16 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



AnixL'd atOuiialaska and seciut'ly inooretl in a laiuMoiked liarboisiinoundiMl l)y Alp like hills, 

 whicii ])re.sented a dreary picture of snowy desolation, we found the air uncommonly chilly and 

 apparently disa^reealile enough to »jive a seal l)ronchiti.s, although the inhabitants called it mild 

 weather. An epidemic, from which a laige portion of the native population of the island had died, 

 prevailed in the little village otf whicii we anchored, and tlie only physician of the place being also 

 dangerously ill, the sick were without medical a<lvice or attendance. During the few days of our 

 stay every assistance in our i)ower was rendered the sufferers, and we hope that our advent amoug 

 them was the means of averting several funerals that otherwise would have taken place. 

 JJiSEASKti PECULIAI! TO THE AliOIilGINAL J'OPiLATIOX. 



Gliuical observation of the disease in que-stiou showed marked dyspncea, broucophouy, imper- 

 fect arterialization of the blood, (!0ugh, with expectoration, jiaiu, insomnia, and great depression 

 both physical au<l psychical : in fact the latter symptom was the most characteristic ; and it 

 seemed impossible to impart the least ray of hope to a patient who had made uj) his mind to die 

 from the offset of his attack. The disease was very ra])id in its course and, considering the gravity 

 of these assembled pheuomena, there was but little of the fever that usually attends pneumonitis. 

 The main symptom calling tor relief setsnied to be the marked asthenia, to combat which the 

 admiuistratiou of quima, stimulants, and milk were resorted to with beneficial ett'ects. It may be 

 mentioned that the a<lministration of (luiiiia to these natives is attended with the happiest results. 

 The attending physician atOunalaska inl'orms me that most of the ailments he has to treat among 

 them being of an adynamic character he invariably gives quinia, the effect of which, he says, is 

 almost magical. It is very much to be regretted that time and ojjportunity forbade a necropsy in 

 one of these cases, for aiaoug the different and varied forms under whicii pneumonitis presents 

 itself, and this type differing from any 1 have heretofore seen, it is not at all incredible that there 

 may have been something distinctive about its morbid anatomy. 



What connection there may have been between the outbreak of the epidemic and the prevailing 

 climatic and telluric influences it is impossible to say ; but tlie well-known relations of meteoro- 

 logical conditions to certain diseases would lead one to infer that the previous occurrence of several 

 earthquake shocks, or, what is more probable, a relatively mild winter, with an uuusual amount of 

 precijiitation, maj" have been the i)redisi)osiiig cause ; not to meutiou the interminable diet of fish 

 and whale of the Aleutian, his fondness for " quass,'' and his inability to resist slight causes of 

 l)sychi('al depressiou. 



So far as it is possible to ascertain the disease seems to have been coutiued almost exclusively 

 to the native population. At Ounalaska the only sufferer not a native was from the Island of 

 Mauritius. The epidemic also prevailed extensively at Saint Paul's, Uuga, Kodiak, Cook's Inlet, 

 and Prince William Sound, a singular coincidence connected with the outbreak being its appear- 

 ance at these jilaces immediately or soon after the arrival of the tirst vessel in port. This circum- 

 stance so impressed itself on the native mind as to give rise to a general and strong belief in the 

 imiiortatiou of the disease. 



It is not at all unlikely that sickness of the foregoing character has occurred from time to 

 time among the Aleutians. We have a mention of at least one outbreak, where it is stated that 

 during a few days of unusually warm weather an epidemic of bilious pneumonia made its appear- 

 ance at Kodiak, one of the adjacent islands, attacking about tif'ty of the natives.* 



The same authority reports the prevalence of interiiiittent fever at Cook's Inlet amoug a 

 white population who lived on a bluff several hundred feet high in houses exposed to a strong 

 breeze directly from the inlet. The reporter states that the disease might have been contracted 

 elsewhere; but happening after a sea voyage of forty days, and in persons previously in good health, 

 he attributes it to locality. In a convervsation with Mr. Petrott', whose topographical knowledge 

 of this part of Alaska qualifies him to give an intelligent opinion, he iutbrmed me that for many 

 miles around the bluff" in question the laud is low and marshy, but he thinks it is not malarious, 

 and (luotes the opinion of Dr. Govorlivo, a Russian surgeon, who says that in summer the weather 

 of Cook's Inlet is warm and clear; in winter the thermometer falls to -iOo below freezing; rain 

 and fog are rare, and the atmosphere is clear, bracing, and healthy. These observations, the 

 Doctor adds, are supported by Admiral Tebenkofl'. 



* Paoitii: Medical iind Snixicajl .loninal, 1870, vol. iv, p. 337. 



