Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 45

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Mississippi > Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II > Part 45

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In April, 1886, Dr. E. P. Sale was elected president and chief health officers nominated for thirty-eight counties. The epidemic of yellow fever at Biloxi and one case of small-pox at Natchez were the only blots on the very healthful condition of the state. The record of 1887 was equally good. In March, 1888, Dr. J. M. Taylor was elected president pro tem. and Dr. Wirt Johnston reelected secretary for six years. On November 12, 1889, the death of Dr. Hill was announced and Dr. Taylor was elected president to fill the vacancy occa- sioned by such death.

The report of the secretary presented in 1889, is substantially as follows: "It gives me pleasure to report that during the years 1888 and 1889, the state has been comparatively ex- empt from contagious and infectious diseases. Cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, mumps and whooping cough were reported in a few localities, and a case of small-pox in Lowndes county, but nothing occurred to excite general alarm except the limited outbreak of yellow fever in Jackson in 1888.

"On account of the prevalence of yellow fever in Florida in 1888, it was deemed prudent by the executive committee to declare quarantine against the infected places in that state, and this was accordingly done on August 13th, and steps were at once taken to establish stations as follows: On the Mobile & Ohio railroad, near state line, Dr. G. L. Izard, quar- antine officer; Louisville & Nashville railroad, near Murray Station, Dr. W. A. Cox, quaran- tine officer; Alabama Great Southern railroad, near Kewanee Station, Dr. J. M. Buchanan, quarantine officer; East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad, near Bell Station, Dr. E. F. Crowther, quarantine officer; Georgia Pacific railroad, near Steens Station, Dr. A. C. Hal- bert, quarantine officer; Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham railroad, near Gattman Station, Dr. W. A. Evans, Jr., quarantine officer; Memphis & Charleston railroad, near Iuka, Dr. H. G. McEachin, quarantine officer. The quarantine property of the board, which was stored at Osyka and Nicholson Station, was used for the partial equipment of these stations, and Adjutant General Henry, of the State National guard, kindly permitted us to use a sufficient number of tents and cots, belonging to that department, to complete their equip- ment. This property was shipped from Pass Christian for the purpose and afterward re- turned to that point by us."

In December, 1889, Dr. Taylor, then president of the board, issued his address on the work of his associates since organization. He states: "Scarcely had the members of the board returned from the first annual meeting to their several homes, when, like a besom of destruction, the great scourge of 1878 swept over the state, as if intended by an outraged Providence to teach a lesson which no amount of argument or reason could teach. In this epidemic, three members of the board, 'the noblest Romans of them all,' fell at their posts

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of duty, and many hundreds of good citizens, and millions of dollars, were lost to the state. Since that time the board has subserved the purpose of a convenient scapegoat, if nothing else. A small appropriation has been made, not to pay for valuable services, but to defray actual expenses, and a pittance for lost time. The result of this epidemic visitation was a literal demonstration of the truth of a statement made by our worthy secretary in his first report: 'When epidemics come to blight the prosperity of their towns, to carry off their most useful citizens, to rob them of their loved ones, and to bring mourning into their house- holds, communities are struck with awe. They turn to the medical profession for protection. Thus aroused to the realization of the insecurity of the population against pestilence, and the powerlessness of the board of health to afford any protection, it is true the legislature did make a very liberal appropriation for the prevention and control of epidemic diseases, for which it is entitled to the gratitude of all benevolent citizens. But it is also true that the management of epidemics is only a part, and that not the most important part, of the duties devolving on a state board of health.'

" While epidemics appall and paralyze the whole country by their violence and sudden- ness of attack, they come only occasionally, and in many instances it is possible to evade them by flight or other precautions, but it is a fact well known to all sanitarians, that there are many agencies constantly and silently at work everywhere, causing sickness and death at all seasons, and in all ranks of society, which might and should be prevented. Many of these causes are enumerated in the law, and the board of health is authorized and instructed to abate them, but, notwithstanding the total of sickness and deaths, and consequently loss to the state from these causes is far greater than those from all epidemics combined, no appropriations have ever been made for the former, while, as before said, ample provisions have been made for the latter.

