Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-08-18
THE YELLOW SCOURGE.

The terrible ravages caused thus far and
the alarming spread of the yellow fever cpl
demic call for the exercise of broad char
ity by those who are remote from the scenes
of the pestilence. Reports from the infected
districts show that the epidemic is unusually
virulent and insinuating, and attacks people
in all conditions of life indiscriminately'
while the most rigid quarantine measures
have failed to prevent It's introduction and
dissemination. The panic among the in
habitants of the South is great, for the
scourge has begun earlier than usual, and
experience proves that 1t cannot be eradica-
ted until frost. There is, therefore, fully
two months for the disease to run it's course,
and none can tell how
many thousands of lives will
fall prey to its virulence, or how much suf-
fering and want will result. The isolation
of the infected districts appears to be the
! only means of checking the spread of the
disease. Carbolization has been tried as a
means of disinfection, but has proved use
less. ALI other known disinfectants are i'm
potent to counteract the poison in the air,
and medicines can only alleviate the suffer-
ings of the patient; they cannot prevent the
disease from running its full course. Sur
vival appears to depend mole upon the con-
stitution of the victim and the care with
which he is nursed than upon the skill of
the physician.
Already loud call has come from Missis-
sippi for aid from the North. The entire
town of Grenada has been depopulated by
the plague, until less than two
hundred sound persons remain to
nurse and provide for the large
number down with the fever. They are in
want-have neither proper food nor cloth
ing, for the clothing worn or the bedding
used by a fever-stricken patient must be
destroyed at once to avoid more fatal conse-
quences. They appeal for nurses to care
for the sick, for clothing and bedding, and
for such food and delicacies as are nee
essary to the comfort of the afflicted. The
town is an immense charnel house; the dead
are unburied; the sick are uncared for
for those who can get away are flying panic
stricken to the North. The same scenes
promise to be enacted elsewhere, for al
Memphis, Vicksburg, and other river points
the pestience has made it's appearance. In
such emergencies what can be done:
Life is dear to all, and he will be
a brave man who will risk death by sc
loathsome disease that he may nurse the
dying and inter the dead. The risk is doub-
ly q eat to those who are not acclimated.
There is money enough, food enough and
clothing enough at the North to supply every
want, and we have no doubt everything will
be given with unstinted hand. But we fea1
that nurses will be scarce, and without good
nurses all else will be unavaiing to prevent
a frightful mortality. The charitable and
Christian men and women of the North
should bestir themselves, and do whatever
lies in their power to alleviate the terrible
distress of the fever-stricken portions of the
country. 1t is asking much of man to i'm
peril his life for his fellows, but we have nc
doubt many such self-sacrifcing people car
be found who would gladly fly to the aid Of
the dying thousands, if they only had the
means of going and of maintenance while
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