YELLOW FEVER PROPHYLAXIS IN NEW ORLEANS 53 



fever in New Orleans is only gathered by the headlines that " Quaran- 

 tines are on," and that certain States and towns in the neighbourhood 

 are becoming alarmed. Subsequently, they usually, each day, devoted 

 a whole page or even more to an account of the previous day's pro- 

 gress of the fever, to the meetings of Health Officers, and other official 

 meetings, to full accounts of lectures given in the evenings by properly 

 authorised persons, and to descriptive articles upon the beneficial 

 results which had followed Anti- Yellow Fever and anti-malarial 

 measures in different parts of the world. At no time does an 

 antagonistic note appear to have been struck. The Press, reflecting 

 the feelings of the community, were intensely loyal, put the fullest con- 

 fidence in those who were charged with the conduct of the campaign, 

 and avoided taking any premature steps which might have inter- 

 fered with the satisfactory progress of official work. The result was 

 that they always appeared to me to enjoy the full ' confidence of the 

 Authorities. Together with the Citizens' Ward Organisation they 

 took a leading share in stimulating all classes of society to a sense 

 of their duty in the emergency, and of impressing upon the public 

 the necessity of going about their work cheerfully and with complete 

 confidence in their ultimate success. At no time did New Orleans 

 ever appear depressed, indeed, the motto, ascribed to the Rev. Dr. 

 Warner which was hung up everywhere in hotels and public places, 

 " Wear a smile on your face and a flower in your button-hole," was 

 acted upon. Another result of the wide publicity given by the Press 

 to the nature of Yellow Fever and of its relationship to Stegomyia 

 fasciata, was that when I arrived in New Orleans in August, doubters 

 of the true way in which Yellow Fever was carried would have fared 

 very ill. Everyone felt that it was not a time for two opinions, and 

 that there was only one safe line of action — implicit belief in the 

 teaching of Reed, Carroll, Agramonte and Lazear. In this respect 

 the campaign was a triumph for medical science. In a few days 

 with exceedingly little opposition, sixty to seventy thousand cisterns 

 had been screened in order to prevent the breeding of the Stegomyia 

 fasciata. Mosquito nets became more than ever the rule, and the 

 richer inhabitants in the suburbs went to considerable expense in 

 wire screening the verandahs and rooms of very many of their houses, 

 and a badge worn in the button-hole with the image of the Stegomyia 

 and the words " Have you screened your cisterns ? I have mine," was 