"It is very gratifying to know that, from the first organization of the board to the present time, it has uniformly had the sympathy and moral support of the governor, and the uniform and substantial support of the press is no less creditable to the newspapers of the state than it is gratifying to the board. The columns of the papers have ever been open for any communication in behalf of state medicine and public health. I am free to say that, without this support, the board could never have succeeded. The newspapers of the state, like the board of health, have done much gratuitous service, for which they are entitled to the gratitude of all right-minded people. Now, after an active service of thirteen years, the state board of health can refer with pride to its record for the manner in which it has discharged its duties with the means at its command. Its action has been characterized throughout by the strictest economy compatible with efficiency. We claim that no department of the state government can show a cleaner record than ours.

"As this is probably the last official paper which I shall ever have the honor to write, I desire to renew the unqualified testimony of the entire board of health to the beneficent results of the law to regulate the practice of medicine in the state. The law is not perfect, by any means, but it is such an improvement on the old regime that we are loth to have any radical changes made in it. Pecuniarily, it is self-sustaining, and every year it is becoming more and more efficient. But not until the licentiates under section seventeen of the law have disappeared, will the full force of the law be realized. Unavoidably, many totally incompetent and unworthy persons were licensed under that section. This was clearly fore- seen, and carefully considered in the formulation of the law, but it was deemed best, for obvious reasons, not to produce any violent and sudden perturbation in the status of the medical profession of the state. This class of practitioners will constantly decrease, and

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finally cease, in a few years, by natural limitation. In the meantime, both the people and the profession will adapt themselves to the new order, the change being so gradually and quietly effected that it will scarcely be appreciated, except in the improved character of the practice which it will secure. The process of elimination might have been greatly expedited by incorporating in the law a clause for the revocation of license for incompetency and immorality. But the same conservative and cautious policy which characterizes all the medical legislation in the state, prevented the urging of such a measure.

"Some legislation should be enacted to facilitate the co-operation of our board with other state boards of health. Interstate co-operation should be encouraged, as the most effectual way to prevent such senseless and ruinous panics as we had last year throughout the Southern states. With the proper interstate regulations, there could be no necessity nor excuse for local or shotgun quarantines. And any incorporated town should be held respon- sible for all damages caused by unnecessary interference with commerce and travel. I can not discuss these subjects further now, nor have I any definite or matured propositions to make. But their importance demands, and should receive, the most careful consideration of the legislative department of the state government. It is very unjust to require delegates appointed to represent our board of health in conventions and conferences with other boards of health, not only to give their time and services, but to pay their own expenses, as has been the practice heretofore. Some conditional appropriation, at least, should be made for this purpose.

"I feel it to be my duty, as a medical censor of the state, to protest against the enact- ment of special laws for the exclusive benefit of pretenders claiming to have specific remedies or methods for the treatment of cancers, consumption and other diseases, many of them incurable, obtained from Indians or other equally absurd source. Often, too, the parties so favored are totally illiterate and make no claim to any knowledge of the first principles of medicine. Such legislation not only ignores all medical science but licenses unfeeling har- pies to filch the last cent from the poor drowning wretch who will ever grasp at a straw. It is no less cruel to the poor deluded sufferer than unjust to the qualified practitioner, and should receive the prompt veto of the governor."

The following report on the yellow fever at Jackson was presented in 1889.

" On September 20, 1888, at about noon, two of the local physicians, Drs. Harrington and Morgan, reported that they had patients sick with a suspicious fever. The former declared his belief that his patient had yellow fever, and the suspicions of the latter were so strong as to almost amount to a conviction that his two patients also had the disease. It was at once arranged for me to visit the patients. Before doing so, however, fully appreciating the great responsibility involved in a final decision as to the character of the disease, and after consultation with Dr. J. F. Hunter, a member of the executive committee, it was decided to telegraph Drs. Robbins and Iglehart, of Vicksburg, and invite them to come out on the evening train to see the cases with the local physicians. Then, in company with Drs. Harrington and Galloway, I visited Mr. Calhoun, the patient of the former. In company with Drs. Morgan, Galloway and Harrington, the two patients of Dr. Morgan were then visited, viz .: Mr. Lorance and Mr. Lee. After a careful examination of the cases, a consul- tation was held by the physicians named, and it was agreed to pronounce the cases as sus- picious, and to await the arrival of the physicians from Vicksburg before positively deciding - the character of the disease. We were all of the opinion that the disease was yellow fever, but appreciating the gravity of the situation preferred to see the cases again before announe- ing a final decision. At the conclusion of this consultation the cases were announced as sus-

