The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1889-01-12
A LETTER FROM DR.. TR0USSEAU
IN RE Wh0UPLNC COUGH.
DIR. \. b. EMERSON.
Pres. of the Board of Health.

bh' ~. ~ lsMEh1DN.
Pres. of the Board of Health.
Dear Doc,or:-As YOU wish me
to give you my opinion about the
veXed question of the whoop
ing cough. and its introduce
ton, l viii endcavour to do so as
clearly as possible.
On June 26, 1888, DR.. Brodle,
being ut the time in San Francisco,
l acted as Port Physician. On my
boarding the Australia, L found two
of w. w. Halls children in charge
of Miss White. both OF them suffer-
ing from measles. MIR. Hall and
Mr.. O. White had both come out
with Inc in the Pilot Boat. There
was no other sickness on board, and
the children did not have whooping
cough.
l told Mr.. Hall that he would be
allowed to take his children home,
that l would Immediately report the
cases 10 you, which you remember
/ did ut once, and that he would
have to submit to any quarantine
regulation you would think fit to
impose. DR.. Kimball happened TO
he living on Mr.. Halls premises.
AS he was Government physician, it
was also arranged that it would be
better for him TO take the medical
care of the children. So far | had
been The family physician Of Mr..
Hall. My object on making this
arrangement was that no selfish
motive could be attributed to me in
allowing the cases to land, and
could not be possibly accused OF
making 'job' for myself. From
that day TO this DIR. klmball has at
tended the children through the
measles, and whooping cough when
it appeared in the family
On July Sth following, DR.. Brode
being still absent, l boarded the
Mariposa and found on board Mrs.
Hall with the balance Of her family,
all well DR.. Brodie was fellow
passenger. Not satisfied with the
usual inspection particularly asked
him if he knew of any sickness on
board. He said there was none,
and surely the peculiar features OF
whooping cough would not have es-
capped his experienced ear on close
association for week on board.
am therefore justified on stating thai
on July 8th Mrs. Halls children die
not have whooping cough, nor any
other children on board, in form
that could be recognised by any
experienced physician. When til,
whooping cough broke out in the
Hall family, l am not prepared tC
say.
From the foregoing it is evident
that have to shoulder all response
bility from June 2Gth to July Sth
1888, as far as whooping cough ant
measles are concerned. | do sC
with clear conscience and leave il
to the community to decide if any
blame can be attached to my action.
or not. As far ms yourself and The
Board of Health are concerned, NJ
possible fault can be reasonably
found.
Now, let us see how whoopinl
cough developed itself. 1t wa
imported from the Coast either in N
incipient form,or in the convalescen
stage. Evey physician, and as fa
as that goes every mother will know
that in both cases il is next to i'm
possible to diagnose. / therefore
contend that the introduction coulC
notlhaye been avoided.
will 90 further, supposing tha
the first case would have been dis
covered in its acute form either OF
board or in town, what could hay,
been done?
What kind of quarantine woulC
be OF any avail for Il desease tina
will last from sis weeks 10 months
i distinctly remember that ] sutl
cred from the disease n whole yea
with intermittences of improvement
and relapses and only got rid of i
like lots of fellow sufferers by N
absolute change of residence, w
men sent to the seaside hundreds o
miles from the city OF Paris.
Here l haves had cases that BROKE