A history of the yellow fever : the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn., embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere, Part 26

Author: Keating, John McLeod, 1830-1906; Howard Association (Memphis, Tenn.)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Memphis : Howard Association
Number of Pages: 906


USA > Tennessee > Shelby County > Memphis > A history of the yellow fever : the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn., embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere > Part 26


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69



194


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


which carried away so many thousands, the people of the great capital were the prey of an epidemic of moral cowardice. Were it not for the thousands of cases of heroism, almost divine in their self-sacrifice, which we witness every day, such a conclusion would be irresistible. Another case, and we close for the present. Mr. Ben K. Pullen, an old and honored citizen, who is held in the highest esteem as an upright, honorable man, on Monday last went ont to Elmwood Cemetery-loveliest of the cities of the dead-to perform the sad duty of burying his wife, who had died of the fever. It was late, past five o'clock in the evening, when the carriage and the hearse arrived at the cemetery. There was still three-quarters of an hour to pass before the hour arrived when funeral parties are refused admittance and the laborers suspend work. The man in charge of the cemetery (named Flynn or Edwards-it is not known which) came to the spot where the grave was to be dug, with a party of negroes, whom he informed that they would not receive any extra pay for work done after six o'clock, thus trying to prevent them from the work they were there to perform. The negroes, more humane than he, and indig- nant at such an exhibition of brutality before the husband and children, stand- ing beside all that remained to them of a good wife and mother, replied that sometimes they worked for friendship. They dug the grave, lowered the casket, and had covered it out of sight, having almost completed their work. when the same cold-blooded creature, in the hearing of the mourning family, and almost in their faces, said : ' You have worked after six o'clock, and you shall receive no pay for it. Hereafter no work shall be done after that hour, matter how many d-d carcasses are brought here.' Powerless to resent an outrage so gross, the father and children passed out and on to their homes. their grief intensified by an insult that all men must share until it is punished as it should be." Subsequently the facts were investigated by the cemetery authorities, and the man was discharged. He left the city immediately.


Appeal, October 25 .-- The Board of Health to-day makes announcement of the close of the epidemic, and invites the absent citizens to return to their homes.


METEOROLOGICAL.


நாம்கேட்


METEOROLOGICAL TABLES.


Comparison of Mean Daily Barometer, Thermometer, Prevailing Direction of Wind, State of Weather, Mean Daily Humidity and Daily Rain-Fall of August, September, October, and November, 1878, in Memphis, as recorded by Dr. Thornton, Surgeon in charge of City Hospital, and assistants, with corresponding months of 1873.


Barometer,


Thermometer.


Prevailing Direction of Wind.


Condition of Weather.


Mean Humidity.


Rain-Fall.


DATE.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


August


1.


30,067


30,000


75


88.2


0)


2 ..


.


3.


30,090


29,872


75


80.2


4 ..


30,170


29,881


72


78.2


5 ..


30,160


29,875


75


84.2


south south-west north north-east north-east south-east


south-west south westerly northerly north-west north-west south-west


fair clear clear


fair


clear


69.3


61.3


0


0


1 ..


30,020


29,953


75


86.2


fair


clear


80.7


63.0


()


0


8.


30,012


29,943


77


85.7


east southerly north-west north-west north west


westerly south-west south-west


fair


clear


69.7


59.7


0


0


9 ..


30,062


29,899


81


86.2


fair


clear


74.3


57.0


.03


0


10.


30,072


29,899


83


81.7


clear


cloudy


74.7


72.7


.23


.13


11.


30,022


29,960


85


78.2


clear


cloudy


72.7


82.3


0


.12


12.


29,978


29,737


84


75.5


13.


29,967


29,897


79


78.7


14 ...


29,980


29,927


78


81.2


clear


clear


clear


65.3


65.0


()


0


16


16.


29,945


30,040


75


84.2


17


29,997


30,061


76


86.2


18 ..


30,037


30,079


73


87.0


19.


30,032


29,994


76


88.2


20.


29,972


29,889


76


87.0


fair


fair


61.0


67.7


0


0


21.


