Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1857-05-16
The National Hotel Sickness.

The following letter from DR., G. 7.
Jackson, taken in connection with the
medical testimony at Washington, would
seem seem to establish the theory that the
National Hotel sickness was not the result
Of poison.
am surprised to see paragraphs going
the rounds Of the newspapers, in which
the peculiar disorder which affected the
inmates Of the National Hotel, at Wash
iugton, is attributed to 40 alleged admix-
ture of arsenic, or some other poison, with
the food or water used in that hotel.
An intelligent medical committee made
due inquiry iuto the origin of the disease,
at the time it occurred, and gave US the
result of their investigations the opinion
that il was caused by gaseous emanations
from the common sewer, which had a free
opening into the cellar of that hotel, while
the gases were prevented from escaping
in'o the avenues and streets by ighl
shoppers or traps. This opinion all the
facts il the case fully corroborate, and it
will undoubtedly be sustained by legal
inves,iga ion, which understand is to take
place at Washington.
1t is very easy to prove that the disorder
in question did not originate from any
poison contained in the food or water of
the hotel; for i, has been shown that per-
sons who did not eat or drink in the hotel
were as severely affected as those whe did
cat and drink there.
hpn crrh ,,p,lor crao, o1
and daily observation, during stay at
Washington, in the month of March last.
1t was thar of legal gentleman, who was
employed in taking depositions en- the
subject Of The National Hotel disease, who
spent but six hours in the n National Hotel,
aud who had occasion to examine the eel
lar and drains of the house. lie perceived
very disagrceablo odor ia the room 10
which he was wiring, and found it came
from an old regi ter which opened in o the
cellar. He went down into the cellar, and
found the odor much stronger, and on
arriving at the opening Of the drain, the
blast OF foul air was SO strong as to cxtin-
guish The lamp he held in his hand and
the smell that arose fri IN the drain was
very offensive and almost intolerable
/ his gentleman did not eat or drink
anything in that hotel, and yet he was
attacked with the same disorder as others
who had been inmates of the hotel, and
be suffered more than three weeks fro N it,
and was not quite cured when l lett
Washington.
This well ascertained case is sufficient
to prove that the disorder was not produced
by poisons mixed with food or drink.
heard of several others of the same nature
but am not personally coguizaut Of the
facts.
From what | was able to learn, am
perfectly convinced that the disorder at
the National Hotel arose wholly from gas
eous emanations from the drains connected
with the common sewers, and it is highly
probable that the very warm days of Feb
ruary list contributed TO the production
of this poisonous miasma.
No chemical, or reliable medical evil
dence, has yet been adducod, to prove
that any one Of the persons who We're sick
with this disease had taken any poisons of
any kind into their stomachs. 1t is proper,
it appears to me, to correct public mis-
apprehension on this subject, aud at once
discharge from our minds the unfounded
suspicion that anyiudividual had attempted
so gross and horrible a crime, as the poi
soning of the whole company Of crowded
hotel. G. 7. j.