212 
The Ravages of Yellow Fever. 
Executive found itself forced to start a special Hospital for it. Unfor- 
tunately this was established in our neighbourhood owing to there being 
a house not far off that proved suitable for the purpose : in the course of a 
few days it was overcrowded with sick. The physiognomy of a Negro is 
not exactly one of the most engaging at, the best of times, but this is 
increased to one of horror when the head, bared of all hair, is disfigured 
by pock marks. 
filth Yellow fever which had not appeared epidemically since 1822, 
except for a few cases cropping up almost every month in consequence 
of the steady immigration, commenced to make its presence felt again in 
1837, when it was probably brought about by local causes and continued 
almost interruptedly until 1811. The wharves being formerly erected on 
piles, as already mentioned, the flood-tide in those days could wash away 
all the dirt and rubbish collecting there. When therefore the posts were 
replaced by solid masonry the high water could no longer really make 
its way into the narrow channels running between adjacent properties, 
and maintain its so salutary an influence upon the sanitary conditions of 
the city. The decomposition of all vegetable and animal substances 
which takes place so rapidly in the tropics soon engenders a number of 
miasmata, which, in t lie opinion of the medical men, are to be regarded as 
the true causes of the epidemic. The disease again spread from Water 
Street over the whole city in 1837 and 1830. In the latter year it was 
believed that the scourge had disappeared until it suddenly broke out 
again with extraordinary virulence among the European troops where it 
occasioned terrible losses: it was probably brought about by the Bight, 
stretching towards the east of the barracks, being thickly beset with 
mangrove and courida bushes, because no deaths occurred at the time 
either in Berbice or in any of the outposts. All doctors are agreed in 
this that Yellow Fever is a peculiar Typhus; in fact, an exacerbation 
either of the intermittent fever so mischievous in the tropics, or else of 
the bilious fever likewise very plentiful here. Up to now it has only 
raged within the coastal area of Guiana and has usually only attacked 
those who have not as yet got accustomed to the sultry unhealthy atmos- 
phere pregnant with infectious matter. For the rest, the disease is 
limited to the stretch of coast and is one of the greatest rarities in places 
lying from eight to ten miles inland. The outbreak of the disease 
generally begins with the end of the long wet season when the 
thermometer shows a temperature of from 70° to 89° Fahr., and rages 
most in September and October. The former assumption that it infects 
by contact or association with the sick person has proved to be unfounded, 
although it cannot be denied that it takes on an infectious character by 
overcrowding the sick people and by individual disposition. The doctors, 
at least over there, are not as yet in agreement as to whether the gall, 
liver, and portal system do constitute the seat of the disease, because 
the blackish substance (Black Vomit) which the patient brings up in 
the last stage is said to have very little resemblance with bile. Alexander 
von Humboldt’s statement that this “coffee grounds” like substance 
leaves indelible stains on linen, wood and wall, has been confirmed on 
