The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-08-28
THE YELLOW FEvEa Panic.
Rev. G. Ia. Marshall Presents some
Timely Views
VIcksBURG. August 8, 1879.

| "a.
no little amazed at the yellow icVer p'nic.
IL is safe to saw it exceeds ANYTHING OF tue
sort ever witnessed before in the NaiiCy oi
the Mississippi. | have passed thTouSh
twelve or thirteen OF the worst ePu'lh,cs
that ever ravaged our cities, and thu people,
though considerably excited, never rose up
in such apparent fright and shat ne dooT
at quarantine pests aS hastily. Inc pau VI
uuarantining is doubtless val liable. count
| tss instances can be cited demonstraIINe
| of its success in arrestiug the spread OF the
| fever But under any system OF persolat
detention hardships are liable TO arlse1 YET
| when persons arrive at a railrotd station
where they are stopped from passing
| through a city, ii they are in a Sood statr
| of health and are sent through the city IN
charge OF an officer, and NO delay or GeceP-
| ton practiced, L think no possible eNll can
arise. We have found our greatest emoar
rasSment in the cases OF parsons hAllih
| from healthiul regions north OF Us. some
wears AGO. the first case of yellow fever
| here was that of man who came down
| the river. Yellow fever was then IN Ne"
Orleans, and he denied having come from
| that place until dying. He then explained
| that he went up and got on descending
| boat The tug Taylor put off two or three
| dead men here, and took on 4 pilot 10 nil a
| vacancy few days ago he returned from
| Cairo by rail, and was Immediately taken
10 the hospital. and Will, fear dle oil yeItI
| low fever. You ask il it contagious VIII
| not say. You know there are two schools
| in the me deal world, Who contend over
the terms contagious" and INFECTIOUS.
| PhiIosophcally and mt ideally, they con
| VeV very distinct and widely different ideas.
| But had YOU asked me ii thought it com
| municable. irrespective OF the form ana
| mode. should say it undoubtedly Is In
! other years, have traced it from the first
| ease to the second, the third and fourth and
| tenth, etc, in several different vlsitatiens
| of the plague. Goods and persons are It's
| chief porters. can believe that il the bed
| bling. and particularly the blankets used In a
| violent case of fever. were folded up and
! laid away six or twelve months, aud were
| then brought into use, the poison might
| have so securely lurkcd in their fleece as TO
! produce sickness in person liable 70 the
| disease. | say liable to it, for some per-
| sols never have it. l have been with it
| months together, By noon, and night, and
| handled cases of the most loathsome and
| repulsive character, of which have never
| written Il description, nor told even my
| family, and yet was never sick an hour
with the fever. You would be struck with
| the list of doctors and clergymen l have
buried Five times | have been left alone in
| as many epidemics 10 do the work of the
| dead. dying or diseased ministers. And
were it not that duty demands it, | would
| rather spend summer on sea-shore or
| mountain resort, than witness another tel2e,
but home is the place to be sick. You
| sp ak of the best plan of procedure. Alas
| in perilouS times we'd many foolish things
| Could | have my way, | would do certain
| things quite ultra you may think, but
| would not wait till the burglar is in the
| house before l begun to look up an old rusty
| shotgun. Only the other day, with the cry
| of "gelluw-fever" in New Orleans, and the
| thermometer at Dinety- five aud ninety
degrees, there went forth an order 70 clean
| up the cities of Vicksburg and Memphis,
| just think of raising ten thousand stenches.
at all hours OF the night and day, by the
execution of such an order all over thou
| sands of city acreage. Who would suppose
we could have health officers and need such
work in any case after the middle of May
| Any amount of disinfecting might be done
| any day, and every day, where needed. But
| every cellar, cess poll, sink, sewer, gutter,
| dead-hole and filth pile should be cleaned
| out in COLD WEATHER, and when the month
of May comes the city should every year
| be as neat and clean as possible; and then
| the scavengers should carry off all daily ac-
cumulations, and any housekeeper severely
| fined for allowing neglected garbage to lie
| around the premises. To effect this, / would
| have a health officer, with the next best sal
airy to the mayors, or equal To il, and [
would hold him responsible for the entire
preservation of the purity of the city. But
| no physician in practices should fill that
office. A real brave man, with no future
| Office in view, no patronage to secure, no
! body to cOnciliate-a man like an old seaman
| or steamboat officer, accustomed to have his
| decks scrubbed and every inch of his craft
|
| place-thc gentleman scavenger OF the city.
| Give him authority and hold him respon
| Sible, and If the city, on the first day OF May
| is not ready for any emergency, put him
out and put good man in. Ii anything
could make an epidemic it seems to me
| cleaning mp a city in July, August and Sep
| TENDER will do it. OF course there will be a
| certain amount of harmless work to be done
every day of the year. When we provoke
| and court such plaques, by allowing a CITY
n N : nt M "a f1at-
| ural result is realized in widespread sick
ness, how are We to expect benevolent Peo-
pie all over the continent to send liberal
contributions for our relief? See DR.. j. g.
BeldeI's;picture of the putridity and un-
cleanliness of New Orleans, and that is to
some extent true of all our river towns. As
we had little garbage to tester and rot in
this city, We are cutting mp all the sweet,
green, beautiful grass along the walks and
cutters, and tossing il into the streets to rot
there. for an old sailor, real tyrant to
storm round and stop some of our landwise
follies, and compel the doing of the right
thing in the right way. We are ages be
hind the times. We act like children. We
forget the past, aud seem never to dream of
possible recurrence of the same evils.
Hence our health officers commence Wig
orous course of cleaning up, just when any
private citizen should be fined for not doing
the thing required. The demands of clean
Illness are paramount, and scaVengers,
prOphylactics and guarantees may save
thousands of lives. But don't leave tester
ing piles of vegetable and animal matter to
be dug up and carried through a city in hot
weather. have just read a very wise sug-
gestiou from the American Israeite, pro-
posing a commission, created by the general
government, and paid fixed salary, whose
duty it shall be to ''investigate to its very
roots the whole question of the yellow
fever. That is worthy of be acted upon at
once. have friend, DR.. w. X. Johnston,
OF Palmer, Missouri, who proposed, recently.
to the Secretary of war, a method of puri-
flying ships by freezing them out, on the
principle of artificial ice manufacture. He
has perfected his plans, and would, with a
little aid and encouragement from Congress,
give the matter a thorough test. But the
medical profession is so much at war on al
most every point, when this fearful fever il
mentioned, that it seems as if nothing had
been learned for the past fifty years in the
cities OF our inland sea, or elsewhere Let
a call be made for Congressional COM
mission of the first ability ito the country
As TO its prevalence, it now looks as if it
might spread all over the South But |
would prefer home and its ordinary COM
forts and physicians, to any place abroad
put II persons are fearful, aud have large
families removal may be best. Some years
ago L learned from some venerable West
Indians that they always kiudled & little
nre,i morning and evening, in the rooms
during the prevalence Of the fever, and took
half teaspoonful of powdered charcoal in
a little water every morning. In my house
we use the hres when there is prevailing
sickness, not now. As to the charcoal, /
tried it several times, when it seemed impos-
slble t. escape the fever, and never vet took
II. But L don't know how far it did any
GOOD. NOW, you must excuse chs tedious
letter. You can read it it in broken doses,
ana as business is dull you can take a week
at it,. Very truly yours.
c. K Marshall