29,990


20,898


79


8.1.0


fair


fair


71.0


73.3


()


.02


30,012


29,965


77


81.7


fair


clear


70.6


68.3


()


()


fair


1


clear


66.0)


! 55.0


()


()


195


30,095


30,006


81


81.5


westerly north-east westerly north-west north-west north north northerly north-east casterly


west south


cloudy fair


clear


76.8


6-4.7


0


0


clear


clear


60.3


62.7


0


fair


clear


61.6


63.7


0


0


15 ..


29,895


29,997


79


82.5


north north-east north-east northerly south-west


cloudy fair


cloudy


68.0


81.7


0


.33


80.0


72.0


1.09


.07


clear


85.7


63.0


0


0)


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


cloudy


fuir


clear fair cloudy fair clear


80.0


77.0


78.0


77.0


.05


.02


63.7


69.3


()


65.7


0


0


6.


30,092


29,917


78


85.7


..


30,030


29,942


79


81.2


()


21


83.3


59.3


2.94


·


south-west south-west. south-west north-west north-east ! north-west. 1


fair clear


65.7


62.7


.


1


0


.02


62.7


196


DATE.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1.873.


1878.


August


24.


30,100


29,989


83


8-4.5


casterly south-west south-west westerly north-west north-west


westerly westerly north-west north-east north-west north west north south-west.


clear clear clear fair fair fair elear clear


fair cloudy fair clear


65.0


$1.3


0


.02


31.


30,067


29,995


84


78.2


Means .....


30,035


29,915


79


82.2


south-west


south-west


70


68.7


4.53


1.72


September


30,012


30,000


8-4


77.7


south-west north-west


south-west south-west


fair


elear clear


62.0


72.0


0


0


2 .. .....


30,925


30,061


78


80.2


()


3 .....


...


29,995


29,991


76


82.5


south-west


fair


clear


85.6


61.6


.48


()


4 ......


29,987


29,978


82


83.5


north-west north-east


fair


clear


75.3


57.3


0


0


6.


30,190


30,005


76


78.2


north-east


clear


clear


57.3


56.0


()


0


7 ..


30,010


30,014


68


80.5


northerly


fair


fair


70.3


61.3


0


()


8 ......


30,225


29,989


67


80.7


south-east northerly


fair


fair


65.3


61.6


0


0)


9 ......


30,100


28,965


79.2


.85


10. ....


...


..


13 ......


30,097


30,129


63


60.7


0


14 ......


30,150


30,197


59


65.5


65


69.7


0


0


16 ...... ..


30,120


30,139


72


70.2


76


71.7


west south-west north north westerly north-west west


north-west north-west. casterly north-east south south-west ;


clear clear


clear


61.0


60.3


0


.


27.


29,950


29,878


79


80.5


.19


28 ..


.


29 ..


30,110


29,958


79


73.2


0)


.73


30 ...


30,105


29,9-12


86


71.7


north south-west


Prevailing Direction of Wind.


Condition of Weather.


Mean 'Humidity.


Rain-Fall.


()


0


25 ..


.


29,997


29,898


80.7


0


26


29,960


29,866


85


78.2


0


()


70.0


70.7


70.6


61.3


0


0


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


1.62


11.


30,050


30,157


78


62.0


north north


fair


fair


66.0


54.6


0


0


·


12.


29,980


30,100


70


58.7


()


0


fair


clear


68.0


59.0


.10


61.6


0


0


clear


clear


clear


62.3


63.3


0


0


17 ......


29,985


30,000


79


77.2


south south-west south-west north-east northerly


fair


clear


68.0


61.0


0


0


5 ..


..


30,080


30,041


63.7


north-east north-east south-east


fair fair


cloudy cloudy


65.3


70.0


69.6


92.3


0


fair


clear


clear


clear


61.3


58.6


53.6


15 .....


30,105


30,184


30,169


29,914


79


82.0


clear cloudy cloudy cloudy


65.6


54.0


67.6


76.3


66.0


80.3


65.6


81.0


69.0


0


1 ... .


· fair


77.0


65.6


.40


62.0


55.3


0)


30,132


Barometer.


