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
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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-
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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
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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.
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