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picious. Upon the arrival of Dr. Iglehart, president of the Vicksburg board of health, and Dr. Purnell, of the hospital of that city, at six o'clock p. m., the following local physicians, in company with them, visited the cases, viz. : Drs. Harrington, Morgan, Galloway, Todd, health officer of the county, Hunter, a member of the state board of health, and myself. At the consultation held, all of those gentlemen agreed that the disease was yellow fever, and it was at once reported as such. Under the laws of the state, the state board of health assumed control of the sanitary management of the town, and the following was issued:

" To the citizens of Jackson: Under the laws of the state of Mississippi, the state board of health assumes control of the sanitary affairs of the city. All persons who have not been exposed to the disease are advised to leave the city at once. Certificates should be obtained at the office of the state board of health. WIRT JOHNSTON, secretary state board of health.

"The first object in the way of preventing the spread of the disease was depopulation, and this had already commenced upon the first announcement of the fever, and was being rapidly accomplished without much assistance from us. Many of the citizens sought refuge in the surrounding country, and arrangements were made with the Illinois Central railroad, through Captain Mann, superintendent, to run special trains to convey the people to north- ern points. A census taken at the time showed that the following population remained: Whites, three hundred and ninety-eight; colored one thousand five hundred ninety-three; total, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one. Whites protected by an attack of the disease, one hundred and twenty-six; colored protected, two hundred and ninety-nine; total protected, four hundred and twenty-five. Only a few of the citizens had been exposed to the disease, and those who had not been and applied for it before leaving, were provided with a certificate to that effect. It would have been perfectly safe to have admitted the citizens who had not been exposed into any place. In the sanitary management it was our purpose to protect not only the citizens of Jackson, but of the entire state.

"Arrangements were made as speedily as possible for the establishment of a refugee camp for the safety of those who had not been able to leave the town. This camp was not. however, used to any great extent, on account of the fortunate termination of the fever.

" The town covers a considerable area, and the residences for the most part have large grounds and are widely separated. The exodus of citizens almost depopulated the infected district, and created long distances between inhabited dwellings.

"Guards were stationed at the infected houses, with instructions to permit no one to have access except physicians and nurses; and an effort was made to keep under observation every one who had been exposed to the disease. The houses were designated by yellow Hags.

"As soon as the depopulation of the town had been accomplished, as far as practicable a night and day force of guards were stationed on all avenues of escape, with instructions to permit no one to pass either in or out without written permission.

"Three of the four railroads entering the town were compelled to stop running their trains on account of the quarantine restrictions along their lines. Only one road, the Illi- nois Central, continued to run its trains, and on this road a mile and a half north of the town, we established a quarantine station, where trains stopped, under the supervision of a quarantine officer, and freight and express matter was discharged; which was subsequently brought into the town by a locomotive located there. No person was permitted to get ou board or off the cars at this station, and no freight or other article from the town was per- mitted to be taken on board. All cars on sidetracks were detained. No mails left the town,

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not that we thought they would be dangerous after fumigation, but because other localities refused to receive them.

"As soon as practicable, disinfection was resorted to as follows: Infected bedding was burned, linen and cotton fabrics were boiled in a one to five hundred bichloride of mercury solution; the floors and walls of infected houses were scrubbed with the bichloride solution, and the rooms with their contents were subjected to sulphurous fumigation. Of the thirteen cases reported five died. All the persons attacked were employed around the Illinois Central depot. The last cases were reported September 22, but quarantine was continued until October 12."

