The Weekly comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1853-1855, 1855-02-11

by authority OF The City Councu OIL
New Orleans, embracing information
from all parts Of the State, is out !;
and we are obliged to the gentlemen
Of the Commission for o copy of it,
During that most gloomy period in
the history Of our metropolis, the city
council adjourned for the summer, and
to The Doard Of Health, and the "1Io-
wards was left the entire charge Of
the sick. and little else was done by
this substitute for the municipal gov
ernment, than provide for the living
sick and the dead. II was under res
olutim of the Board of Health, that
the Sanitary Commission was appoint
ed and II was made to consist Of the
Hon. A. y. Crossnah, Mayor OF the
city; Drs, Barton, Arson. Mcneil
Simonds and Riddell.
To this Commission were deputed
special instructions for inquiry and in
yesiigation, viz
1st.-To inquire into the origin and
mode of transmission OF propagation of
the late epidemic yellow fever.
2d.-To inquire into the subject Of
sewerage and common drains, their
adaptability to the situation Of our
city, and their influence on health.
3d,-1'o inquire into the subject Of
quarantine, its uses and applicability
here, and its influence in protecting
the city from epidemic and contagious
maladies. and
4th.-To make a thorough exam
ination into The sanitary condition Of
the city, into all causes influencing it,
in present and previous years and to
suggest the requisite sanitary inca
sures to remove or prevent them aud
into the causes of yellow fever III ports
and other localities having intercourse
with New Orleans.
II seems after all, the information
collated, that still the cause or causes
of "yellow fever are not known En-
quiry has been directed to the wrong
channel for information for after all,
what does the mere narration in The
practice Of the physician, Of individu-
al cases amount to 7 M light is she'd
for the same result Of death has been
arrived at, Lv adverse routes, SO dit.
ferent that the most skillful practice has
not been able to trace any affinity
The symptoms Of the disease have
been nearly as varied as the number
of subjects that have fallen victims to
it and even now with all the inform.
alton before us, whether the yellow
fever is oontagious--or even infections,
is unsettled. IF the proposition is nd
lnitted that there is a change in some
one of natures elements to cause this
seourge to make its appearance, then
the question arises "What is it ?"
And how else can it be known than
by chemical and philosophical observ-
alton 7 II is orr belief, that were this
kind Of enquiry made at the expense
Of the State-that if tables were kept for
number of years, with good apparatus
in scientific hands; that facts would be
developed in short time, worth all
The Meory Of which we are now in
possession. As to quarantine laws"
we believe that SO far from acting as a
preventative, they have counter ef-
feet. t...
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Nor so STRANGE AFTER ALL.-The
True Delta speaking of Mrs Briggs
and General Clifford tho model dwarfs,
and Miss Morehouse the giantess, in
the same connection, says that they
have at "Vannuchi's" a still greater
moral curiosity in hybid Bear Wo-
man. This is not so very strange.
As moral spectacle it is not half so
nrnni Il n,rinait. m tho Rnnrdnd W.