Thermometer.


30,022


64.0


197


DATE.


Barometer.


Thermometer.


Prevailing Direction of Wind.


Condition of Weather.


Mean Humidity.


Rain-Fall.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1.373.


1878.


1873.


1.878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


September 18 ...


29,917


30,167


76


76.2


north-west north north-east north-east northerly


south-west south sontherly north


fair fair cloudy cloudy


clear clear cloudy clear


54.3


61,6


0


()


30,097


29,993


59


69.2


0)


0


30,077


30,159


66


58.7 67.2


north-east. easterly southerly south


fair


fair


76.0


76.3


70,3


0


0


25.


29,990


30,047


73


78.2


north south-east northerly south southerly southerly north-west north


north-east north-east south-east south-east south-east


clear cloudy cloudy cloudy clear


thir fair clear


66.6


69.3


(


()


Means., ..


30,048


30,073


71


72


northerly


north


68.0


66.6


2.53


2.59


October


30,090


29,927


63


76.2


north-cast north-east


north


fuir fair


clear fair


64.6


73.3


0


.01


3


30,018


30,062


70


70.0


south-west


north


fair


cleur


70,3


60.6


-


0


:


4


29,945


30,054


69


70.5


north-west south-west


north-west north-west


fair fair


clear cloudy


69.6


76.0


()


()


6


30,105


30,065


49


63.2


north north north-west south-west south-west westerly


north north-west. south-west south-east


clear


i clear


42.3


71.6


0


9.


30,182


30,037


62


70.0


0


.02


10.


30,167


29,918


64


67.7


east north


elear clear fair


cloudy cloudy fair


72.6


72.6


()


0


12


30,216


30,174


55


59.2


north-west | north-east


clear


clear | 53.0 |


54.6


0)


1


0)


23 ....


29,990


30,038


61


71.5


.01


24.


29,875


30,093


66


71.2


fair


clear clear


79.6 67.3


69.6


()


0


26.


29,992


30,277


78


60.7


.08


27.


30,052


30,146


76


65.2


71.5


()


29


30,085


30,011


6.4


74.7


=


30.


30,152


29,953


58


75.7


·


+


1.


2.


30,100


30,043


67


70.2


.


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER


19.


30,010


30,008


61


76.5


20.


21.


57.6


65.6


0


0


fair


fair


76,0


59.3


.31


0


fair


cloudy


fair


84.0


73.6


.82


28.


29,945


78.3


82.3


.24


1.18


()


0


5.


29,875


30,103


69


63.0


7.


30,132


30,070


51


69.2


()


0)


8.


30,115


30,025


57


69.0


()


1.11


11


30,130


30,028


67


65.7


0


()


66.6


61.6


62.6


83.0


22.


30,035


30,077


66


73.3


84.6


75.6


7.4.6


57.6


73.3


.04


0)


clear


fair


66.3


66.3


0


south


fair


fair


58.6


58.6


80.0


63.0


90.0


90.6


73.3


86.0


()


30,059


76


198


DATE.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


October 13.


30,181


30,076


56.6


62.2


south south


clear clear


clear clear fair cloudy fair clear


59.0


65.0


()


0


14 ...


30,241


30,044


56.6


69.7


0


15 ..


30,290


29,900


66.6


74.2


south south


fair fair


north-west north-west


cloudy cloudy clear


clear clear


clear fair fair


57.0


60.3


0


0


22 ....


29,919


30,115


64.6


49.5


south


north-west south


cloudy fair


clear


86.6


63.3


2.14


0


24.


30,825


30,103


45.0


61.5


south


fair cloudy rainy fair clear clear fair clear


clear clear cloudy fair · fair cloudy fair clear


54.6 52.3


58.0


0


0


31.


30,368


30,435


39.0


39.0


Meuns


30,130


30,098


56


60.8


north-west


north-west.


66


66.4


5.95


2.82


Novemb'r 1


30,394


30,288


4-1.5


45.5


south-onst easterly north-east north-east north-east northerly


south south-west north south-east sonthenst. south-west !


clear cloudy fair cloudy cloudy fair


. clear clear elear fair


49.0


49.0


0


0


30,218


30,260


50.0


54.0


..