The officers for 1890-2 are: J. M. Greene, M. D., president, Aberdeen; Wirt John- ston, M. D., secretary, Jackson; members for the state at large, W. F. Hyer, M. D., Meridian; B. F. Ward, M. D., Winona; Wirt Johnston, M. D., Jackson; members for the first district, J. M. Taylor, M. D., Corinth; J. M. Greene, M. D., Aberdeen; for the second district, H. A. Gant, M. D., Water Valley; Chesley Daniel, M. D., Holly Springs; for the third district, T. R. Trotter, M. D., Winona; B. F. Kittrell, M. D., Black Hawk; for the fourth district, M. J. Lowry, M. D., Meridian; R. E. Howard, M. D., Durant; for the fifth district, J. F. Hunter, M. D., Jackson; L. Sexton, M. D., Wesson; and for the sixth district, R. S. Toombs, M. D., Greenville; E. L. McGehee, M. D., Woodville. The executive committee comprises Wirt Johnston, M. D., J. F. Hunter, M. D., L. Sexton, M. D.

The transactions of the board for the two past years are not yet compiled. The reports made by the chief health officers of counties since 1884 form an important part of the transactions of the board. A report from each of forty-four counties is appended. All would be given for this year were it possible to obtain them; but all which could be obtained find a place as a supplement to the history of the board of health, and as a record of the recognition by the people of the value of sanitary science and knowledge of health condi- tions.

What was written a year ago on the health of Mississippi, applies more strongly to-day. In every particular the sanitary conditions of the state have been improved and the people show the result of such improved conditions in feature and movement. There are general exceptions, of course. Malarial districts are found here as in every other state east of the Mississippi, and people are found inhabiting them. Careless men and women exist here, also, who fail to recognize the fact that disease is the companion of uncleanliness. The board of health has tried every argument with such persons, but not always with success. A general communal effort in this direction, such as that resorted to to clear a county of horse-thieves, is necessary now; for a neighbor who noes not observe cleanliness and the laws of sanitation robs village and city life of a treasure much more valuable than horses and should have no place in a community.

The records of the Board of Health and State Medical association points out the variety of ailments, ordinary and extraordinary, which come under the notice of Mississippi physi- cians. The great majority of such ailments are common throughout the United States, and of the minority it may be said, that they are more virulent in some of the Northern states than in the South. Like la grippe, they are not native. They have been brought hither, and under certain conditions grow into epidemics. Such conditions are explained in other pages and the efforts to abolish them told.

The principal disease of Mississippi is malarial fever, which is widespread during the summer and fall seasons, seldom or never proves fatal in the hill region, but often becomes pernicious in the alluvial or bottom lands, and fatal when it takes a hemorrhagic character.

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In 1856 two cases of pernicious malarial fever were brought under the observation of Dr. E. W. Hughes for the first time in his life, while in later years a few cases of malarial hemor- rhagic fever were reported near Sidon on the Yazoo.

During the winters of 1848, 1850, 1855 and 1858 typhoid fever prevailed in Carroll, Grenada, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha and adjoining counties. Before the habits of the monster were understood many patients died under a too active treatment, but for the last quarter of a century there have not been twenty-five cases of true typhoid brought under the notice of physicians in northern Mississippi. In 1866 a disease which has been called continued fever appeared. The symptoms resembled those of cerebro-spinal meningitis.

The first extensive inroad of cholera into north Mississippi was made at Duck Hill, Mont- gomery county, in 1866, when one, Hazlehurst, was stricken by the disease. Of the total number of inhabitants- sixty-twenty-two were attacked; and of that number thirteen died. The stagnant ponds and lakes in the neighborhood aided in bringing on the village this ter- rible scourge.

Scarlatina has been known here since 1846. In 1854 every form of this disease was presented at Grenada. In 1853, 1854, 1857 and 1858 the winter brought with it this scourge.

Dysentery, sporadic, is common from April to September, but easily mastered. In 1849 and 1852 dysentery, epidemic, took possession of Carroll and Grenada counties. So severe was it in 1852, that two Caucasians and ten negroes were carried off, within the first fifteen days of July, on the plantation of Henry Purnell, and all cases might have proved fatal had not the whites and negroes removed to camps on July 16 of that year.

The epidemic of erysipelas of 1844 was the most serious ever known in northern Missis- sippi. Since that time cases are occasionally presented, but never in epidemic form.

