The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-07-14
THE EPIDEMIC AT M
Its Causes, and What Is Needed to Pre-.
vent q Recurrence.
The following report has just been

The following report has just been
authorized:
To his Exccllency, Governor llerbe
Dear Governor: Your committee
has the honor to report that, in obedi-
ence to your Excellency's instruc-
tions, we visited Clemson Agricul-
tural College and investigated the
cause and character of the prevailing
sickness at that point and nothing re-
mains but to render to you officially
the results of our examination.
Upon our arrival at Clemson on
Tuesday, the 9th of June, we were
waited upon by President Craighead
and the faculty, who expressed much
qualification at our arrival and an
earnest desire to give US all possible
aid in solving the serious problem by
which they were confronted and which
had excited painful apprehension
throughout the State. 1t may not be
inelegant to refer to the extremely
picturesque appearance of Clemson
College, browning the gracefully I'M
dulating hills and standing an endur-
ing monument to its founders, with
silent and irresistible eloquence in
behalf Of generations to come, who
sheltered in it's benefcent arms shall
learn the lessons of stalwart, enlight-
ened citizenship, upon which our
Government must rely for peaceful,
]nrosnerous and haDpy perpetuity,
In advance of making a tour of
sanitary inspection we visited the
hospital in which there we're q few
patients, probably a dozen, some con
valesciDg and others quite i'll. We
regretted the absence of DR.. Redfern,
himself sick, probably with the pre-
~vailing fever, and we found DR.. Har-
din in cheerful and efficient discharge
of the duties of resident physician.
We were informed that approximately
between seventy and eighty cases OF
sickness had occurred among the stu
dents within a few weeks, necessitat-
ing the disbanding Of the College. Of
that number of fever cases not more
than thirty were of prolonged dura-
ton, and that several had died. The
fever was thought to be "malarial,"
but there were two cases in the hospi-
tai concerning which there was some
doubt, but might be typhoid fever.
AS to the causation Of this fever,
various theories were entertained.
One theory was that the students had
bathed in the river near where the
sewerage emptied. Another theory
was that a number-of students had
worked in the low swamp lands, rich
in alluvial deposits, and had inhaled
the noxious exhalations from stagnant
water, the outflow Of which. had been
recently checked by a dam. A third
theory was that a large percentage Of
the students had come from their
homes in malarial sections of the State
and that the latent material in them
had developed by q higher latitude by
an excessive amount of work and the
severe military discipline of the insti-
tuition. That these causes had gradu-
ally devitalized the students, render
ing them easy prey to sickness. The
disproof of the first theory was that
of the students disclaimed ever
been in the river. The second
theory could not hold, because the
sickness was not entirely confined to
the students who had worked in the
swamp land, and in reply to the
third theory it may be said that the
sick students represented all sections
of the State.
In the presence of so many conflict
ing opinions entertained by gentlemen
of intelligence, discrimination and OBJ
servation, your committee proceeded
to make a systematic and vigorous ex-
animation of every place and every
thing which might possibly suggest a
clue to the solution Of the problem in
question. Your Exccllcncy will recall
the physical appearance Of Clemson,