Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-26
pEcuL1sR1T1Es OF yellow JACK"

norts in the West Indies or in Central or
South America, a mysterious something
has entered their ships-a something which
may in few days turn the weasel into a
floating pest house, or which may show no
sions of It's presence for days or week, and
vet at the end of the voyage may promptly
DESTROY stranger entering the hold !;
which might attack all the sailors sleep
ing on one side of the ship and leave
the rest unharmed-in short an invisi-
bic. impalpable entity presenting so many
peculiarities in It's results that 1t
was the most natural thing in the
world to imagine it as being endowed with
the attributes of purpose and Will, and to
speak of it as g Bronze John or " Yellow
Jack" This tendency to personify yellow
fever is strong among all who are familiar
with it, and physicians and nurses who
have had much experience OF its vagarlt
often speak of them, and of Yellow Jack,
in much the same terms as they would
speak OF a highly disreputable but very
interesting acquaintance sort OF Bohe-
milan among diseases. Its course IN city
has been compared to that of tax-collee-
tor passing from house to house along a
street, often only one side of q street. 1t
is usually stopped by prison or convent
walls, sometimes affecting but few
squares, and again developing in Ia
week into one of the most terrible OF
epidemics We have no reliable informa-
ton as to the origin of yellow fever IN
time or space. The majority of specific
contagious, or infectious diseases -such as
plague, smallpox, measles, scarlatina,
cholera, etc.-can be traced with more or
less precision to Asia as a starting point
but Yellow Jack has no such history. His
presence is first distinctly recognized IN the
West Indies about 1880, prior to which
date there is no satisfactory evidence OF
the existence in these islands of a pesti-
lence presenting its peculiar symptoms, and
harmless to the natives while fatal to the
unacclimated. 1t is the intercepted At
lantic pestilence, just as cholera is that OF
India, or the plague that of Egypt and
Mesopotamia. 1t is specific disease due
to specific cause-a cause which
can be packed away in a closet
or bureau, and be preserved for
months or which may be car
ried in a ship, or in trunk of clothing
for hundreds of miles, retaining its spe-
cifc powers. Many of its phenomena can
dL DI6SGuG OHll IC Apldlu6u vi bUG dS-
sumption that this cause is either itself
capable of growth and reproduction out
side the bodies of the sick, or that it is the
product of something which has these qua
lities. In other words, the cause may be a
minute organism, somewhat like the yeast
plant or it may be the product of such an
organism, like alcohol Either of these
may be comprehended under what is known
as the germ-theory. If the cause is an or
ganism which itself enters the human body
and multplies there, it must exist in more
than one form and i'll the form in which
1t usually exists In the human body it Is
not capable of passing directly to another
person. 1t is presumed that it usually en-
ters the body through the respiratory pro
cess, and period of from one to ten days
elapses before the characteristic phenomena
of the disease appear. This is known as
the period of incubation. The cause of the
disease has a self limited period of exist
ence, and this period is paratively short
if it is freely exposed to the external air.
In the West India Islands the disease dis
appears at various ports for many years,
and only reappears on a fresh reimporta-
ton OF the cause International Review.
~ hOO6 OAN6 LII n LIZ Z.
Life mikes its comedy and tragedy so
strangely, the New York Times says, that
a man is often doubtful which he is actu-
ally playing, or whether he is really play
ing either. Some pat illustrations of this
aphcrism, which is as old as Plato, are fur
nished by the career of the late Charles
Coudert, whose romantic biography was
eli or in After Mr.
Coudert had eluded the vigilance of the
Bourbons, and made his way to London,
with the intention of coming to the United
States, he decided that he must see his SIS
tiers once more before taking leave of old
world associations. They resided in an
ancient castle in the south of France, CON-
manding the extensive acreage OF an estate
that was feudal in its proportions Being
under sentence of death, and hav-
ing but recently escaped from prison
that piqued the resentment of the
police, the journey was not altogether
so safe as it would have been years later
under the regime of Napoleon III. In
deed, it was one requiring great courage,
address, and hardwood, and one that
would only have been undertaken by an
adventurous spirit. Young Couder Dor
rowed the passport of a countryman of
his named Langlois, between whom and
himself there was some slight physical re-
semblance, but scarcely enough to give
fair prospect of success. He made the
journey TO Calais in company with mill
tary cOmpeer, Colonel Leclerc, who, at
later period, migrated to the United States.
COudert's memory for names was wofully
uncertain, and when the officer at Calais
came to examine his passport and compare
his person with the description, he had
totally forgotten the name under which he
was travelling. Instead of stammering con-
fusedly as man less accustomed to critical
positions would have done, when his name
was asked, young Condert's quick wit had
suggested means of escape even before
the officer had time to ascertain a suspi-
cion, and he stared blankly at his interlo-
cutor with affectation of deafness that
would have made his fortune on the stage.
This gave Colonel Leclerc, whose wit was
no less quick than that of his fellow-trav-
eler, the cue that was required, and, plac-
ing his lips close to Coudert's ear, he
shouted loud enough to be heard by all
about them 'Langlois, the officer wants
to know your name The ruse saved
Charles Coudert's life he paid the longed-
for visit to his sisters, took his good.by
impression of the gloomy old feudal castle,
effected his escape from France successfully
second time, and came to America to
begin new life, with new associations.
But the dramatic surprise of the incident
the sequel-is yet to come. Years after,
by curious coincidence of favoring cir
cumstances, the three gentlemen whose
names figure in this narrative met in this
city. One would think that old times and
the narrow escape of one of them from
death would have formed the principal
topic of their conversation. Quite the
contrary neither Colonel Leclerc nor
Lieutenant Coudert even remotely alluded
to the Calais episode until the moment of
parting came, and an eavesdropper would
not have dreamed that the three men had
ever adve1tured together under perilous
circumstances. They talked of anything
and everything else, and each drank to the
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