the living. No mourners fol- 

 lowed the hearses. The breath was scarcely 

 out of the body before it was consigned to the 

 tomb. The faculty confessed themselves baf- 

 fled. The mortality among children under twelve 

 years of age was unprecedented. Grown fa- 

 miliar with the disease, the nomenclature of 

 science could not veil its symptoms from them. 

 No sooner were they attacked than they suf- 

 fered all the terrors of death, which too often 

 came speedily. Such was the epidemic of 

 1878. 



On the 16th of August the Howard Associa- 

 tion called upon the community for means to 

 give relief to applicants. The response was 

 instantaneous, not alone within the city to 

 which it was addressed, but from North, South, 

 East, West, from every city and village of the 

 country, and even from the shores of Europe, 

 aid unstinted and unfailing flowed in, with a 

 munificence unparalleled in the annals of char- 

 ity. The full aggregate can never be known. 

 Much was sent to private individuals for dis- 

 bursement. Many churches supplied their cler- 

 gy with means to care for the sick of their own 

 household of faith. Many societies amply pro- 

 vided for those of their own nationality. The 

 Howard Association, which is wholly unsectari- 

 an and relieves all applicants without regard to 

 color or nativity, became the chief channel of 

 aid. Its 125 members and physicians devoted 

 their entire attention to the suffering. From 

 the 17th of August to the 26th of October they 

 cared for fully 24,000 cases in the city of New 

 Orleans. Where there were many in the same 

 house, members failed to report after the first 

 case. Of those regularly reported the nativi- 

 ties are as follows : United States, 6,218 ; Eng- 

 land, 362 ; France, 965 ; Germany, 1,521 ; Ire- 

 land, 2,079; Italy, 529; Scotland, 113; Spain, 

 100; Poland, 23; Greece, 21; Denmark, 19; 

 Canada, 16; Austria, 15; Switzerland, 15; 

 Mexico, 14; Sweden, 10; West Indies, 10; 

 Belgium, 7 ; Portugal, 6 ; China, 6 ; Brazil, 5 ; 

 Africa, 3 ; Eussia, 2 ; Norway, 2 ; at sea, 1 ; 

 Iceland, 1 ; Honduras, 1 ; Andorra, 1 ; Senegal, 

 1; natives, 8,146; unknown, 1,032. Total, 

 21,244, of whom 16,112 were whites and 5,132 

 blacks. Less accurate reports have been re- 

 ceived from the towns and villages in the coun- 

 try, yet from these partial returns they can 

 count up 11,750 beneficiaries. Besides the 

 sick, the wants of their families were attended 

 to. Over 60,000 such sufferers were provided 



