118 HISTORICAL SURVEY OF YELLOW FEVER 



sandflies. Siicli was the condition of the neighbour- 

 hood of the JNlihtary Grounds during tlie epidemic. 

 These particulars were noted by me more especially 

 in 1840, in consequence of a reference being made to 

 me by His Excellency the Governor, M'ith a view to 

 reply to a dispatch from the Right Hon. the Secretary 

 at AVar regarding the question why in a few months 

 09 per cent, of all the idiite troops had perislied. In 

 close proximity and to leeward of the marsh stood the 

 Military Hospital. It is said that almost every case 

 admitted to this hospital during the epidemic became 

 yellow fever, no matter what the ailment on admission ; 

 and it ultimately became such a terror to the soldiers 

 that the utmost difficulty was experienced in persuading 

 them to enter it when sick." 



And again we read : 



" Fergusson tells us how the troops at St. Domingo, 

 after disembarking, one and all suffered. At the com- 

 mencement of the epidemic a census was taken of the 

 inhabitants, and they and the newly arrived soldiers 

 totalled equal numbers at the conclusion of the epidemic. 

 1,500 soldiers — that is, the original complement of the 

 men — had perislied. No wonder we read about a general 

 who lost his reason when he saw, in spite of all his 

 efforts for their wellbeing, his men struck down by 

 hundreds by invisible bullets. In the words of Blair, 

 so persistently did yellow fever dog the footsteps of the 

 early European pioneers, whether on plunder or con- 

 quest bent, that it seemed as if the European carried 

 something upon his person which, coming in contact 

 with the tropical atmosphere, lit up a conflagration. 

 The moment, wrote Prescott, a town is founded, or a 