3.


30,218


30,360


47.0


57.2


0


0


4 ...


30,185


30,307


50.5


52.2


.27


0


5 ...


30,115


30,163


57.5


60.0


()


6 .....


30,038


29,988


57.0


59.7


Prevailing Direction of Wind.


Condition of Weather.


Humidity.


Rain-Fall.


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


.


17.


30,069


30,125


72.0


56.5


0


1.04


18.


30,084


30,216


55.0


66.6


17.6


0


19 ..


...


20 ..


30,099


30,024


48.0


55.0


0


21 ....


29,913


29,938


52.6


6-4.0


west


east south-east south


clear


62.3


64.0


0


...


..


...


25 ..


30,253


80,179


49.0


66.2


0


26.


29,835


30,225


60.0


61.2


south


27.


29,959


30,438


49.0


40.5


1.94


.18


28 ....


30,393


30,211


36.0


41.2


0


0


29.


30,343


29,950


40.5


48.7


0


30.


30,116


30,125


49.0


53.7


south-west. north-west


south-west south-west. north north-east northerly north-west north-west


93.6


68.6


0


()


61.0


71.3


.07


.43


23 .....


30,283


30,067


39.0


54.5


north


0


92.0


69.3


0


0


16.


30,274


29,888


72.6


72.2


70.3


79.6


0


64.6


55.3


88.6


52.3


30,176


80,190


50.0


49.0


north-east east.


north-west north-west. south


58.3


58.6


54.0


85.0


0


44.0


0


0)


2 ..


.


66.0


53.3


0)


0


67.0


87.3


fair


87.0


clear


71.3


59.0


()


77.6


57.6


71.6


53.6


0


55.0


72.0


65.3


66.6


00 0


0


61.6


55.0


34.0


49.0


47.3


..


Barometer.


"Thermometer.


westerly enst south-east south south-west north north-west north-west


DATE.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


1873.


1878.


November 7.


29,975


30,083


57.0


64.7


south -west westerly


south-west north


fair clear


fair clear clear


68.0 55.3


68.0


0


.02


‹‹


8 ..


30,192


9


30,182


30,174


57.0


52.2


south-west


enst.


clear clear


fair cloudy clear


55.3


52.0


10).


30,026


20,905


61.0


61.2


south-west south-west north -west.


north-west north-west south -west north-east


clear clear fair


fair cloudy fair fair


67.3 63.0


90.6


.22


,02


17


29,466


30,198


53.0


49.2


north-east westerly westerly


clear . clear


cloudy


55.6


65.6


0


.14


21.


30,217


29,998


43.5


49.2


west


foggy


fair clear


63.0


66.3


0


.02


22.


30,028


29,904


50.0


52.7


west


rainy cloudy


clear


95.3


46.3


1.50


0


23.


29,825


29,772


54.0


57.5


south


south


fair


cloudy cloudy


40.6


84.3


0


.22


26.


29,932


29,8449


49.0


42.2


north


fair


fair


clear


clear


31.6


58.6


0


0


29.


30,037


30,209


41.0


48.7


52.2


52.2


south-east


fair


clear cloudy


75.0


58.6


0


0


Means .. ..


30,087


30,069


40.


57.8


south-west | south-west


61


61.8


3.86


2.41


..


14.


30,136


30,142


48.0


55.7


15 ..


..


30,039


29,952


62.0


52.0


16.


29,714


30,089


60.0


50.5


east south-west north-west


fair


fair


clear


42.6


65.0


0


0


18


29,868


30,085


39.0


51.2


19.


30,189


29,892


32.0


52.7


20.


30,216


29,932


89.0


49.0


53.7 north -west 44.0 north -west


north


clear


rainy fair


57.3


94.0


0


.38


¥


27.


30,040


29,010


46.0


41.2


south north


.48


...


28.


...


30,402


30,201


37.0


43.7


north-east north-east


west south-west south-east south-east


fair


40.6


58.0


0


0


30


Barometer.


Thermometer.


Prevailing Direction of Wind.


