318 



FEVER, YELLOW. 



for out of the bounty intrusted to this associa- 

 tion by the following communities : 



New York ............ $32,637 01 



P|C I OrK. .............. on oflrt Af\ 



Providence 



Springfield, Massachusetts 



Memphis 



Portland, Oregon 



Pittsburg, Pennsylvania 



Milwaukee, Wisconsin 



Indianapolis, Indiana 



Washington, District of Columbia 



Hartford, Connecticut 



Cincinnati 



Savannah, Georgia 



Buffalo, New York 



Albany, New York 



Columbus, Georgia 



Louisville, Kentucky 



Mobile, Alabama 



Galveston, Texas 



Richmond, Virginia 



Charleston, South Carolina 



Baltimore, Maryland 



Other parts of our country 



Liverpool and London $7.875 00 



Paris and France 4,78096 



Havana 1,009 13 



2302460 

 22*2080 



3,025 00 

 3,050 00 

 2,716 94 

 2,500 00 

 2,925 00 

 2,143 45 

 2.400 00 

 2,101 50 

 1,861 50 

 1,513 50 

 1,500 00 

 1.500 00 

 1,500 00 

 1,362 10 

 1,275 00 

 1,146 30 

 1,050 00 

 1,035 00 

 503 48 

 460 00 

 117,807 52 



13,665 09 

 Total $383,449 93 



This list includes amounts received by the 

 Howards from every source, as well as sums 

 sent them for Vicksburg, Grenada, and other 

 points. Their total expenditures up to De- 

 cember 16th reached $380,185.83, including 

 $20,000 turned over to the Peabody Subsistence 

 Association, who undertook the care of the 

 convalescent, at the time when attention to 

 the sick fully taxed the Howards. Besides the 

 foregoing contributions in money, donations 

 of clothing, wines, and provisions were received 

 by the Howard, the Young Men's Christian, 

 the Peabody Subsistence, and other charitable 

 associations throughout the afflicted region. 

 These reached a magnitude hitherto unheard 

 of. They came spontaneously, and their rec- 

 ord is on high, and there alone. 



All the steamers, railroads, and express com- 

 panies brought these contributions without 

 charge, and offered free transportation to doc- 

 tors, nurses, and supplies intended for the sick 

 at any point where the fever prevailed. The 

 quarantine at Mobile and Galveston paralyzed 

 the other railroads. The only line that re- 

 mained open and continued to run its trains 

 throughout the entire period of the epidemic 

 was the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans. 

 This was done at an actual loss, with a view to 

 relieve as far as possible the fever-stricken 

 communities along its line. Local quarantine 

 tagan August 1st and continued to October 

 25th. This road was a heavy loser by the 

 epidemic, and an extract from its published 

 Statement, showing its estimated loss from the 

 interruption of traffic, may give some idea of 

 the widespread desolation and the still wider 

 charity of which it became the chief chan- 

 nel: 



Decrease in earnings from Aug. 1st to Nov. 1st. . $311,500 00 



Number of pounds of freight carried free 8,049,946 



Number of passengers carried free 1,130 



Money value of free transportation $32,879 82 



Number of officers and employees died of fever. 79 



Number of same sick and recovered 158 



Persons thrown out of employment by interrup- 

 tion of traffic : August, 222 ; September, 624 ; Octo- 

 ber, 733. Average'number of officers and employees, 

 2,500. 



If the amount of contributions can not be 

 estimated, still less can the self-devotion and 

 heroism exhibited receive their proper meed. 

 Though there may have been isolated cases of 

 abject panic and desertion, in general the ca- 

 lamity was met with courage. Physicians and 

 nurses from all parts of the country tendered 

 their services. Many of them fell victims to 

 the plague. When there was so much self- 

 sacrifice that it is impossible to place all the 

 names on the roll of honor, it seems invidious 

 to particularize ; yet no record of this epidem- 

 ic can omit to mention Lieutenant Benner, 

 U. S. A., who volunteered to command a sup- 

 ply ship sent to the relief of Vicksburg, and 

 died at his post of duty. 



A severe quarantine was established in most 

 of the neighboring towns. Mobile was visited 

 by the fever in spite of rigorous non-inter- 

 course. There were about 160 cases and 58 

 deaths, when a fall of temperature checked 

 the disease. Galveston quarantined and es- 

 caped, as did Shreveport and Natchez. Along 

 the river and railroad lines the pestilence showed 

 extreme capriciousness. Some of the towns, 

 though strictly quarantined, and in the highest 

 sanitary state, were devastated ; while others, 

 without any apparent reason, were spared. 

 The vagaries of this epidemic have left the 

 question of quarantine in serious dispute, as 

 well as the kindred point of disinfectants. There 

 are doctors who maintain that disinfection by 

 carbolic acid, promptly and scientifically used, 

 in 1876 circumscribed the limits of the fever 

 and prevented a great epidemic. This year it 

 was at first lavishly used, and then abandoned 

 as worse than useless. Sulphurous acid was 

 also tried, but no advantage accrued from its 

 use. One of the most brilliant of the New 

 Orleans faculty suggests cold as the great natu- 

 ral disinfectant. Freezing air might be intro- 

 duced into ships to such a degree as to effectu- 

 ally destroy the yellow-fever virus. Never 

 was there greater diversity of views. The 

 President of the Board of Health openly said 

 that the faculty knew no remedy, and earnest- 

 ly recommended experiment. He tried the 

 cold-water system, but with slight success. - 

 The homoeopathic doctors claim to have lost a 

 smaller ratio of patients. The allopathies re- 

 tort that they do not report as yellow fever 

 many fatal cases which ought to be thus clas- 

 sified. This difference of opinion in respect to 

 what is yellow fever makes it difficult to arrive 

 at any exact statement of cases. Some of the 

 Creole doctors hold that genuine yellow fever 

 is never recurrent, and are convinced that no 

 child born in New Orleans is susceptible to this 



