Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-02-03

EOSOhN OAAO OluCCIo OF ledlIn
to have charge Of quarantine stations
and to supervise interstate travel and
traffic from infected places in times of
epidemic.
The two classes of medical officers
suggested r considered ~indispensa.
Bile to any method of Quarantine which
does not involve a complete suspen
sion of intercourse with infected
ports. The board regarded it TO he
especially important that the selec-
ton of these officers should be made
from men skilled in medicine and
sanitary science. The success of anv
modified quarantine scheme depends
almost entirely upon the competency
and fidelity of its medical officers.
One Of the difficulties which has con.
fronted the board in considering the
subject Of quarantine is the lack of
definite knowledge respecting the du-
ration of life or the virulence of poi
sons OF yellow fever and cholera. 1t
is now known that the poison of mel
Their is susceptible of long vitality
when exposed to the open air, but it
is not yet determined how long its in
fictitious properties may be preserved
in closely shut chambers or in com
partments of vessels, or when con-
fined in the folds of clothing or goods.
IL consequently follows that ships are
especially dangerous carriers Of these
diseases and also that they remain
sources of infection for months after
having been infected with the poison.
Another difficulty arises from the i'm
perfect state of scientific knowledge
respecting disinfection as applied to
the destruction of the poison of vel
low fever. 1t is deemed of great i'm
pOrtanoe that means may be provided
by congress for obtaining Trustworthy
information by telegraph in respect ia
the outbreak and progress of cholera.
yellow fever and other epidemic
diseases in all parts of the world, and
the departure Of vessels from infected
ports bound for ports in the United
States. The diffusion of Trustworthy
information among the people respect
ing the existence and progress of pre-.
yentable diseases at home and abroad
should be encouraged as tending Ia
avert the evils of panic and to promote
measures ofs.prevention. The carry
ing into effect of an efficient system OF
quarantine eOntemplates a central
authority or health department. 1t is
considered important that such a
department should be so organized as
TO gain strength from and give strength
to State and municipal health organi-
cations. In view of the diversity of
circumstances attending vessels arriv-
ing from infected ports, the difference
exhibited by different ports in respect
to their liability to infection and the
difference in such liability in the same
port at different seasons and under
varying circumstances, it is desirable
that matters Of detail should not be
fixed by law, but should be left to reg
ulations to be prepared under proper
restrictions. The great interests
which such regulations would guard,
and the necessity for changes in them
from time to time, or increased expe-
rience and knowledge or other causes
might indicate, warrant the recon-
mendation for the establishment of an
advisory board of health, to be COM
posed Of men eminent in sanitary
matters, who, together with the chief
officers of the health department,
shall frame all needful rules and regu-
lations for carrying into effect, subject
to the approval Of the President, such
national public health laws as may be
enacted.
CHARACTER OF THE DISEASE.
The board dwell at considerable
length on the origin, cause and des-
tructive features of yellow fever. and
say it is a specific disease and is pro
dueed by the introduction in the
human organism of a specific poison.
The specific poison of yellow fever has
never been microscopically nor chemi-
cally demonstrated, nor in n way
made evident to the human senses.
Nevertheless, we hold that it is safe
TO assume that it is material and par
ticulate and endowed with the ordi-
nary properties and subject TO the or
binary laws of material substances.
Yellow fever is not a malarial disease
that is, it is not the offspring Of that
marsh miasm which produces paludal
or periodic %feyers, and we know of no
facts which warrant the conclusion
that malarial influences contribute to-
ward the dissemination and mortality
Of yellow fever in any other way or to
any greater extent than they contrib
ute toward the dissemination and
mortality of fever 10 any other
way or to any greater extent than they
contribute toward the dissemination
and mortality Of other epidemic dis
eases. In all the countries outside of
the West Indies which have been
visited by it yellow fever is an exotic
disease, and in all of them its intro
ductiOn can be traced, either directly
or indirectly, to the West Indies. In
some Of them it seems to have estab-
lished itself permanently and to have
become endemic, as, for fexample. in
the Brazils. In most of them it has
failed Of naturalization, and successive
epidemies can be traced to successive
importations.
THE DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATES
Yellow fever has invaded the pres.
ent territorial limits of the United
States, according to the testimony OF
existing records, in SO different years
For n of these SO years we have evi.
dence, more or less complete. of i'm.
portation and in II out of these n
the evidence points to the West Indies
as the source O~finfection. -Four time,
namely, in 1889, 1874, 1917 anC
l867-the infection has been traced Il
] Mnufxa L.,k =. 1907 q.