Condition of Weather.


Mean Humidity.


Rain-Fall.


.01


11.


29,863


29,922


63.0


54.0


12.


30,169


30,059


43.0


52.0


13


30,140


30,095


42.0


53.5


clear


42.6


48.0


43.3


90.0


0


.96


fair


48.6


88.6


0


0


clear


58.0


62.6


0


0


0


. ..


24 .....


...


29,987


29,880


44.0


¥


25.


...


30,077


30,097


46.0


west westerly south-west south-west westerly north -west north -west south south-west easterly south-east


clear cloudy


32.0


56.0


47.0


19.6


0) 00


0


0


0


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


0


30,251


55.5


51.2


46.0


54.3


50.3


0


south


0


0


.


.


47.6


72.3


1.80


46.6


89.6


80.6


67.3


.07


19


()


30,320


30,057


199


.


45.6


200


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


It will be seen from the preceding tables that the thermometer ranged very much higher during the epidemic months of 1878 than those of 1873, and that the humidity for August and September was two degrees less, while in October and November it was about the same as during the same months in 1873. The barometrical range is about an average for the same months of both years, as is the prevailing direction of the wind. The rain-fall for August of 1878 was 1.72 inches compared with 4.53 for the same month of 1873; 2.59 for September, 1878, as compared with 2.53 for the same mouth of 1873; 2.82 for October, 1878, as compared with 5.95 for the corresponding month of 1873; and 2.41 for November of 1878 as compared with 3.86 for the corresponding month of 1873. In August, 1878, there were 16 clear days, 7 fair, and & cloudy ; and in August, 1873, there were 12 clear days, 16 fair, and 3 cloudy. In Sep- tember, 1878, there were 18 clear days, 8 fair, and 4 cloudy ; and in Septem- ber, 1873, there were 7 clear days, 18 fair days, and 5 eloudy. In October, 1878, there were 14 clear days, 11 fair, and 6 cloudy ; in October, 1873, there were 13 clear days, 13 fair, + cloudy, and 1 rainy. In November, 1878, there were 14 elear days, 9 fair, 6 cloudy, and 1 rainy; and in November, 1873, there were 11 clear, 12 fair, 5 eloudy, 1 foggy, and 1 rainy. The absence, in 1878, of the rain and humidity upon which many writers declare the propagation of yellow fever to depend is remarkable. In the tropics the rainy season is generally the most siekly, and some of the best authorities agree in assigning to heat there preventive and healthful properties. From this has grown the belief that heavy and continuous rains precede epidemics of yellow fever. This has not generally been the case in the United States. The summer of 1878 was for some weeks intensely hot. In St. Louis the number of cases of sun-stroke were so many as to amount to an epidemic, alarming the people to such an extent that many, if not most of them, sus- pended work, dreading the least exertion as they did death itself. In one week the mortality from this eause alone amounted to nearly 300. In 1837 the same intense heat prevailed and preceded an epidemic of unusual violence. In 1853, the year of greatest mortality from yellow fever, and the year of its greatest spread throughout the South, in June, July, and August, reports from ninety meteorological stations, from Canada to Florida and Texas, show that in the fourth week of June the maximum heat from New York to Savannah gave an average of 95°; and in New Orleans during August, September, and October of that year the thermometer ranged from 82° to 91º. A wave of heat moved across the country in that as in the year 1878; indeed there were two such waves, one in June and another in August. Blodgett says the first wave made itself manifest on the 29th and 30th of June. The extreme was central in the latitude of Washington and was limited at Savannah on the south and Bur- lington, Vermont. on the north, attaining 96° to 98° in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Southern Ohio, and 99.5° to 102° at Washington and in Eastern Vir- ginia and North Carolina. In August the second wave made itself felt, beginning earlier at the west. The maximum in Illinois and the adjacent States was 90° to 94° from the Sth to the 13th, in Ohio and Kentucky nearly the same, and passing eastward the district of greatest excess was cen-


