The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04
sUNsrRoKEs IN VIEW oRLEANa.
A scare on Account or tho largo Mortality
During the nccont hot spell.

New ORLEANS, July 1.-During the Inst two
weeks of june, New Orleans suffered from IN
epidemic OF sunstrokcs different from anything
Of tho kind that has occurred here before or in
other parts of tho country. Tho peculiar fca-
turo OF tho epidemic was the exceedingly largo
proportion Of the deaths to the prostrations, half
or moro than half the persons affected having
died, and a considerable number of thcm having
been found dead in bed in the morning. Tho
total direct mortality from tho heat for tho
week ending June 26, when tho temperature
was Mt the highest, was 81 from sunstroke and
congestion of tho brain, and for tho entire hot
wave, 40. As far MS can DO estimated, tho num-
Dor OF prostrntions was much under 100. AZ tho
Chnrity Hospital. where most OF tho patients
were carried, tho number of pro5trations from
tho heat reported was small, as compared with
tho deaths. This mortality is phenomenal in
New Orleans md, as far as known, In the coun-
try. md Is undoubtedly duo to como peculiar
cause or conditions that prevailed during Juno.
What these conditions arc, the doctors arc now
seeking to learn.
New Orleans is o rarc sufferer from nun
years do my dcaths whatever occur from tho
malady; AMI then only two or three. Last year,
a a hot spell That H Carried dc OF q a number Or ,por-
sons with sunstrokc, New Orleans escaped al
together. II had a fow deaths from sunstroko
did 1t have anything like tho present attack.
With frequent brcczcs from tho Gulf, very lit
tic crowding OF population, few stonc-pavcd
streets or stone buildings, n greater amount OF
trees and shrubbery than any other city in
America, and cool nights, tho Crescent City
has escaped many heat waves and sunstrokos
arc rare. Nor has the recent spoil been suffi-
cicnt In the intensity Of the heat to account Tor
the number OF suns. ruEcs- On days when tho
thermometer reached u maximum OF only 30
degrees, whom ii fell at night to ~ dcgrccs,
there were u number of prostrations and the
samo high proportion OF deaths.
Tho doctors have tried tho usual remedies
for sunstrokc, but have been puzzled TO IND
that they did not succeed in rcviving the pa
tient as formerly. There Is n disposition TO
regard Sunstroke here rs somewhat different In
its aspects and conditions from that elscwherc.
Others attribute the mortality to the fact that
the hot weather came car!ior this year than
usual and more violently. and was more folt he
cause 1t suddenly followed a phenomenally
cold spring. Tho c%istern water of New Or
leans, upon which the bulk Of the population
depends for drinking, has not been In good con
di,ion because of u long drought, and there has
been considerable stomachic trouble in congo.
qucncc. The heat wave. therefore,, found
many. pcr.ons in poor physical condition, and
therefore hctter prepared to feel its influence
and 10 succumb TO II.
While these explanations command some
weight, they scarcely explain why so many
more persons died from the heat in New Orleans
this June than in the same month for the past
twenty years, and why so large n proportion of
the prostintions resulted fatally, tho mortality
being at least six times rs great Us usual