Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-14
SMALLPOX IN AFRICA.


The Kimberley, Africa, correspondent
OF the Glasgow Herald writes as follows
Your readers may perhaps be interested
in learning the particulars Of an epidemic
smallpox which has been raging here
or some months, and whose history mas
some peculiarities in it suficien to rem
der II unique in the whole history 0
epidemics. Toward the end 0 tie ucr n
of October last year rumors began to get
abroad that smallpox had broken out in
the Iransyaal. Now, it is from the Trans
vaal and the native States adjoining the
IransYaal that most of the native labor is
supplied for working in the mines.
Troops of natives are regularly passing
and FRO. They come and work for a
er10d, until they have earned sufficient
money 70 enable them to purchase cattle.
he possession Of which is necessary ia
ecEre them wives il their OWE land and
enable them &c settle down in peace
and luxury beside their sbrothers,S al
home. As soon as Il was heard thst
mal-pox had broken out there. stems
We're taken here TO prevent its being intro
ucec amongst tbs natives worIinri a the
l! iI. N9W, tne Cape Colony is blessed
Win legislators who have DISPLAYED a
little fOretlOught suitable for an ener-
gency OF this kind. In the same wear
ooo, an act mad been passed in the Par
lament giving the Governor large now.
ers IL cases Of epidemics. In virtue Of
these powers he constituted a Board of
Health In Kimberley, and issued a nro-
clamatiOn declaring the TransyaaI an in
ected district, and preventing any natives
rom passing into Kimberley who We're
likely tOsI cad the disease. But bv this
line one Oh WO natives had come to Kim
6erley, II is supposed from the DeIagOa
bay district. Others were stopped on the
IOau WHO gave clear symptoms of their
being affected by it. Consequently Dro-
vision was made for quarantining these
While this was being done, word came
down from the Transyaal that the natives
there VINO were supposed to be SUFFERING
rom smallpox were only attacked by
hieken-pox. This gave some Of our
mining men, who feared the effects of a
panic poth or the labcr supply and on the
general markets, the idea Of making light
OF the disease here. They subOrned some
OF the most influential doctors, who ex-
ahmed the cases in quarantine and pro-
80 need them TO be not cases of small
Dox- but one said they were chicken.
pox, another that they were cases of
kafr-pOx. which is just equivalent to
chicken-Hex, and another, a medico,
hailing from the University Of London,
that it was a "bullOus disease of the skin
closely allied to pemphigas." The other
doctors who had declared it to be small
pOX, however, were not going to be
driven from their opinions this way.
Soon two hostile camps of msdiccs WGrA
arrsyed II furious warfare hosirs+ one
another. 1t became cattle Of BE schoels
II real earliest. The people took sides.
lie majority Of the unthinking ard an
reasoning parVenus were ready to swal-
low with eager NAV the whole host of
cabalistic terms thrust down their throats
because they were uttered by the darl-
ings of fashionable doctors of society,""
In spite of this contention the Board of
Health went to work steadily and en-
ergeticaliy. Those composing it saw the
disease spreading. They saw it TO be
atal, and they erected a lazarettC, and
appointed 8 medical Esn o take cssrge
Of il, sparing neither time nor mcns-j n
tEeir edcrss to check 10 raVages. To en-
able them 70 GO 90, mueh money was re-
quired, which was advanced by govern.
ment, TO be recovered by the assessment
of a special rate on the district. In con-
sequence of the variety of opinion among
the doctors there arose difficulty in col
lecting this rate, and government, seeing
little hope OF recovering the money they
had advanced, suddenly pulled up the
bridge and refused to make further adj
Vances. The efforts Of the board were so
far successful that they had almost
stamped Quit Re diseased or they took the
most stringent measures to do so, remOv-
ing the patients to the lazarettc, and
sparing netting, but burning down the
houses and destroying everything that
was likely to cause it TO spread. The
high altitude of Kimberley and the very
warm season in which the disease an
peared were in favor of these efforts.
Not many cases occurred, and the disbe-
HeVing rabble were inclined to gather
strength to their arguments from this
that the disease was not smallpox.
Thus the Board of Health was compelled
In some degree to relax its efforts Just at
the time when they had all but reached
success. There was also an interlude to
the tragedy that was being enacted by
the anti-small-pOX doctors. One of these
happened to have temporary charge of the
Kimberley Hospital, a large and valuable
Institution where natives and white peo-
pie alike are tended more carefully than
they can be il their own homes. as these
homes are on the fields. This doctor was
Yankee, and with all a Yankees
bumptiOusness he treated case of small
pOx in the hospital amongst the other
patients without informing the authori-
ties of its existence. For this he was
brought TO trial. The trial last over
several days, and was specially remark
able for the mass OF learned lore that was
produced in court by the representatives
of the opposite sides, and the amount of
eruditiOn regarding all sorts of eruptive
skin diseases with which it was sought
to mystify the mind of the presiding
magistrate. All this was afterwards
published in a thick pamphlet, COPIES of
which have been sent to nearly all the
medical societies in the world, and they
must make the names of the leaders in
the fray forever notorious in the annals of
the profession. There was a lulI in the
spread Of the disease, until a month ago,
when it broke out afresh, and this time
with furious energy. The Board of Health
had no funds TO deal with the new out
break, and the mining board of the district
when it was worst took upon it to man.
age for itself. The members of this min
ing board had been prominent in their
opposition to the efforts Of the Board of
Health. They said they would soon
stamp out the disease and show it was
not smallpox. To do this they appointed
the two doctors most prominent on the
opposition side to take charge of the Iaza-
rettO they established for the reception of
natives. In few days this lazarettO
was filled. Rumors began TO spread that
things were not all as they should be
there. A commission of medical men
was appointed by the Board of Health to
investigate matters. This commission
brought back a report more filled with
horrors than one could possibly have
imagined could have been allowed to
exist in a civilized country in this nine
teenth century. There, in doOrless and
windOwless barns in the nights of winter,
when the temperature was often as low
as y degrees, natives were found covered
with the pustules and deliricus with the
fever Of smallpox, with nothing more
than one blanket to cover them, and the
bare grounds for their beds. Food was
placed in some cases near the patients. in
others beyond their reach. Those who
were able might help themselves; those
who were weak must EfaFVp Tho hQdfac
Of the dead to the number of thirty were
left for days lying outside to fill the air
with their fostering exhalatiOns, and "
spread the disease far and wide. Those
who were fortunate enough to be cured
were discharged with the clothes and
blankets they had worn during their i'll
ness, no attempt being made to fumigate
dieinf thnrra Thnan rnK-nla firras