The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-04 00:00:00

THE ECLAIR AND THE AFRICAN

FEVER. -
(From the Medical Gazette.)
In the last volume of this journal some remarks were
made upon the alleged importation of the African fever.
and the state of the Eclair steam-sloop, which had
recently reached this country from the coast of Africa..
The official report of the condition of that vessel on its
arrival, by Sir W. Pym and Mr. J. M. Arnott, will be
found at p. 1,043 of the same volume. So soon as this
report appeared, we did not hesitate to express the
opinion, that the fever had certainly, in this instance,
spread by contagion, and that it was prebably some
severe modification of the African coast fever, described
by Dr. M•William as non-contagious. The report
rendered it evident that the fever thus imported to our
coast retained its virulent contagious character, even
after the arrival of the vessel at the quarantine station
of Standgaie Creek. This inference was drawn from
the facts-1, that so many medical man entering the
ship at different places during the voyage had been at-
tacked, and four had died ; 2, that the coast pilot taken
into the vessel at Portsmouth was speedily carried off by
an attack ; and 3, that a physician who had volunterred
his services on the arrival of the vessel at Standgate, had
been soon afterwards seized with the fever.
The circumstances which came to the knowledge of
Sir %V. rym and Mr. Arnott in October last appear to
have left not the slightest doubt in their minds that
there would be the greatest danger in allowing free
intercourse with this pestilential ship ; and subsequent
events have most strongly justified the conclusion at
which they then arrived. It was considered necessary:
—l. To observe strict quarantine. 2. To separate the
sick from the healthy so soon as an opportunity should
occur without endangering the public health. Some
dissatisfaction was expressed, at the time, that this plan
of separating the sick from the healthy had not been
adopted immediately on the arrival of the Eclair; and we
gather from the correspondence now before us, that a
proposition has been made to remove the sick at once to
Hasler Hospital. This was on the 29th September,
1845, when, on the day preceding, the following certifi-
cate had been given by Dr. T. H. Salter:—
" Motherbank Quarantine office, Sept. 28, 1845.
" I hereby certify that I have examined the comman-
der and surgeon on board her Majesty's steam-ship
Eclair. I find that as many as 60 have died of fever,
and that as many as seven are still suffering from that
disease. Three of the cases have commenced within the
last week; and the type of the fever is of the most severe
form—that accompanied with black vomiting. Under
these circumstances, I have recommended the superin-
tendent not to release the vessel, and submit this report
of the case. I cannot but consider the disease contagious.
" T. H. SALTER, M.D."

Dr. Richardson, however, in a letter addressed to the
Admiral of the station, calls the disease the " bilious
remittent fever," and ascribes its spreading among
the crew to the fact that they had all been exposed
to " malaria" on the coast. He further observes,
" Notwithstanding the extraordinary mortality that
has swept off so large a proportion of the
crew of the vessel, I entertain no fears of her being the
means of introducing epidemic disease into this country."
At the very time these lines were penned, the so-called
" bilious remittent" had actually, as we now find, be-
gun to spread with fatal rapidity among the inha-
bitants of the hospitable island where the vessel had
been allowed to take shelter on her way to England.
Dr, Richardson's view was supported by the opinion of
Sir W. Burnett ; but, fortunately for this country,
judging from the facts now brought to light in the cor-
respondence before us, these suggestions were not acted
upon. The vessel was ordered to Standgate Creek, and
arrangements were mane to separate the sick without
exposing any person to the risk of infection, or giving
this " bilious remittent " the opportunity of diffusing
itself through England. In our judgment, it certainly
would have been better could this plan have been carried
out on the first arrival of the vessel, without incurring
loss of time by sending her to a remote quarantine sta-
tion ; and Mr. Arnott, it appears, had entered into an
arrangement to that effect with Read-Admiral Parker.
We learn, however, from the correspondence of Sir
W. Pym, that there was a want of proper accommoda-
tion at the Motherbank; and, on the whole, it was con-
sidered better for the healthy and sick that the vessel
should proceed at once to Standgate Creek. The pro-
gress of the disease, after the arrival of the vessel there,
has been already detailed in our columns, and we shall
therefore pass to another part of the subject.
The most interesting portion of the correspondence
before us, is that which refers to the results which fol-
lowed the visit of the Eclair to Buns Vista. Govern-
ment has been fer some weeks in possession of the im-
portant information, which is now, for the first time, laid
before the public. The correspondence can, we think,
leave no reasonable doubt that the fever of the Eclair
was of the worst and most malignant form; that its real
character, as marked by the occurrence of black vomit,
was concealed from the Portuguese Governor-General of
Bona Vista; that it was eminently contagious, and
wholly different in its nature from the coast remittent
fever.

A letter addressed to the Earl of Aberdeen, by Mr.
Rendall, our consul for the Cape Verde Islands, dated
St. Antonio, December 22, 1845 (received March 9,
1846, extracts from which we have already published),
detailed the opinion which led to the belief that the
disease was the common African fever, which led to Dr.
Kenny granting pratique to the Eclair, and to the ad-
mission of her unfortunate crew to the fort upon the
Wand.

