The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-12-06
TRACING THE FEVER.

DR.. r.Choppin's Address Before the Health |
Convc cntion-Nhcn the Fever Conn
mcnccd i'm New Orleans and
tho Course 1t Travelled. /
tNew York Tribune.1
RICHMOND, Nov. 22.-Dr. Samuel
Chopin, president of the State Board
OF Health of Louisiana, began his adj
dress with a graceful and feeling OK
preston Of gratitude on the part OF the
people of New Orleans and OF his State
for the material aid so literally ex-
tended to the injected districts Of the |
South by the people of the other States !
of the Union during the last four ]
months, and said that such manifesto
tions of sympathy aud brotherhood
would certainly tend to cement the |
ties which bind all the States Of the
Union, and do away with all causes of
| the South.
DR.. Chopin then traced tho work |
ings of the disease from its earliest
appearance at New Orleans down to
| the present time, and showed that 1t |
was not Indigenous to Louisiana, but
was an exotic disease. His argument,
based upon facts and fair inferences
from fact, went to show that yellow
fever could be excluded from this
country by the enforcement Of a rigid
quarantine at every port, aud that such
a quarantine had not heretofore been
maintained, especially at New Orleans.
DIR. Chopin, however, did not favor
the national governments assuming
! the control and regulation of the quar-
antine system, but desired that the
States of the South particularly inter-
ested in the question should unite in
the establishment of a uniform system,
which should be regulated and control
led by each State for itself. His chief
argument, besides q constitutional and
legal one, against the Federal govern
ment's undertaking to establish and
regulate a national system was the dam
ger that the importers and merchants
of the country would resort to practices
Of deception and corrupt influences,
| which would have the effect of render
ing the system completely useless, and
| also injurious to commerce., because
| quarantine, to be beneficial ana efec-
tive, must be an absolute protection
against the Introduction of epidemic
disease. DIR. Chopin thought that
New Orleans had escaped yellow fever
frequently by reason OF the quarantine
at the mouth of the Mississippi river
now existing, but that the system
could be improved and made more
rigid and effective in States adjacent to
Louisiana. This could not be done ex-
cept by hearty cooperation.
THE EPIDEMIC OF 1878.
The first cases of yellow fever in
New Orleans i'll 1873 undoubtedly were
two Of the officers of the steamship
Emily b. Souder, namely, Clark, the
purser, and Elliott, one of the engi-
neers. Clark was ill when the vessel
ora 1,,pf fr,
pass inspection as suffering merely
from neuralgia. Lately it has transpir-
ed, through inquiries of the Yellow
Fever Commission, that he boosted
after arrival at New Orleans that he
had "beaten" the quarantine doctor.
Be that as it may, he went ashore sick
when the vessel reached her wharf, ON
May %, and two days afterward died
with symptoms which belong uhmis-
takably to yellow fever, at house on
Claiborne street, near Cont. He was
attended both on board and ashore by
a physician long resident in this city,
and familiar with yellow fever. In
vcstigation Of the case at the house
where he died showed that the treat
ment was more suitable to yellow fever
than to any other disease; still a burial
certificate was given of death by mala-
rial fever. This case was not brought
to the notice of the Board of Health by
any direct communication, official or
otherwise, but from information re-
ceived through street rumor. Elliott
siclsencd after his arrival, and was at
tended by a private physician, at his
boarding-housc, until the evening be-
fore his death, apparently without a
suspicion on the part Of any one that
he had yellow fever. Late on the
evening of May 20 he was removed to
the Hotel Dieu, where he died within
a few hours. A careful post-mortem
examination was made by two COM
petcnt physicians, and the body was
subsequently inspected by the speaker.
No further time was lost in making
use of the usual means of disinfection
in and around the houses where Clark
and Elliott had been sick, and those to
which they had been removed. No
more cases followed within the period
of their apprehended occurrence, and
it was supposed that the danger was
past.
About the middle of July some cases
of a strongly suspicious character came
to light on Constance street, near its
intersection with Terpsichore street,
and in a few days all doubt was remov-