New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-08-27
THE ICTEROID VIRUS OF YELLOW
FEVER.

NEW ORLEANS, August q, 1867.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN,;
Having had much experience in yellow
fever as surgeon of the Louisiana cavalry,
and surgeon in charge of the fifth infantry
at Galveston, Tampico, and Vera Cruz and
subsequently in this city during epidemic
seasons, /. e. when fifty or more died every
day, it might be of service to the profession
and public generally to inform them of the
result of my experience and observations,
clini' ally, and in the dead-house.
l. Certain morbid conditions of the liver,
kidneys, and bowels, and their contents,
are the primary causes of yellow fever, and
they are present in all such patients. Per
sons healthy in all their organs and viscera
can never become victims to this disease.
2. These morbid conditions instead of
| being extended by nature are retained and
taken up by the obsorbGnts, and carried
| into the circulation of the blood, when the
| choleric acid ofthe bile, unites with the uric
| acid of the urine, and the alyine matters
| of the intestnes undergoing decomposition,
and form what call the icteroid virus, be-
cause they permeate and stain of jauu-
| dice-like hue every part of the body, and
| traverse the nerves and nervous centres,
where, by their destructive chemical action
| they induce pains in the bones, and other
4 tissues intense fever, headaches, bloodshot
| eyes, restlessness, delirium, and death.
| 3. The proof that this icteroid virus is
| composed of suck molecules in state of
morbid chemical action and is the cause
aborigine of yellow fever, is the undeniable
fact that whenever such morbid conditions
are eliminated in the course OF few hours
from the body, the patient invariably re-
covers about the third day; the headache
vanishes, the fever subsidies, the pulse falls
from l30 to 90 in twenty y-four hours, and a
warm perspiration, attended with genial
glow and slumher tells the patient that the
danger is over.
A. Another proof that my logical deduc-
tions are philosophic and truthful is that in
all my examinations blythe bedside and in
the dead.house, the liver is as nearly double
its natural size, gorged with bile that, in
dissections, stained the scalpel at every
point of incision; one or both kidneys
were aleo enlarged, and the urine was
often gave the urine specific gravity oi
1880. The small and large intestines were
also nearly full Of matters undergoing de
composition; and finding these conditions
in every one whom examined in life and
dissected in death, led me TO excite tC
vigorous action the sensory and motive
nerves that govern the functions of the
liver, kidneys, and bowels, and expel theil
| contents from the body; then with warm
sponge baths, well ventilated room, black
tea-warn, or water iced, and beef tea, now
and then, night and day, always recovered
the patient about the third day, OF al
, the hundreds of soldiers and citizens who
have been nay patients in the south, since
, discovered the pathology OF yellow fever,
have saved so per cent; and should have
saved the other three if assistance had beer
sought two days earlier. At Vera Cruz the
. battle between these deadly icteroid mole
cules and the citadel of life is won by the
former on the third day. In New Orleans
I it continued with a similar result to thu
! fifth day; but it is during the first forty
eight or sixty hours the battle is most in
! tense in all cases, and demands the creates
1 | generalship. Having found out the relative
: and morbid anatomy Of each case gene
.. rally succeed in eliminating all the bile an'
alvine, amounting to several quarts, IL
!. effectually accomplished, order warn
: sponge bath and warm black tea, AM
a good drink of cool cistern water; thel
a by the basic alkalies, or mineral acids, &C
cording to the chemistry and specific grayl
l. ty of the urine, / continue the treatment I
a recovery, which happens on third, fifth
, seventh, and ninth day, according to N
tread in your footsteps, and b
: radical in their treatment Of yellow fevei
7 as you are in politics, and not treat effect
, instead of causes, patients wopld live an
4 not die; but SO long as they resort to book
Z and ignorant nurses for information, whic
= ! know TO be fact, instead of the natur;
i body and chemical physiology, 80 long wi
is this disease be dread to the people, and
reproach to our God-like profession.
L. II. EvERITT, NJ. D.,
Member of Royal College of Surgeons.