Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-26

upon a conviction. Ihey could NOS
foresee that the weather would turn
warm and the fever hold on so long
We all hoped otherwise, but the facts
should have been met and not denied
or concealed. Doctors are not infalii-
bic, nor should we expect too much OF
them. DR.. Dowell, one Of the
most distinguished of the frater-
nifty, candidly admitted that after
studying the yellow fevea life time he
knew no more about curing it than
the Spaniards did three hundred years
ago. When the fever broke out so
Indignantly at Grenada it was given
out that the cause was mainly the
opening Of an offensive sewer, This
theory was exploded. DR.. Cochran,
Of the United States commission, has
since been there and made a thorough
examination. DIR. Cochran says that
the first case, although not at the time
ACKNOWLEDGED as such, occurred
with the person Of Mrs. Captain Fields,
who lived near the depot. She was
taken IN the 10th of July and died on
the 31a
She had black vomit, skin very yellow,
and the body after death was very much
discolored, swelled up rapidly and became
very offensive. Her disease was named
by the attending physicians malarial con-
! eestiye fever. She died on Monday night,
was put in a metallic case on Tuesday
afternoon, and was buried from the Pres
byterian church N Wednesday. The
funeral was largely attended, and there
! being some leak in the casket, the body
smelt so bad as 70 attract general remark,
and to cause great nausea to many who
were near it in the church, and several
subsequent cases were ascribed TO this TACT
She was treated by Drs. Hughes and Hall
both Of whom died during the epidemic
and who at the time pronounced the cas-
to be one Of c0ngestive malarial fever, bu'
afterwards they were satisfied it was vel
low fever.
From this, the FIRST case, the diseas,
was. communicated to nearly the entir,
Fields family. Out of a family o
thirteen, Of whom several were bu
slightly exposed, there we're ten cases
seven deaths, three recoVeries an,
three escapes. In the immediat
neighborhoOd Of Mrs. Fields resi-
dence, and among all the families VII
had visited her, there occurred i
rapid succession a large number G
cases. Many contracted the diseas
who only attended her funeral, whe.
the bad smell Of her body was re
marked BY all The local physician
of Grenada, Ike some We ha
here, were unwilling to az
knowledge that the earlier case
were yellow fever. They were, n
doubt afraid it would iHjure business.
1t was not until the 9th of Angus
that they announced to the commuh.
I " that the disease was the SOuther
epidemic. Then a panic ensued
. the physicians had given Mrs. Field
case the right name at the start
would have saved hundreds Of liyi
in that unfortunate town. But the
reserved the announcement until Il
place vas thoroughly injected, and
was too late TO isolate cases or preveI
its spread. It Is not easy to undei
stand why . class Of men as faithful
brave and learned as physicians usua
ly are, should hesitate to call yello
fever By its proper name whenever
appears, whether early or late in Il
season It Is better to kno
where a danger Is than
-
stumble on it blindly and unprepare
: We have little doubt from what son
/, physicians have stated that yellC
fever appeared in Memphis as early
the latter part Of June in 1873
was declared an epidemic on the IA
!. Of September Of that year and on {
2Oth Of August this year, althouI
some Of the physicians never agreed
call the epidemic yellow fever at a
The LEDGER insisted, during both
these epidemics, in publishing all t
I facts that could be obtained, and b
at all times, in season and out Of 81
son, urged heobseryance and enforC
ment Of the laws Of health. Even
faT back as 1866 and 1867 we had mu
to say on the subject. But the wa
= ings Of the press fell unheedr
A spirit of money-making absorb
all such minor considerations amc
those Of influence and power, and
= hold the result Nearly two thousa
= paupers were buried during the
three months in the potter s-feld, a
!, our beautiful Elmwood looks like
plowed field. For trying to avert t
and a like recurrence from year
I, year, this paper has been denounc
abused, and even threatened witt
y. withdrawal Of patronage, and one fe
~ cious Howard, famous chiefly as su
threatened personal consequent
Having been consistent on this subj,
y. We have labored from a conviction
What 10 rigbf and n oonco &C J,t,