The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-09-05
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE FELLOW
FEYER-IIs HISTORY AND
CONDITIONS.


l. the yellow fever In l7gt, in No
b, Haven, G.. My mother hsd it. NJ
II father remained in Philadelphia tul
re ing it, mortal prevalence in i79S, an
Df / visited New York in 1872, when
e prevailed there. These circumstance
2, proving that yellow fever had pr'
le vailed and might prevail in NOrther
:, cities, drew my attention to its hi
It tory and condition. The results ms
"a be interesting to the reader at a tim
E. when this plague Is so prevalent j
is the Mississippi Valley. First, Of il
z history: There is no mention OF To
l. yellow fever previous to the middl
e Of the seventeenth century-say lGJl
a and one Of the most remarkable IN
d stances Of its appearance wss in tn
l. city Of Philadelphia, now land posi-
n bly, them the cleanest city in tn
ir United States. In 1899 William PEN
- returned from England to his Penn
/, sylvsnia colony in December. H
:, found it had been ravaged by the yel
b low fever, which is thus mentiOnei
s. in Holmes annals: "a mortal dis
8 ease, called the yellow fever, hst
q swept away great numbers OF peOpl
4 Just before his srrivAl.D To under
: stand how it may prevail In Northern
: cities, take the case OF Philadelphia
h. II has appeared there several times
: and IN two remarkable years will
: great mortality. In 1898 no less thar
: $500 persons died in Philadelphia
!. from yellow fever. In l7gS 8. 3.6I5 per
: sons died OF this disease. Philadel.
, phis in 1888 had about $1,000 in
: hsbitants, 30 that about one In fifteen
nf tho in, IA d 70 "a hfah in laaa
r three months. This is q mortality far
i exceeding that of the south now. II
we suppose that 10 900 of the people
OF Cincinnati were to die between
, the lst of August and the lst of No.
vember, we should get correct idea
: OF the proportion OF mortality in
= Philadelphia. Yellow fever has been
there at other tiIAes, but very seldom
, in the present century. 1t has visited
New York twenty-five times, but
never as fatally as in Philadelphia.
In 1922, when 1 was there q day or
two, the three lower wards were boar
ded of, and the fence was marked,
"The Infected District" 1t had be-
gun at the foot Of Rector street, and
never got into the upper part Of the
city, but within the infected district
it was quite fatal. 1t visited New
Haven, CT, as / have said, in 1874.
The mortality was not great, but the
town was small. Yellow fever and
scarlet fever prevailed together, and
the deaths by both were about one In
eighteen. The cases / have men,
TENED, and some OF them attended
with extreme mortality, show that
the cities OF the North are not ex-
empt from it, even in its most malig-
nant form. Let Us no Y attend to the
mode of its transmission. or the
facts there is no doubt, but of the
theory the doctors, as usual, have
various opinions.
Secondly-Of its transmission.
Yellow fever, like cholera, follows the
great lines OF commercial intercourse.
In New Haven in 1874 IL was traced
distinctly to vessel from the West
Indies. 1t has been traced, in many
cases, to the arrival of persons or
clothing from infected districts. To
quarrel about its being contagious or
not contagious is of no use whatever.
| The practical result is the same as il
/ it was contagious. IL person comes
| from New Orleans to Cincinnati and
brings the yellow fever, It is no mat
| ter whether IL was communicated by
the touch or by the clothing or in any
manner, 1t is enough that he brought
IL. The cholera is 3 signal example
of this. 1t landed at Quebec from an
emlgrant ship, and thence proceeded
all over the United States by canals,
rivers, and other lines OF commercial
communication. Yellow fever seems
to proceed from local poison, which
may become personal, in the prison
or clothing Of its subject. We have
seen it go into dozen towns OF Mis-
sissippi just as regularly as persons
came there from other places, or as
the freight of goods on commercial
lines. This principle is, however, ar
rested by a modification under certain
condition. II patient with the yell
low fever be taken from the infected
spot into pure air, he generally gets
well and does not communicate it.
Such an example was that OF the
gentleman taken into the Cincinnati
Hospital. This certainly goes to show
that it is not strictly contagious. On
the other hand, at Grenada, two ply
sicians and several nurses were seized
with the yellow fever. There are two
modes in which this plague may
come. The first is when there is an at
mOsphere and q condition natural to it,
as in the West Indies or New Orleans.
Before Gen. Butler cleaned New Or
leans, that city had not been without
the fever for many years. The second
case is when it is carried on CONNER
cisl lines, as box Of goods IL carried,
localized in a small space, as in cloth
ing, or persons, or in vessel whose
special atmosphere is poisoned with
it. Such was the case in the John
Porter. 1t was in vain to cleanse the
vessel or send doctors. The only
proper way was to stop the vessel at
some healthy spot on the river, and
put all the people on shore. In this |
localized form the poison is like yeast, |
which, put into \ proper material, |
will at once ferment the whole.
Thirdly-The origin or cause of yell |
low fever is utterly unknown. When |
you attempt to define the conditions |
under which 1t appears you succeed |
very well in the West Indies and the |
Lower Mississippi, but when you ap-
ply the same conditions to other parts |
of the globe, where, according to your
theory, 1t ought to appear, it never |
appears at all. A doctor in the Ga
-ette says that yellow fever appears |
under certain combinations OF earth,
air, and water; of high temperature,
land surrounded or immersed in wa
ter. This will do for mslarial fever,
but it does not do for yellow fever. |
The conditions under which he says it /
exists are found in much higher de-
gree in India and China, where yellow
fever is never found. Malarial fevers
of malignant character are found in |
Asia, but not yellow fever. The truth
is, this disease is confined to small
portion OF the earth. Its greatest prev
alence and malignity are found in
America, 8nd that too within COM
paratively narrow limits. 1t has new
sr, l believe, appeared on the lakes or |
the strictly interior Of the country. |
1t is confined to the Gulf Of Mexico,
the Atlantic, and the streams leading |
into them. The cholera, on the other |
hand, has gone all over the world. |
The yellow fever is localized both on |
large and a small scale.
FourthIy-Of preYentives and REM |
euIes. To prevent yellow fuV1iI Uh1Io
are three modesto cleanse q city, as |
Butler did New Orleans; to quarsn-
tine it against intercourse, and to run |
away. The last is the most effectuAl, |
if taken in time. But for the majOri- |
ty, necessity, convenience, or duty. |
Obliges them to remain. My father |
remained In Philadelphia during the |
great plague which desolated the city |
in 1875. He did not take it, and was |
never afraid OF it.
Quarantine Is useful to q certain eX- |
tent, but is only partial. Several per-
SONS have already passed through Gin !
cinnati with the yellow fever. Yet TO
permit q vessel to land, which was
known 10 to be a depository of it, as
the John Porter, would be a foolhardy |
and unnecessary exposure. Quarsn-
tine renders It more difficult for q |
plague to come on, and this i5 about |
ali that can be can said OF IL. In |
city where yellow fever Is not q ma |
tive, as in Cincinnati, the best pre-
ventive is to clean it perfectly; and |
especially all sewers, cesspooIs, s1d
places of local filth. In such places
cholera, yellow fever, and typhoid
fever prevail with most malignancy.
AS to remedies, believe 1t Is not
pretended there is any. One of the
FOoforS in fhe SDuth said certain DPr-