Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-12-26
"A FEVER NEST.
THAT Has Been Discovered about the
eser-Breedtn0 Ctty Of Men.lhis.
New Orleans Times}


Feser-Breedtn0 Ctty Of Memphis.
New Orleans Times!
A committee from the national board of
health have recently made an inquest wheth-
or the yellow fever epidemic of Memphis was
the product of 'scotton fomites," or sshiber-
No ting germs" Why either OF these disas.
trous infections should have been selected as
q probable cause for what to the secular
mind seems easy of solution, has not been
disclosed. A representative of the Times,
by careful study of the Memphis news
papers and judicious pumping of certain
residents of that afflicted CITY. has a.
certained a few facts which may throw some
light upon this abstruse subject. These as
sertlons may not prove an unanswerable vim
dication of the ''hibernating germ" but in
formation was not sought in the interest of
that phantasmagoria, and the facts must be
permitted to make their own Interpretation
of this riddle. r. 80.
Memphis,say the old residents of that place.
is perforated by thousands of cylindrical
pits, varying in depth from four to sixty
feet, according to the topography, which are
used for two very different purposes, al
though both are in close proximity. Both
are affected by the rise and fell of the Mis-
sissippi and the consequent backing up of
the waters OF Bayou Gayosa, which extends
for two miles through the heart of the CITY.
The bottom reached in both these series of
excavations is white sand, which, it is
claimed, permits the sipage of any LIQUID,
and especially is this the case under the
reslstless hydraulic pressure of high river.
It is confidently believed that this sipage
invariably results in the SO mingling Of the
liquid contents of both pits, that if they be
not identical, the resemblance is sufficiently
great to justify belief that the two are at
least blood relations.
1t may strike the same terror as an i'm
'portant statement, but the writer is assured
that these two styles of pit, which honey
comb the city front and rear in the proper
ton Of OF least two to every lot, and five in
majority of cases, are devoted alternately to
drinking water and dejecta humans. Both
are at times so offensive as to be unendurs-
bic, and at seasons when this efluvia ia
shared with rigid inpartiality by both there
is usually an outbreak of yellow fever. b.
But q slight difference ia made in the fate
of either. When the pit not devoted to
drinking water is partly full, it is closed en-
tirely with earth, and another pit for the
same purpose is dug in the immediate
vioinage. In some lots as many as fiof in
these pits have been dug, partially filledve
the usual gradual process, closed, and the
contents remain to penetrate terra frma,
until even cellars become offensive, and
drinking water is at times 90 unpalatable
that usually little whisky or wine
is added to correct it's flavor.
AS measure of economy, these
underground cisterns are supplied with iron
drains below the faucet, and through these
all surplus water is poured back. A careless
servant could in time of haste dispose of q
bucket of bedroom Stops or any dirty water
which it proved inconvenient to dispose of
in another way, but her patient employer
has never been heard to complain of the oc-
currence, and probably yet remaining igno-
rant of it. -, -
The foregoing, the writer is assured, are
few of the trivial facts which the national
board of health might ascertain were it so
disposed. It is suggested by these citizens
that before the national board of health ir-
retrievably commits itself to either the chi
bernating germ or the "cotton fomite,' it
might inquire if yellow fever might not in
the end prove filth disease, and due in
great measure to the unimportant details of
domestic economy of which the foregoing is
e fair sample.