American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-12-14
NIiSsissilp,Di in the National Health
Cow CIst ION.

ut hOtdtc W liiNii We va = tiit
honor To represent having been one
of the chief sufferers from the re-
cent epidcmic OF yellow fever, 1t is
proper that We should say acme
thing to this meeting. The arduons
duties incident To the epidemic left
no time for us to collect statistics,
and We will, therefore, not attempt
to enter details. but what we have
20 say will be i'll IL general way. On
the 2d of August, when only a com
paratively small number OF cases OF
yellow fever were officially reported
III the city of New Orleans, our
towns located on the Mississippi
lliyer and on tue railroads.. began 70
establish 9uaIant.Tes under the az
rection of the State board of HealI h
and little later the quarantine OF
entire counties began. The hrst
official report received at the Office
OF the State Board of Health OF the
eyiS euce OF a number OF cases OF
yellow fever within the limits ct the
State, was fIom the town Of t.rena-
di, on the 18th OF August, when
fifty cases were reported. Some
time before this our County Boards
OF Health had been organized, and
soon after the report had been telo
graphed throughout the State, al
most every town and village had
organized a Board of Health. Very
early in the season most OF Dur
towns and villages and many entire
counties were quarantined. Thus
you will see our organization IT, do
battle with the pestilence was pref
ty thorough. In addition to quar-
antineS, diSinfectants, carbolic acid,
sulphate of iron, fresh stone lime.
etc, we've freely used in the grea' er
part of the State, and an effort was
made to place every exposed point
in the best possible sanitary condi>
ton. When locality became
infected the following measures
were resorted to: Households con
tanning patients were Subjected to
suiphurous fumigation, bedding,
clothing and tow els used by patients
were burned, dead bodies were
buried soon after death, and carbolic
acid was freely used about infected
localities.
The abundant experience which
we have just had leads us to be-
lieve, that while dlSinfectants,
good drainage, etc,
have their merits in tue prevention
of some other diseases, they are ut>
terry pow erless to prevent yellow
fe, er. Localities that were in the
best possible sanitary condition
were visited by the 1isease,it spread
and WAS as fa'al as in other
localities. Seven weeks before the
OF single case of the
disease the city of jackson was
placed in The best sanitary condition
and during all of this time the
streets were sprinkled daily with Il
three per cent. solution of carbolic
acid until the odor of the acid per>
vaded the entire town, but when
the disease was introduced an epl-
demic was the result. The expe>
rience of other places was similar.
When Il place once became infected
the measures resorLed to proved UT
terly futile in arresting its progress;
tue disease would sptead in spite
of them.
Much has been written on the
subject of land quarantine and their
ilnpracticability. Our experience
has taught us that an absolute land
is not impossible. but |
that they are extremely difficult to
are very inconvenient, !
and interfere greatly with travel
and internal commerce.. While |
many OF our towns became infected,
still most of them entirely escaped |
the efficiency of qiaran>
Ines, ami instances are not wants |
ng where entire counties occupy
ing exposed positions thus escaped. |
Notably among them is the county |
Of Jefferson on the Mississippi river
where seventy miles OF territory was |
guarded by mounted police. But |
while we maintain that Quaran.
ines can be made efficient, and |
should he established and made
-igid when necessary still we are |
anxious to avoid their inconyen>
enceS.
Our disastrous experience of this |
,ear has demonstrated how difficult, |
low well nigh impossible it is to
arrest the development and spread I
If yellow fever when it has on g
cached our shores. In addition I
o our own experience we have the
voluntary confession of numerous
State and municipal Boards of
Health that their efforts to eradicate
he disease, by the use of diSinfect-
lnts, have psoven wholly Intellectual
f not positively Injurious. Natural
y, then, we are led to the consider
.tion of other means by which we
nay escape future viSitations of
his death dealing plague. Salts
led as we are by the observance of
proofs that we deem indlsputable,
hat yellow fever does not originate
Ie nora IN any one of the United
,tltes, we are naturally led to
consider the means by which tie
into our country may
'e prevented. This question is one
hat is of the very greatest impOr-
ance to those whose homes are in
he Mississippi Valley, and scarcely
psS important is it to the whole ,
Ountry.
The suffering and sorrow and the :,
ecuniiry losses that have this year
allen to orr portion, aud which ,
ave SO touched and melted the
aorfs of nrr Wbntn nannI.. .lpnnt