Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-08-30
y ellOW FeVer.

1
that it might spread further North, and with
Ell with its terrible blight the prosperity o.
Philadelphia and New York.
The latter city has had many visitations Of
the scourge. 1t appeared there in the years
1741, 1742, 1871, 1895, 1898, 1893, 1900
1903, 1905, 1919, and 1922. In 1893 in a
population of $1,000 there 2o36 deaths In
1905 thirty thousand OF the inhabitants fled
from the city
Philadelphia was nearly desolated by it in
| 1893 and again in 170S. In the former year
some four thousand persons died. and the
mortality was not much less in '9S.
There is a diversity of opinion among
'trnedicsfmen whether The fever is strictly a
contagious disease.
writer in a resent number of the New
York Tribune seems to hold the doctrine that
tits not. The following extract is interesting
"The fact that cases of yellow fever are
constantly brought from pestilent;al districts
to healthful cities without generating the dis
ease, would seem TO prove that the malady
quent intercourse of New York with Vera
Cruz. Havana and Aspinwall, where the vel
low fever is endemic--a native and constant
resident of the country-and the fact that
cases of the disease are actually brought ev-
cry year to our City, could not fail, were it
contagious, to infiict that pestilence as an an
nual visitant upon our shores. Great Britain,
like other countries of Europe, has never
| Srrff olf
lations with the West Indies and other pesti-
lential localities have always been of the most
regular and intimate character, and though
individual cases of the disease, which had
originated in other places, are occasionally
found in its hospitals. Is it possible to sup
pose, then, that the disease is contagious?
"There is one fact which seems to be well
ascertained-that yellow fever does not pre-
vail in those districts exempt from the ordi-
nary malarious fever, of which the common
fever and ague is the most familiar example.
There is some consolation to be derived, then,
from the impoved condition Of our northern
cities in this respect, which, from their natural
expansion and superior construction, have
become better drained and of a more whole
some character The introduction of the
Croton water into our City, by increasing the
cleanliness of the streets and improving the
habits Of the people, has had undoubtedly
tendency to render it less liable to fevers of
all kinds.
at is difficult to specify the exact atmos-
pheric condition which has preceded or ac-
companied the prevalence of the yellow fe-
yer. The circumstance, however, which
seems to be most favorable is calm state of
the atmosphere. In the West Indies there
has generally been less yellow fever when the
usual gales and hurricanes have prevailed,
and more when the season has been remarka- |
bic for an absence of winds. The electric |
state of the atmosphere has undoubtedly a !
great deal to do with the existence of yellow
fever. 1t has been clearly shown that previ- |
Gus and during the epidemic those meteoro-
logical phenomena exist, which indicate an |
unusual accumulation of electricity; and this !
accords with the absence of those winds and |
rizisis --sstrrc-ti,c eief.
trical equilibrium. Heat is undoubtedly es.
sential to the generation and existence Of the
disease, for it has always been found that
black frost arrests it at once. An unusually
cool Summer, however, has 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
York, none of those excessively hot days
we're observed which usually occur in July
or August. The same was the experience in
Philadelphia, as it has been in other places"
The Journal of Commerce publishes let
ter from Portsmouth Virginia, which presents
melancholy picture.
Extract Of letter, dated
PoRTsMoTH, Va, Friday Morning, 18th.
In relation to the condition of the town,
it is completelyly deserted. A gloom settled
and thick hangs over the community that is
left. The adjacent country-all along the
line of the roads occupied by our people,
many of them at least whose limited means
you are well aware of-many of these hon.
est and working people, left I'm sure without
the means of sustaining themselves, depend
ing upon circumstances, and yielding to the
entreaties of their wives and children to flee
from the pestilence. / anticipate most try
ing winter. There is no calculating what the
suffering may be when the whole tide of
population pours into town again,-without
funds, and fear reduced both in mind and
body. Some of our sistsr towns and cities
are moving in their behalf, and Petersburgh
has acted generously and nobiy in forward
ing already $1,000 for the present relief of
the needy, the sick, the destitute orphan and
widow. Our Academy is now occupied by a
number Of these latter, who are superinten-
ded by Sister of Charity.
! To-day | learn that old Mr.. Ashton, and
young DR.. Buck Coche, have been taken to
the Hospital; and that Capt. Chambers, who
has been very active in looking out for the
sick, has been stricken down by the pestilence.
hope the attack will prove resistible. 1t is
here deemed of a mlder type than the orig
inal cases in Gosport, though the number of
new cases and deaths also continues the same.
| send you herein number of the Trans
cript which has not been issued for many
days. l went up in the Office, and there
found Fiske, our Mayor, alone at work at the
press, and throwing the numbers off fast as
as he could. All his hands are gone. Maui
pins, Bilsoli's and Neyille's are the only
groceries open. / advise you by all means
not to return here. You would be more
exposed than am, for | am somewhat
acclmated, hope. Mrs. Barrand is i'll in
Norfolk with the fever.