The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-10-23
The Character of the Malignant Fever at
MemphiSs

1t is q remarkable fact that the medical fac
ulty of Memphis are by no means unit as to
the disease now prevailing in the city That it
is yellow fever is asserted by some, but that it
is nothing more than virulent type Of the
common malarial fever of the Mississippi bot
tom is the opinion of more than one of the
best physicians we have The fact that it is
contagious or communicated by contact with
the infected persons proves nothing, since
science has demonstrated that nearly every
form of disease is more or less of contagious
nature If not yellow fever, then, and if a
malignant type of malarial fever, why should
it be present here in Memphis at this time
The leading physicians of New Orleans an
nounced within the last two or three days that
there was not a single case of yellow fever In
the Crescent City, the hitherto supposed hot
bed of that fear-inspiring malady, and that the
season of the year. We hear of no yellow fever
in Galveston, of nonc in Charleston, S. O., of
none in Havana, one of the original introdu
GERS of the pestilence into the American con-
tinent. Is it not a little strange that, in view
of the fearful ravages of the so-called yellow
fever" in Shreveport, Louisiana, and of the
public mind outside of Memphis, touching
the fatality of that disease in this city, New
Orleans and the cities of the Mexican Gulf
the continental gates of ingress of this tropical
pestilence-should be free from the presence
of the destroyer? 1t is accepted, too, we be-
lieve, among the medical profession as theo-
renlic truth, postulate, that the negro is not
liable to be attacked by yellow fever, his tropi-
cal blood being, it is assumed fortified against
a disease indigenous to the tropics.
But the prevailing fever has not respected
this light of the colored man, which the if
teenth amendment to the Constitution of the
United States fails to cover or protect, and our
daily mortuary report shows that black men
die of the disease as we'll as white Eminent
practice in the Mississippi bottom, character
| lied by all the symptoms and effects of the
| present disease, including the "coffee grounds"
elections from the stomach, and the saffron
color of the victim after dissolution, and yet
there was no "yellow fever" in the country at
the time, and no man dreamed of calling the
disease by any other name than malarial fever
But, leaving the calculation of this Interesting
question to our learned friends of the school
Esculapian, we cannot avoid the fact that
disease of malignant type is among US, Wig
orously plying its mission of death; nor are we
less persuaded that this fatal fever has its hid
den. but plain, cause here in Memphis. A
subject of as much Importance as this dreadful
| pestilential visitation naturally awakened in
duiry, and inquiry has discovered a condition
of things so appalling as to excite the wonder
that the death dealing breath of pestilence has
not before this decimated our population. we
have no system of sewerage in Memphis, and
the necessary consequence is that the filth Of
the city is left to take care of itself. Our SAN
itary police consist, for the most part, of some
half dozen of the chain gang, who occasionally
do little more than emancipate the confined
odors of the kenpels of Main Street, and give
wings to imprisoned efHuvia. Our alleys and
obscure streets are left to the rag pickers, to
porcine and canine scavengers, to cleanse them
Of their superhuous foulness, and were it not
for the the rains of pitying heaven, would of
themselves give abundant employment to our
undertakers and grave diggers. And yet these
are the least of the Objectionable features
touching the violation of the laws of hygiene
in Memphis We almost shudder when we
consider the condition of every private family
in Memphis in the matter of u supply of pure
water Nearly every family in the city is de-
pendent upon cistern for its supply OF water ;
nearly every cistcrn in the same yard, in close
proximity to, and generally in geographical
line with the privy No intelligent man need
be told of the proclative and absorbent quail
ties of the earth, and no Memphian need be
reminded of the difficulty of finding cistern
water in the city free from the impurities of
animalcul@ induced by decomposition. The
train of evils following these disagreeatb,l!e
truths will suggest themselves to the lntelll- ell
gent reader without further elaboration. Inc
great question with us now IS TO apply the
remedy. and no time is better than the present
to awaken the community to proper sense OF
the esituation.-IiemY'his Appcal
A professor, in explaining to a class of