Semi-weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1871-1872, 1871-09-07
HECTU1E
.r,,J.NrLY DELIVERED Al STRAIGHT
UNIVERSITY
ny !. T. NEWMAN, VI. ID.
I,pIr. AND GrNrLENEx:s&

We have met again at our APP
noiuted rendezvous to instruct each
other with the ridirgs Of truth which
sc bring before you for your dis
tinguished consideration. aae-
In accordance with our promise,
~ will consider the endemic di-
ceases of the State of Louisiana,
but will first take up bilious yellow
fever.
1st What is the nature Of the
malaria that produces bilious fever?
9nd From what source is it derived?
9rd What are the best means of pre-
ranting its formation, and how may
Is effects on the human system he most
cartainly obyiated?
These subjects L shall now briefly
consider in the order that they present
,b,u,-!,e, to me- What is the nature
OF the malaria that produces billions
f.rr.
To thi, question | answer unhesiia-
te5Iv thafr do not know; nor is there
.gy one better Informed than myself.
"a. present state of science does not
sJBit 81 any better information. By
NO o,hei list than its deleterious effects
N the animal kingdom. more especi-
sllv on man. can even the existence of
ih- poision be established. ..tI
OF ito nature or composition, or the
,pecirs 10 which it belongs, no more is
known than is Of the poison of small
poy. or .',fJieS c,mjbo. Here the mat
len might seem to rest for the present
aeyei not for the multiplied errors
that are ahoat. The exposure OF some
Of which in its beneficent effects would
seem only TO be second to the truth
Itself. The malaria OF bilious fever is
supposed. no doubt correctly, to be
the product of chemical agency, S..
The disciples OF the laboratory have
exlrted herculean efforts TO discover
its hidden recesses, but in no instance
have then labors been satisfactorily
rewarded Virtually. they have "pnr-
sued a phantom and found it air.
Their efforts have been like n child
that pur9ues It's shadow. Ispenk from
personal experiences Ihave very often
pursued the same phantom, and have
met with the same disappointments.
They were tried on the atmosphere
where slight intemittents prevailed and
where the yellow fever ragged with more
naligDancy than i'll New Orleans. But
INV experiments We're tried to no pur-
pose in the air. Where man contracted
the disease soonest, there was no more
tace Of poison discovered tinn is seen
al Mont Bilnc. Nor could nnX ex-
iaueous matter be discovered in one
body Of air more than another. In
ta'h all of the atmospherical compon-
Eli. were present in their natural pro-
portions aud nothing clse was found;
neither the deficiency ri oxygen nor a
snperObnnlencr Of carbonic acid gas,
nor no other known chemical CON-
pound could lie indicated ~ the cause
OF the disease then prevailing.
That evil was then the product OF
lurking poison whose very existence
could only be discovered as it injured
minated nature But NJ relates to
the nature of bilious malaria, the in
fnence of chemistry has not been
merely negative. II has not only fail
Ell 10 confer any benefit on the medi-
cal profession, but has proved to be a
source of positive mischief. This it
has done by becoming a hot bed of
hypothesis to the. exclusion of practi-
cd observation. During the reign of
ultra chemistry, when the entire sys-
TN Of man was considered labora-
Tory. and almost every science was
aAIierated by the caloric Of the crit
r'i.' O. the fumes Of the retort. it was
impossible that malaria should not be
'nslirrtd product of the same
s1nfce; and as some chemist affected
knowledge, not only of al the clements. |
oa' also OF all the combinations Of
matter, IT was inevitable that they
should indemnity the poison in ques- |
'on with one OF the other of the gases
'''nei by their experiments.
from i!Ii7 arose a state of things
which seemed TO proclaim that the
"'ll province Of chemical physicians
~ 20 deal IN conjecture And their
az was practised indiscriminatelv on
tue ph"nomina of living and dead
matter Hence, as respected malaria,
we Dram of every member of that
u''' brought forth his own peculiar
'''''' until the motely brood euualled
""lnhet the ludnrous fables os
Ae>op.
linus You see that no one is inform
'" y" 'ilr origin OF malarial fevers: but
Id as remember, the medical world
5'''0 has attributed Yellow Fever to
spontaneous generation of nitrous
'T s9' Some distinguished medi-