201


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


tral New York. The mortality from this great heat was frightful. In June the yellow fever showed itself in New Orleans, the week ending on the 30th of the , month, giving as the average of maxima 92° in that city. On comparing July and August, the two great epidemic months in New Orleans in 1853, Dowler says there was nothing peculiar-nothing that can account for the epidemic in regard to the quantity of rain, which was in some places greater or less than in regions free from the fever, and sometimes similar. The summer of 1699, when the fever prevailed severely in Philadelphia, was so intensely hot that men died while harvesting in the fields, and all business was suspended in the city. In 1762 it prevailed after a very hot and dry summer. In 1793 there was no rain from the 25th of August to the 15th of October-the crops failed and the springs dried. In 1794 the disease again prevailed, modified, Ru-h says, by occasional showers of rain. In 1797 the summer was hot and dry, and in 1798, when yellow fever made fearful havoc, the summer was characterized by extreme dryness, in consequence of which whole fields were burnt up by the sun, and the crops were seriously injured. In 1801 the fever broke out in Philadelphia after a drought of some duration. In 1805 the summer set in in June with great severity. The heat was unusually intense from thence to the end of August. This was accompanied by a severe drought, which com- menced on the 28th of June and continued, without any intermission, except a very few sprinklings of rain, that barely moistened the surface of the earth, till the close of August. During this period, not only the rains failed, but even the dews ceased to descend, and the earth became parched. La Roche declares that neither beat nor moisture, when acting separately, can be productive of yellow and kindred fevers, and that equally objectionable is the belief that the disease arises from the combined influence of those two agencies, either unassisted by another cause of a more efficient kind and peculiar character, or with the aid of some agent, calculated only to render the system more prone to the impress of the other. Neither can we admit the propriety of referring the efficient cause of yellow and kindred fevers to the difference of tempera- ture between day and night, or to mere atmospheric vicissitudes-the succes- sion of cool or cold nights to hot days; nor to the sudden exposure of the body, at any period of the twenty-four hours, to a low degree of temperature after it has been placed for a greater or less extent of time under the influ- ence of a high degree. Vicissitudes, if really the efficient cause of yellow fever, appear to be whimsical in their operations. The meteorological tables, published in the account of the voyage of D' Urville to the South Pole and Oceanica, show conclusively that the minimum degrees of nychthemeron oscil- lations occur in hot latitudes, the difference between the maxima and minima amounting only to a very few degrees. In temperate and cold climates, these oscillations are much more marked; and yet the yellow fever is a disease of hot climates. There it occurs frequently-in some parts almost annually ; while in temperate climates, where the vicissitudes in question are constant, the fever only occasionally, and in many places never, shows itself. In hot climates themselves, places subject to considerable oscillations are free from the disease, while others, where the changes are unimportant, are not unfre-



202


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


quently visited by it. At Caraccas, where yellow fever has seldom, if ever, prevailed, the temperature is continually changing, while at Martinique, where yellow fever is of frequent occurrence, the oscillations are very trifling." Ag to the effect of wind, the same authority declares that the yellow fever occurs in different countries under the influence of different winds. In the greater portion of the West Indies, it would seem to be brought on through the agency of, or to be attended with, the prevalence of south winds, while in Havana this wind is comparatively inocuous, and the east and west winds exercise injurious effects. In some parts of this country it has appeared after and during the prevalence of south wind-, sometimes during the occurrence of west winds. In other localities it has required an east or a north wind. Nor is the same difference less strikingly noticed elsewhere. In Leghorn it occurred under the influence of south winds; in Barcelona, of north-east and south-west winds; while in Andalusia and Gibraltar it has been almost in- variably in some way connected with the prevalence of the east, or Levant wind, and was never produced by or associated with a south wind. From the diversity of results arising from the same wind, and the sameness of effect resulting from currents of different character, we derive the proof that no particular wind can be said, with any show of reason, to constitute by itself the necessary and efficient cause of the disease, and that whenever any of them exercise an agency, as regards the origin or diffusion of the fever, it derives that power, not from the fact of its coming from any particular quarter, but from the temperature and hygrometrical conditions of the moving column of air, and more especially, perhaps, from the injurious effluvia it raises from the localities over which it passes, and which are carried along with it. Treating of atmospheric pressure, La Roche says, that "all that can be said on the sub- ject is, that a comparison of the state of the atmospheric pressure here and elsewhere during sickly seasons, with the results of observations made at periods when the disease does not show itself, does not lend much assistance to the belief in the reality of any such connection, so far, at least, as relates to the production of the efficient cause." He does not deny the influence which a difference of pressure of the atmosphere exercises on the system in health and disease, nor does he deny the fact that an undue increase of it produces unpleasant effects and leads even to diseased manifestations, and that other results of an equally deleterious effect attend an extreme in the opposite con- dition of the air: but there is nothing in all this calculated to induce the belief that it can do more than place the system in such a condition as will predispose it to the deleterions impression of some more efficient cause, especially when we find that the same condition of the barometer exists, as well when the yellow fever prevails as when it does not. The same may be said of the deficiency or excess of electricity. In Memphis in 1873, as well as in 1878, but especially the latter year, the absence of thunder-storms was so remarkable as to give rise to the belief that to this cause, above all others, was due the almost spontaneity and the malignancy of the fever. It was held by some that the atmosphere was deficient in ozone, and many expedients were resorted to to supply it in the belief that since it destroys the miasm


