New-York daily tribune., 1855-08-20

While the other walks 10 our midst, GONZALES.
cent But these are almost daily occurrences,
and do Dot alsrm US, as they do not in any way
affect our security
That yello v fever should be at Norfolk is by
no means startling f ct, but that it sd 'gld
prevail a. sn epideD 10 so northerys latitude,
patuIsly sends US back in anxious retrospect
! to those old days of fstslity whea Baltimore,
/ Philadelphia and Nex-Ycrk became, so uulIke
| their prs-ent ch,rscter. cities Of he plague.
The last epidemic of yellow fever in New
York, so vivid Y remembered by many of her
Inhabitants to this day, ragged in the year 1872.
! The f 1t case occurred in Rector-st and WAS
report on the 10th of July the last so iate as
NoveD Der. Many of the iBhablt,nts lied before
the pestilence to what was then termed the
country, and which has now become, in the course
Of Its metropolitan growth, quite central and
! IopuloUs part of our City. To Greenwich, nov
| comprised within q few blocks of BRICK aud
hslfa-c oxen or 20 of sws mpg streets the pee? pie
Tesorted for pure air and rustic retirement
The business Of tie banks insurance companies
ard counting houses. were mostly moved thither
| temp, rarily.
The fact that cases of yellow fever are con-
staDtly brought from pestiential districts to
beautiful cities without generating the disease,
would seem to prove that the ma6dy is not by
any means contagious. The frequent inter-
course Of New.York with Vera Cruz, Havana
and Aspinw all, where the yellow fevsr is endemic
"a native ano constant resident Of the country
/ e., tbat of fha dtse ~
tuslly brought every year to our City, could net
fail. were it contag ous to inhct that pestilence
az an annual visitant upon our shores. Great
Britain, like other countries of Europe, has
never suffered from yellow fever, although its
relations with the West Indies and other pestl-
| lential localities have always been of the most
regular and intimate character, and though in
di,idual cases Of the disease, which had origl-
mated in ott er places, are occasionally found in
its hospitals. Is it possible to suppose, then,
that the disease is contagious
There is one fact which seems to be we'll
ascertained-that yellow fever does not prevail
in those districts exempt from the ordinary
malarious fever, of which the common fever and
spue is the most familiar example. There Is
some consolation to be derived, then from the
in proved condition Of our northern cities in this
respect, which, from their natural expansion and
superior construction, have become better
drained and of more wholesome character.
The introduction Of the Croton water into our
CIV, by increasing the cleanliness of the streets
and improving the habits of the people, has had
undoubtedly tendency to render it less liable
to feyers of all kinds
1t is difficult to specify the exact atmospheric
condition which has preceded or accompanied
the prevalence Of yellow fever. The cl'cnm-
stance, however which seems to be most favor
able is calm state of the atmosphere. In the
West Ipdes there bas generally been less yell)w
fever when the usual gales and hurricanes have
prevailed, and more when the season has been
remarkable for an absence of winds. The cleo
tric state of the atmosphere has undoubtedly
a .reat deal to DO with the existence of yellow
fever. 1t has been clearly shown that previous
and curing the epidemic those meteoro'
logical phenomena exist, which indicate an
unusual accumulation of electricity; and this
acoords with the absence of those winds and
storms which are necessary TO restore tle elec-
IT cal equilibrium. Heat il undoubtedly essen
tal to the gene ration and existence of the dis
ease, for it has always been found that black
frost arrests it at once. An unusually cool
Summer however, bas been frequently observed
as co-existent with an epidemic OF yellow
fever In the Summer and Autumn of 1922,
when the disease ragged at New-iork, none of
those excessively hot Gays were Observed which
usually occur in July or August. The same was
the experience in Phi.sdelpha, as it has been in
ether places.
The wooden docks and wharves Of large cities
have been supposed to be influential promoters
OF the disease: but whether this is owing TO the
fact of their being repositories of filth or to
their owl decomposition, has never been settled
by the doctors, who, as we all know, Provetblaliy
disagree. When the yellow fe yer was in this City,
the docks came in for great share OF the blame,
and il is feared that their present condition Is
lot such as to render them any less amenable.
But while most of the promoters of the dis
ease to which we have alluded are more or less
constant in their operations, how happens 1t
that the disease is by no means sol 1t cannot
be denied that the primary cause OF yellow
fever epidemic, like that of other pestilences, is
mystery not yet fathomed by science. There
are circumstances or concurrent causes, such as
we have spoken of, which favor It's Influence,
that are well ascsrtained, and that it behoOyes
us diligently to observe aud control so far as it
may be in the power of man. Everything which
is generally unfavorable to health is particularly
favorable to the production of every pestlence.