This letter, it will be observed, is dated Dec. 22. The
deaths are therein stated to have amounted, at that time,
to 250. The latest intelligence, in this correspondence,
brings us to a letter from Ponta do Sal Antonio, dated
March 9, 1846, received April 17. From this we learn
that the sickness still continued in the villages of the
interior of the island, and that the number of deaths
then amounted to upwards of 40G. Our space will
not allow us to make any futther comments on
this report in the present number ; but we must
request our readers to observe that after the crew
had left the ship, and were stationed on the islan:l, the
disease continued to spread and to prove equally fatal—
that only one short week after the departure of the
Eclair, a Portuguese soldier, who had been housed with
the crew, was seized and died, that the following day
another soldier died, that two more were seized, brought
into town, and from this time two or three cases occurred
daily, all within the immediate neighbourhood of the
houses where the first death took place! Those who
were inclined to disregard this clear order of causation,
and to refer the disease to stagnant water, malaria, &c.
—very convenient means of evading a difficulty in a
theory—now began to alter their opinion, and finally de-
clared the fever to be of a most contagious nature. If any
confirmation of this opinion be required, it will be found
in the statement that the fever, almost without exception,
proved contagious to those who acted as nurses to the sick!
Now we care not whether a disease of this description
be called " bilious remittent fever," or not ; but the facts
here related are entirely opposed to the premature as-
sertion of Dr. Richardson, that there would be no fur-
ther risk of infection under the circumstances than in
ordinary cases of typhus fever. These facts plainly
show that the greatest risk might have been incurred
by admitting this pestilential ship and crew to pratique
according to his suggestion. It is, indeed, a matter of
regret that while off our coast five persons should have
perished on board this vessel ; but we must balance
against this sad result, the fearul effects of that partial
intercourse with the crew which has led to the depopu-
lation of the island of Bona Vista, and its abandon-
ment by those who had strength to remove from it.
Aedical theories concerning the origin and progress of
fevers are very interesting as subjects of discussion,
and call forth much ingenuity, either in oral argu-
ment or written treatises. So long as they are
confined to discussion no harm is done ; but
when carried into practice, at the possible
risk of endangering the lives of thousands,
it is but a poor compensation to find, when hun-
dreds are laid in their graves, that the medical theorist
retracts his opinion and acknowledges his mistake. We
are no advocates for the maintenance of the quarantine
laws in their present absurd and anomalous condition ;
but we are still less disposed to join with the commercial
party, who either, cannot or will not see anything like
cause and effect in events like these, which to unbiassed
minds cannot fail to bring home the most complete con-
viction. If any explanation can be given of the diffusion
of this " common African fever" throughout the island
of Bona Vista, independently of its importation by the
Eclair, and its subsequent propagation by human conta-
gion, we think that the common opinion of small-pox
or any other disease being contagious, must be at once
abandoned. If no other explanation can be given than
that which we have suggested, then we must admit that
this country has had a very narrow escape from a disease
more dangerous than either the plague or cholera.
The most important question in the correspondence
on the subject of the Eclair is undoubtedly that which
relates to the contagious or non-contagious nature of the
fever, which this vessel is alleged to have brought from
the coast of Africa. On this point the Superintendent-
General of Quarantine, Sir W. Pym, and the Director-
General of the Medical Department of the Navy, Sir.
W. Burnett, entertain directly opposite opinions; and it
may he easily conceived, therefore, that the -Lords of the
Admiralty have felt exceedingly embarrassed in laying
down rules for the commanders of vessels on the African
station, or in advising or sanctioning a departure from
any of the quarantine regulations now in force. The
question at issue involves many important ques.
tions: thus it not merely includes the possible importa-
tion of a very fatal and unmanageable disease into our
own country, but the entire prohibition of commercial
intercourse with other European states. The fact that
we are satisfied with certain medical theories on the
subject, by no means binds other countries to join in our
views ,• and we should very soon find that by prema-
turely laying aside our own quarantine laws we should
only be adding; to the rigorous and universal application
of those restrictions which the non-contagionist party
already complain of as a great bar to commercial inter-
course. The House of Commons has already, and very
properly, sanctioned the principles of a relaxation of
these laws ; but the Government roust go beyond this,
before it undertakes their abolition—it must be prepared
to show, to the satisfaction of all European countries,
that there are no grounds for maintaining them, or a
reform of our own system will only be productive of
greater injury than that which already exists.
Thus, to take the case of the Eclair, we find from this
correspondence that, on the intelligence of the arrival of
this vessel in England reaching Naples, all English ves-
sels were immediately required to undergo a severe
quarantine, those coming from parts between Portland
and Dover be:rig absolutely excluded ! The British
Minister attempted to effect some mitigation of this
order—a representation having been made that, owing
to the sanitary restrictions imposed, the fever had not
spread ; but this was of no avail. Without entering
into the question of the Witte-nail of miasmata, the use of
ardent spirits, moral influences, &c., in the production
of the disease, or whether it was a river or coast Lever=
a simple serult/ent or a bilious remittent—the Neapo-
litan Council, on Cite Hai of October last, came at once