Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-12
A THEORY ABOUT THE YELLOW
FEVER.
To the Editor of the Ledrer. .


! hope the following will not be like
Demosthenes talking Greek to the
waves, but will have a better effect
and now that the 1873 hurricane of
death has passed over us, it would be |
well for us to ask the question What
shall we do to save ourselves and our
city from future destruction? If we
expect city, county or State legislation;
if we expect devout prayers and fine
sermons; if we expect medical men
to solve this problem, you may pre-
pare yourselves for the worst, if we
may judge from past experience, for
ever since 1873 we have had all these
in abundance, and still the outlook is
fearful.
+ There are some good people that
might mistake the above for ostenta-
tious independence. BY doing SO they
would do me injustice. 1t is supposed
by number of men, eminent in
science and medicine, that yellow fever
or the prevailing disease which is sup
1 posed to consist of mixture of yellow,
conjestive and malarial fever, that it
is not endemic with us, and does not
originate in our climate; that it is pc
culiar to the tropics, but that its germs
or sparodes have been carried here
at time when our climate is in a con-
/ dition to generate and spread it, and
that in its spreading the sun being the
principal factor If the above propo-
sition is true the sun would be more
deadly at MONDAY than at any other
time, from the fact that its vertical
rays would at that time have more
power to generate the seeds Of this
epidemic, so that the night would be
our only time Of safety.
Now the facts are, and the truth
and evidence Of these facts are abund-
ant, that when the sun is the most
powerful it is then the most healthful
and is also the best disinfectant AT
that time hundreds of citizens OF
Memphis have taken advantage of this
fact by coming into the city in day
time and leaving before night. There
is but one logical inference to be
drawn from the above, and that is al
night is the time that we inhale the
poison, the atmosphere being charged
with vapors, and owing to the sum-
! rays being withdrawn they becom,
= heavy and damp and hang around tn,
S city like wolf in search of prey
The vapor comes out of the warn
earth it is charged with what th
! earth contains in the form Of OF
:. ganic matter, but at this tim
the atmosphere being much colder
than the earth, it is condensed int
fogs, and will remain with us durin
the whole night until the earth rotate
to meet the god of day it is then dis
PEELED with his warm rays and healt
= returns to us. The home of the vel
low fever is the Caribbean, the Yves
Indies and Bahama Islands. At on
of these places it is at its dark wor
all the time. The reasons art
its atmospheric heat, with its humid
Il ity, is favorable for the elaboration c
this morbifc agent
Let us apply the above to Memphi
and other places that have suffered
, We will find atmospheric heat CON
ii binod with moisture sufficient to ger
is crate this fever at our very door,
e Seyenty-two degrees Fahrenheit wi
" generate the yellow fever, and it hs
never been known above As degree
e north latitude. Those that think yel
n low fever, or our last fever, was ident
80 ical with the pestilence that devasta
ted London and Marseilles, are unde
-. a mistake. When the yellow feve
u u appears in Jamaica they say it come
N from Vera Cruz; when at Havana,
3 comes from Jamaica; when at Ne
70 Orleans, it comes from Havana, an
70 when at Memphis, it is, of cours
- from New Orleans. 1t is now ful
n time for us to dispense with this ignC
of rant pride.
The first thing to be condemned
r. the system of quarantine, for it is ;
stupid an institution as ever emanate
n out Of the brain of a human being. L
ne foundations built on fear, its offsprir
is is cowardicc and inhumanity, and
d the principal cause of SO much demo
~ alization, in causing the mother
G. leave her child, and the son his ow
of mother to perish, and we fear
re has caused the very gates of heaven
,o close against us, for we have had b.
~ few blessings lately. When | get n
u potatoes dug and housed | viii ha,
time to write a little more to you, NJ
Editor. Very respectfully,
THOMAS CUBBINs.