The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-13
oUABANTINF, nIsINFEtTANTS AND
YELLOW FEVER.

ATJAKANIINFs pIsIfE1s SANAS AN,
YELLOW FEVER.
70 the Editor Of the Democrat:
Quarantine is useful nuisance. Our por
yn,,st be protected from all Infected place
where there is actually an epidemy.
The proclamation of the Governor. origin
atjpg from the Board OF Health and probabl,
from the Auxiliary Committee of Public
Hygiene, quarantines us against all the port
south OF us. dating from the thirtieth o
April, without 1t being demonstrated thai
there Ii or will be any yellow fever. eporadi
caIly or epidemically, in these thousand aDt
one ports, actually or from and after this
date.
Even the gentlemen Of the Board of Health
and the Governor, In eonformance with the
law. condemn us with q non-commanicatior
above possible limits
For instance, Bio de Jeneiro has no yellow
fever In winter; neither have the towns Bit
uated on the Caribbean Sea been submitted to
the fever, either sporadcally or epdemically,
according to theik respective ATTITUDES and
attitudes.
AMes-poor, innocent and 80 muol cherished
Rttenoa Awes-whieh is exactly the dead
blow to ntataria and. then, Buenos Ayres is
Just entering In it's winter; is not this part Of
the proclamation geographical error OF the
learned president of the Board Of Health 7
II 30, the law Ia absurd and should be modi-
fled or abolished.
Thus far, what is expected by this law? Is
IL to deliver us Of a second epidemy2 But
every one knows well that yellow fever can
not Be imported from the places named by
the Governor In his proclamation, excepting
the ports Of Havana and Vera Cruz, as it il
known that yellow fever RACES all the year
round In Havana and Vera Cruz, without New
Orleans being the sufferer for it.
But, surprising 1t should come exclusively
from these two ports, then let lis try to re-
receive its terrific majesty with clean cutters
and streets free Of animal and vegetable de-
DOsits And what does the Board Of Health
oppose to yellow fever2 Disinfeetants and
hut disinfectants act only In virtue Of the
chemical action attributed to them In destroy
Inn certain organic products in d gaseous
form OF suspended Id the air, either In com
bination with these delrteriUus products OF
by the disassociation of the molecules charged
with virulent matter.
Gold acts only by stopping the fermenta-
ton Of organic matters capable OF giving rise
to the productive principles Of yellow fever.
In the first pr position, experience has de-
mon5trated that the cause OF yellow fever is
LII no wise influenced by disinfectants, even |
when used in profuslon because epidemics |
have continually followed their course here
md elsewhere, Notwithstanding these human
provisions.
If the second case experience demonstrates
That a suspension, even prolonged ct the ex- |
citing causes, - not the destruction Qf those |
causes.
DIsinfectants do not act. To find one capa-
ble Of modifying the poison of yellow fever
~ would be fist necessary to know that
poison as well as to know the conditions Id i
which II To formed.
Neither does cold destroy TT low tenn
perature naturally stops the lamentations
which give rise To the poison, but these con
ditiOns once suspended the unknown catalyp-l
TIC action ID again reproduced
ND far disnfectants and cold are not the
preventive means W. so ardently and desir-
Uusly seek. There are only two ways by
which W. GUN come 70 something useful.
u The knowledge " the special poison pro
duofng the disease 2, The exact knowledge
Cf the manner by which this poison 'tor poi
sons act Oh the living organism.
III, then, W. cannot prevent the disease be
CRuBe u our impossibility If destroying the
poison, let W. vt least know how 70 cufB W,
symptoms Vi the disease, as long ~ We will
repeat without study the same vulgar errors
which serve to-day tO differentiatH yellow
fever from other levers, 4 J long ~ we will not
w at the bottom W study automatically and
the uiyttat symptoms there
viii be recorded only the most absurd and
arbitrary propositions.
What Ii yellow fever I "A question we are
N ~nDOunding since the discovery Ut America
k k.,T Wi -nlutlon III which we are 30 amazingly
awaiting.
Tine sver OF science, In whichever way MI !
Ocs..Aider IL is always Tho same: ~ - mas
matte (mephetic) poisoning" +,
u raw yellow fever IL II fever by which one
dies when he has no more fever: and this
seems I'd answer better to anatomy
ard physiological pathologies:
4 ~ was aBkei anal greatly, what's curare2'
lt III poison that kills when 1t comes LII CON
tact with the blood.
But, Claude Bernard, accepting the I'M
known nature Of the poison anu studying it,
effects LII the % gal,isln, SG vtrs that 1t acts
only on certain nerves ut the spinal marrow,
which are essential tu respiration.
The poisoned subject dies by asphyxia.
Claude Bernard poisuns the animal. let's it
die, and Then II susciates 1t again by means
of artificial respiration. This Ii positive sol
6nCe.
But how are we To arrive at the solution OF
the problem without having studied physio-
logically the action or the poison or fniaSma
producing yellow ierer2 1t ~ impossible. /
nm positive that the day when this study
Will begin, soon after the discoveries will be
above our expectations. Then will the prob
lem be solved III one Of these three ways:
II Either will the poison OF yellow fever be
rs well az the manner Of destroy
INK Il. q. Or the poison will be accepted
without knowing It, aud q means OF eliminat-
I'M Or destroying 1t Ia the organism in its
nature or In It's effects will be discovered. g.
or the individual exposed to yellow fever
Will be placed III condition to resist its
nction. Then only will W have positive
Hgence. DIR. j. VI. HAVA.
New Orleans. April 10, 1879.
1 . ry ri s1y