Diphtheria was common in the upper Yalobusha and Tallahatchie country before the war, particularly in 1859 and 1860. In one case tracheotomy was resorted to with success by a Dr. B. B. Drane. In the summer of 1858 it appeared in Tippah county.

Small-pox was introduced by Memphis, Tenn., negroes in 1872, into Grenada. Of ten Cau- casians attacked all recovered; but twenty-five of the fifty negro sufferers died.

Whooping-cough, measles and mumps present themselves annually as in all other sec- tions of the country. Pneumonia, phthisis, rheumatism and other diseases common through- out the world are presented here occasionally, but generally wanting in virulence. In Nov- ember, 1862, however, rheumatism took possession of the negroes working on the forts at Grenada, and before April, 1863, one hundred of them died of this disease.

The epidemic of 1871 at Jackson, Vicksburg and Natchez assumed a type so peculiar in characteristics that for a long time physicians were slow to pronounce it yellow fever. On July 22, 1871, an Englishman residing at Vicksburg was attacked; but the fever did not reach its highest point until November 1, that year. The disease at Natchez was called yellow fever by all the physicians there except Dr. Bonduvant, who inclined to the belief that it was typho-malarial fever. Dr. P. F. Whitehead, writing on the subject in 1872, inclines to the opinion that the disease at Natchez was of local origin, beginning under the hill and extend- ing to the city. Dr. M. S. Craft places the date of the first case at Jackson, September 7, 1871, and pronounced the epidemic yellow fever. Of thirty cases within the United States garrison at Jackson, twenty-four were fatal. Dr. Craft's paper, given in the reports of the medical society for 1873, is a brief but extraordinarily complete description of the dreaded disease as diagnosed by him at Jackson in 1871.

The first mention of yellow fever in Mississippi is made under date August 22, 1701, when

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Antoine Lemoyne Sauvolle died at Fort Maurepas, near Biloxi. The disease was carried from St. Domingo by one or more of the ships touching at that point, and was not then, nor is it now, indigenous. Over a century and a half passed away before any serious invasion was made. In 1853 many persons were carried off; again, in 1871 it was introduced, but not until 1878 was the character of the dreadful scourge realized.

In dealing with the botany of Mississippi, in the first chapter, the names and character of the medicinal plants of the state were not given, as such a list appeared to belong to this chapter, pointing out the fact that where disease is there also is the remedy. There are at least eighty-six species of medicinal plants in the state, which may be distributed under the following heads as arranged by Dr. B. H. Whitehead: Tonics-Dogwood, American col- umbine, poplar, magnolia, sweet bay, umbrella tree, wild cherry, willow, boneset-thoroughwort, dogfennel, wild camomile, swamp dogwood, button bush, century plant. Sedatives-Yellow jasmine. Narcotics-Thorn apple, jamestown weed, lobelia, American water hemlock, cherry laurel, swamp laurel, locust, mountain ivy. Aromatic Stimulants- Indian turnip, sweet flag, cedar, hoarhound, peppermint, spearmint, horsemint, spicewood, laurus benzoin, wild ginger, Canada snakeroot. Astringents-Persimmon, white oak, black oak, Spanish oak, live oak, dewberry, blackberry, sumac, dock, water lily, wax myrtle, chinquapin, common thick shell hickorynut, pecan, shellbark, witch hazel. Spastics-Poison oak. Emetics-Milkweed, bloodroot, pocoon, pokeroot, pokeberry, latherwood. Cathartics-American senna, wild senna, palma christi, may apple, elder, black walnut, wild potato vine, castor oil plant. Dia- phoretics-Sassafras, butterfly weed, pleurisy root, holly, hercules club. Diuretics-Bur- dock, dandelion, purslane, dwarf stinging nettle, hydrangea seven barks. Blennorhetics -- Long-leaf pine, short-leaf pine, pitch pine, trailing arbutus, ground laurel, mayflower, sweet gum. Eminenagogues-Spanish needles. Alteratives-Southern prickly ash, China briar, sarsaparilla. Demulcents-Red elm, slippery elm, mullien, pansy violets. Anthel- mintics-Pink root, worm seed, jerusalem oak, China berry tree. Other indigenous remedies are the sneezewood, an erbine, and the mulberry.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 45

Author: Goodspeed Brothers Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314