The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-09
THE YELLOW FEVER.
PROFESSOR SWING, OF CHICAGO,
PRESENTS HIS IDEAS ABOUT IT.
The Union of Vegetable Matter. Heat and
Moisture Which Creates Disease-The
Dangers Of ''sun, swamp and vcgeta-
tion'--A Possible Preventive.

Dangers Of ''sun, swamp and vcgcta-
tion"-A Possible Preventive.
Yellow fever, like candidate for the
presidency, becomes in each campaign the
victim Of lies No sooner bhd this form Of
aiiment appeared last August than the old
abuse began about yellow foyer and dirt, yell
low fever and garbage in the back yard. If
the devil ought 10 have his due and no more,
snch form Of justice should be applied to
the fatal disease Of orr south. One writer
afi,ms that this disease originates in the
hqrbor al Havana, into which landocked
pond the filth Of a city has been discharged
for centuries From that harbor the disease
is carried over the gull by travellers. and is
Mu, planted in our country just rs the Can
ada thistle is imported by wind or car or
vagon that this imported disease springs up
m ,ns negligent family, and thus sets up
foreign business of destruction
The more evident truth is that there is
c.r.a.a union Of vegetable matter heat and
moisture which creates disease. The condi-
ton ~ the hai5or 40 Havana Will not ex-
uian tire agLe which used % shake once a
war every mhaoltant OF Indiana and Hi
rs.s There was little mill creek valley
near Cincinnati which was full of tho shakes
every fan, aud without the assistance Of
either Cuba or dirt In the southern part Of
IEro, many persons have died within TWEEN
tv.f0ur hours from an attack OF maiarial
fever The fatality of the Roman fever in
.la summer months compelled all the rich
families 10 have summer homes ON the
shores Of the Mediterranean. The exc
dus from Rome each summer was as great
MS trat from New Orleans or Mobile
This disease was not our yellow fever. but
DO was almost as fatal and stands as evidence
that Cuba and the sqIalo. Of = iow negroes
are not able to explain the occasional calam-
itv in our southern states There arc certain
l5,v coasts Of Africa where the white man
cannot live q year The church attempted 10
sat'ate this coast fever by fiingng mission
aries % the monster. but the coast fever was
victorious, and the more recent soldiers Of
the cross have had 20 bury from the ship up
70 the table lands in order to live long
enough 10 convert a single pagan. The 18th
mus OF Panama has in all its history been a
graveyard for oh unacciimated soj0urners
The agent Of death has been always a fever,
lut not the yellow fever
These facts, reaching in time over period
Of 20.0 years and reaching in area from old
Rome 10 America and Africa, leave no room
% doubt that heat, moisur, and luxuriant
vegetation generate a gas that is fatal to
human life. The rainfall in these districts
is very great. in Louisiana and Florida more
than fifty inches year, while in Illinois 1t IS
but little more than half that amount The
heat of course is as much IN excess as to
average height and continuance That which
is "a malarial fever and ague II Illinois be
comes intensified in Cuba or Now Orleans
and sustains about the same relation to
yellow feyc- that Chicago summer sustains
10 the summer along the gulf What Is a
yellow fever in our south is modified into a
Roman fever i'm Italy. Rome has crippled
her old enemy by draining her marshes
She has taken away the excess of water and
thus has taken from the sad disease It's third
component part. Cultivation of the ground
has relieved Illinois Of perhaps one-half Of
IT'S standing water and the aguc has almost
abandoned the state.
The fact that this disease follows the sun,
the water and the vegetation Of certain par
aue.s and set changes its form in different
countries may well lead to the inference that
the difference between the Roman fever AMI
the yellow fever is caused by the difference
of local vegetation. The sunshine and water
being ALWAYS tho same in chemical quality,
10 is almost certain that the special reason #
yellow fever must be sought IN the peculiar
flora of our afflicted states. The poppy the
hcmiocs lor coniuml and the Wild parsnip
Will. if eaten. cause death, but not with the
same SYMPTOMS, for one sends man away by
"a sleep another by acute pain. Thus 1t is
the popularity of the local flora that deter
mines tho kind Of fever that Will invade the
home in the hot last weeks Of summer.
These facts being So evident it is foolish 10
attribute tho calamity at Jacksonville and
the death of Professor Proctor 20 the fact
that somebody had come over from Cuba
laden with the disease. To support this
theory Of q Cuban origin for the ailmeni,
some New York doctors deny chat the popu-
lar astronomer died of the yellow fever He
could not have died of - because 10 one had
br0ugh. IL o. himl One fact IS evident,
Professor Proctor is dead. and one other
fact stands. that be was killed by combina-
ton of rain, sun and vegetation in Florida.
What name the doctors will finally assign 10
the ailnlent is not a matter Of any signih-
canoe to ANYBODY out of insane asylums.
II may aii cities and persons not little If
great regard Is paid 70 sanitary laws. If &C
clmation prevents many from being stricken
with tais plague, the inference IS there are
hidden delicate powers which help rcoel the
poisonous air. Cleanliness has always been
mans friend against many forms Of sickness.
But the mastery Of this fever is not to DO
found in such caro- Of persons and streets.
Tho great causes must be touched, and the
ravages Of malarial fever On the coasts OF
Africa and in Panama assure us that these
causes arc not n dirty gutter nor a harbor Of
salt water at Havana; but they arc three
enormous thngs-sun, swamp and yegeta-
ton.
So far As possible our south should drain
of its enormous swamps and should also
study the qualities # It's fora, and learn what
10 slay and what to plant 1t Is probable
that drainage offers tho most hope. The Ger
mans Lelpel their lowlands by displacing
weeds by sunAowers. but 70 them drainage
was impossible Until the south attacks its
,,s.,,,,r,s and yarefqtiOn the yellow fever VIII