203


A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.


from decaying animal matter it would be found efficient in the sick-rooms, in hospitals, and infirmaries in destroying the poison or germs of yellow fever. Some trials were made with an apparatus sent out by a leading physician of Buffalo, and by the more simple medical formula so well known, but the fever made such havoc with those who attempted these tests that satisfactory results were not reached. This is to be regretted, as a definite result would have gone far to settle another of the disputes of the faculty. Some doctors declare that an excess of electricity is a considerable agency in the promotion, if not the production, of yellow fever, while others hold that the deficiency is. Writers on the fever in the West Indies ascribe to electricity great power as an exciting and predisposing cause in epidemics of yellow fever. Dr. Clarke, of Dominica, attributed the fever, on the contrary, to a deficiency of thunder, as did Dr. Lallemant, of Rio Janeiro. Such was the case, La Roche says, in New York in the fever of 1795 and 1822, in New Haven and New Lon- don in 1798, in Savannah in 1820, in Charleston in 1817, and in Philadelphia in the fatal year of 1798. During the forty-four years of exemption from the disease enjoyed by Charleston from 1748, there was a frequent recurrence of showers and thunder gusts. After 1792 these were less frequent, and the fever was more common. In 1815 a hurricane which swept over Jamaica is said, by Dr. Arnold, to have had a wonderful effect in purifying the atmosphere and mitigat- ing the effects of the fever. Dr. Caldwell, of Philadelphia, remarks that "during several of the yellow fever calamities in Philadelphia and the other Atlantic cities, electrical phenomena were unusually irregular. Shooting stars were at times abundant and brilliant in a degree far beyond what is common. Throughout some seasons, especially the summer of 1793, scarcely a gleam of lightning was to be seen, while in others, thunder-stornis were inordinately frequent and severe. In 1799 the shooting stars were most abundant." Other authorities ascribe to astral influences a direct and exciting agency for this as well as other diseases. In the Middle Ages this was the conviction of physicians and learned men, and there are not wanting some who, in our own time, boldly declare their belief that to planetary movements are we indebted for the decimating diseases which, under the name of the black plague, cholera, and yellow fever, sweep so many thousands from the earth, stop the wheels of commerce, and paralyze the energies of whole nations. Professor Jenkins, of England, in a recent article in the Pall Mall Gazette, not ouly avows his belief in the potency of the planets in controlling epi- demics, but gives the calculations which he has made through a series of years, and which are the reasons assigned for a belief which the prejudice against astrology does not prevent him from giving to the world. He write -: "About eight years ago I spent many months accumulating information ou cholera throughout the world, from 1816 to 1871. I tabulated my results. threw them into the form of a curve, and was surprised to find that there had occurred a great outbreak about every seventeen years, and that these outbreaks took place alternately at maxima and minima of sunspots. Certainly the sun-spots could not have produced the cholera. for there was a great outbreak when the spots were very plentiful, and the next when they were very few.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.