Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-11-18

DR.. Wight, in his address before the
Medical society in Nashville, took the
position thatquar2ntine had prevented
the spread of yellow fever in Tonnes
see and elsewhere. We expected, Of
course, that those who fattened and
prospered as never before, as members
Of quarantine boards, would take this
position. 1t happened this year, the
fever being Of a mild type, that
it did not spread to the coun-
try, although the members Of
the local, State and National boards
who lived here, or ventured here at
all, came aud went at will, and mingled
freely with people in the now infect
ed districts. If their theory is worth
anything, and ii they believe in it
they deliberately carried the infection
about with them from place to place,
and imperiled the lives of hundreds
Of people in the most reckless and
heartless manner. The lines were
passed every day by numbers of
people who did not change their
clothes and 60 through process of
publication, yet the fever was not con-
veyed to the country. In 1873 there
was no quarantine here, the trains ran
as usual, people came and went, hun
dreds Of business men who slept in
the country as a matter Of ~precaution
were at their places of business
throughout the day, and many of them
visited cases Of fever. Yet there was
not a single case Of fever reported
among refugees OF residents in the
surrounding country. How will
these wise doctors account for
that fact, when it is remembered that
over sixteen hundred deaths from
yellow fever occurred in Memphis that
year. 1t is notable that the warmest
advocates Of such quarantine as we
had here this year are well paid Off
cials who sTeaDKiOus 10 hold on as long
as possible. Others not 50 directly in
terested, yet having an uncomfortable
fear, or misunderstanding the disease,
and believing that it is contagious
from the person the same as small pox
here, also favored quarantine. OF the
hundreds and thousands Of M~emphians
who fed this year and last year to
higher ATTITUDES, not one Of them com
municated yellow fever to another
locality. Some Of them took the fever
after they left here, for it was already
in their systems, and many died in st.
Louis, Louisville, and various other
points, but without spreading the dis.
ease. Last year the fever prevailed
frightfully at Grenada and Holly
Springs. This year those places es-
capped, although in direct communica-
tion with New Orleans, where the
fever prevailed to some extent. II
1873 the yellow fever prevailed as al
epidemic with terrible mortality al
Shreveport, and it appeared no wher,
else that year outside Of Memphis
save possibly a few cases as usual a
New Orleans. There was no quaran
tine against those places and the feve
did not spread beyond the town. Ho,
will the quarantine officials explai
this indisputable fact? The yello,
fever has been in Memphis, if we mis-
take not, in the years 1927, '53, .;
'67, '73, 70 and 70. 1t never sprea
to the country except in 1873, whe
the conditions were favorable an
walls of brass, mounted b
soldiers, could not have resist
ed its progress. The fever, lik
other diseases, as smallpox, diphthC
ria, cholera, typhoid fever, pneumonia
would appear even in an isolated con
munity, and all the guarantees O
earth cannot keep them out when tn
causes Of nature develop them. TIL
resolutions of the Shelby County Nee
ical Society, arbitrarily voted evil b
DR.. Wight, hit the nail in saying:
We cannot agree that We have dc
rived any benefit from quarantine
for, as there was constant communics
ton with Memphis, by every roa
leading into it, from the beginning {
the close of the epidemic, If the dil
ease did not invade the country, "
cannot attribute it TO a want Of inter
course.