New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-01-04

but yellow fever, Immediately after the
vessels arrived, attacked persons who Wis
tied or were employed in discharglng these
vessels
The vessels should then be detained
longer than fifty days which arrive from
yellow fever infected ports, to be secure, II
we DEPEND on simple detention.
think that time as an element in quar-
antine is the least to be- depended on, the
most oppressive to commerce. the most
costly, and at the same time the least e1ec-
tive. There is at most quarantines nom
NAL disinfection Of infected ships. This con-
sists in pouring into the biige water few
pounds of chloride of lime or carbohc
acid, and sometimes. though rarely,
opening the matches and putting small
quantities of Gisinfectants on the cargo
Immediately underneath. The disease
germs Eay occupy any part OF me
the vessel or cargo, and 10 be effective tne
disinfectant should reach every part OF the
vessel, every crevice IN the cargo. ms
can only be done in cheap, quick, ana
thorough manner by the use of gaseous or
volatile disinfectants applied by SPECIAL
apparatus which l will describe. ms
method will perfectly destroy all disease
germs, and can be performed III four TO SIX
hours and will detain infected vessels less
than one Gay.
The apparatus consists of one or more
force-blowipg machines, put III motion oT
steam power, which are connected win
furnace for generating sulphurous aclo gas
with an apparatus for lnpregnatlng air
with carbolic acid vapor. and with 1ur-
mace for producing heated air. 10y the action
Of the blowing machines, air, which has been
charged with one of these di>infectants, is
forced through flexible pipes into every
compartment of the vessel to be dislutected,
until it is filled with a saturated atmos-
phere. All the apparatus Is TO be placed
on small steam tug, which will ne mooreu
alongside of the vessel to be dlslnfecteG.
The air forced into the hold is dlttused
everywhere, and penetrates every CRACK
%and crevice by virtue of its elasticity and
Ntfusiveness. This ditfusive power OF gases
is Nlown by an experiment of Berthelot,
perf0Sne6 at the Paris Observatory. He
took two glass globes. provided with stop
cocks, ana filled one with carbonic ac!d gas,
and the osher with hydrogen gas: he then
connected them by the stop-cocks, and
opened the sSsp-cocks so that the two
globes communicated with each other hy
an opening one-eiSSth of an inch III diane
ter. The globes we've placed so that the
one containing the light hydrogen was on
top, and the globe containSQg the heavy car
bOnic acid gas underneath now, as car
honic acid is twenty-five timesheavler than
hydrogen, if the gases obeyed>th usual
law OF gravitation. the carbonlc acfS should
remain in the lower globe and the hysIogen
in the upper; but this was not SO; tor. &ter
few hours rest BerthelOt examined TIE
contents of the globes and found that they
consisted OF uniform mixture OF the two
gases; that is, one-half of the heavy car
bonic acid had risen to the upper globe, and
one-half of the light hydrogen had iallea to
the lower globe.
Most iron steam vessels are provided with
a system OF pipes which lead from the en-
CINE room to every part of the vessel and
which are intended to distribute steam in
case of fire among the cargo. Through
these pipes any gOse0us disintectant can be
Distributed by connecting with the pipes of
the disinfecting vessel. In disinfecting sail
ing vessels small holes tabOut three inches
in diameter) can be made III the sides. The
disnfectipg gas must vary with the cargo
and with the disease. For disinfecting
clothes heated ayr of the temperature OF
2l2o Fahrenheit should be used. For disin-
fecting the hold of a sugar or coffee laden
vessel, sulphurous acid should be used.
This method of dsinfection, although
originally designed for yellow fever, is
equally applicable to cholera, smallpox, or
1yphus fever, or any communicable disease.
The cost of the apparatus would not exceed
$4,000 or $4,000 lG could be placed either on
a wharf, to which vessels to be disinfected
c0ulu De tOW6u, OF III Couiu Dc placed on a
small steamboat. The cost of di~infecting
materials for a vessel would vary from five
to ten dollars.
This cost is triting compared with the
cost of detention to vessels, as will be seen
by the accompanying table, which gives
the direct cost of detention to vessels at the
New Orleans quarantine. The indirect
losses to commerce by the restrictions of
quarantine, which drive trade to other
ports, are incalculable. Daring the quaran-
tine season at New Orleans, from June ID
to October Is, there arrived from ports
against which quarantine was declared
sixty four vessels.
Number OF steamers arrived from quarantine
ports. --,............ 10
Number of steamers detained at quarantine sta
ton. ......'........ Q ..S..---... -
Number of steamers not detained. ....,e.e.@.
Average detention of steamships days..........
Number OF sailing vessels detained at quaran-
blne. 20
Number of sailing vessels not detained at qua
IihtHie.' AZ
Average detention of sailing vessels days g. q
Cost of the detention to fifteen steamships
estimated at their daily average gross
earnings less the cost of fuel F2G 1874
Interest the value Of cargOes Of these
steamers during detention ! 200 |
Cost of the detention TO twenty eight sail
ing vessels U.JpZ
Interest on their carsOes. ...oee....ee.s.ea 3O4
Total. .....ssstss o.sF 81 ,9So