The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-29
ABOUT THE YELLOW FEVER.
DR. LAME TALKS OF CLIMATE con-
OPTIONS THE ISLAND.
Says the Danger Of Yellow Fever
Has Been Much ExngGerated-The
Open Country Is Comparatively
Cuba as Safe as in Our own SOUTH

|
Free From the PIague-TroOps in
Cuba as Safe as in Our own SOUTH
ern States.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Since it has become an accomplished
fact that an army of Americans are to
be sent TO Cuba to assist in driving out
! the Spaniards and the pacihcation of the
island, Their has become evident a wide
spread feeling, more or less openly eN-
pressed, not so much by the men Who are
likely to be called upon to, serve as by
their friends and families that they are
to be sent into perfect nest of contagion,
where the dreaded yellow jack stalks ram
pant with a host of other diseases as his
staunch allies, and the wings of the Angel
of Death cast a shadow over the length
and breadth of the land
There is probably no one better ac-
exist than DR.. Damaso T. Lame of this
city; and in an interview yesterday he
completely exploded a number of prevail
| ing notions about the state of affairs,
both climatic and otherwise, in the Flow
cry Isle and offered in addition several
| valuable suggestion relative to the sue
cessful pr osecution of a Cuban campaign.
In the first place, he stated, the idea
that yellow jack is epidemic all over the
island of Cuba is entirely erroneous. The
island is traversed by a range of hills,
which in the eastern section rise to the
dignity of mountains, while towards the
west in the neghborhood of the provinces
of Havana, Matanzas and Pinar del Rio,
they are simply high, rolling lands and
plateaus. This geographical structure is
highly unfavorable TO yellow fever and
here it is, consequently, scarce.
But, and here he quoted no less an au-
| thority than Dr. John Guiteras, an ac-
| knowledged expert in yellow fever and kin
dred diseases and employed by the gov
eminent 10 investigate epldemics of this
affection in our own Southern states, it is
IN the seaport towns and cities that this
disease exists as a scourge. They are, of
course, situated on low ground, and the
| concentration and herding together of
| large bodies of men in crowded quarters,
| such as barracks, offer just the conditions
most favorable. to the propagation of the
disease. No one knows just how the infec-
ton of yellow fever acts, but It Is known
| mat III one case OIL the dlsedSe enters d
house. in some mysterious way 1t is trans
| mitted to the other occupants of the house
and in this way becomes epidemic in that
| locality SO the seaport cities, as Havana,
| Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfugoes and Sa-
| qua are foci of the fever. But in the open
country il is very different. Here there as
no opportunity for the germs of the disease
to collect and grow in power They are
rapidly disspated, and the further inland
IL , 10 ~ plfs, to lNsa-
| comes, on account of the greater elevation
| of the land.
1.-THE climate DR.. Lame continued, lis
divided into two distinct seasons. From the
month Of December until after the middle
of May you get long periods of dry wealth
| err This is the dry season. The thermome-
| ter ranges from 80 degrees in the morn
| Ing 10 Is in the middle of the day. The IS
| land being 50 narrow, you get the regular
trade winds nearly all The time, called in
| Spanish La Brisa.' From the middle of
May until the middle Of October, and some
| times later you have the rainy season.
| The rains are not such as you have here,
| where you have cloudy skies and protract-
| ed downpours for two or three days at
| time but are more like April showers
| They come regularly every afternoon, ana
| after they are over the sun shines as
| brightly as ever. In the morning, too, the
|
| mid and damp atmosphere. The thermom-
eter never rises above 30 or 50 degrees, but
YOU get an atmosphere of intense mois-
| ture.
'Of course, you can readily see how
| such climate would affect vegetation.
| The grass almost grows under your feet,
! and is sometimes four or five feet high.
The roads are mass of mud, into which
| YOU sink to your shoetops, and in the
| n
! thorny vines completely chokes up all the
! interstices between the trees, and makes
| it impossible to see ahead for more than
| eight or ten feet. Only one modern road
| exists on the island. This is the road
| leading from Havana 10 Guanajay. IL is
| telford and is the only public work that
| the Spaniards have ever done in Cuba.
! No other road than this would be prac-
| ticabe for the bringing of artillery TO Ha-
vana, all the others being simply tangled
bride paths, overgrown with grass and
| covered deep with mud.
ct Is only right that the men should
| know what kind of a country they are go
ing into, but it is all nonsense to frighten
| them with all sorts of bugaboos about
death staring them in the face and all
| that. l was born on the island of Cuba
and lived there eighteen years before com
ing 20 this country, and since l have been
| in Philadelphia l have spent five summers
there, and l tell you that l firmly believe
that IL American troops are landed in
Cuba no yellow fever will develop among
them until the cities are taken and the
troops are quartered there. Then you
have another problem TO deal with. II
the men are sent into garrison in Havana
or any other seaport city, they VIII be la
bic to the same danger Of yellow fever
which has so Aeeimated the ranks OF the
Spanish soldiery Here lately. to be sure.
| the Spaniards have learned by sad expert
ence the danger Of concentrating the men
in the city barracks and now as soon as
reinforcements arrive they are sent into
the outskirts OF the town.
but when the city Is taken Il must be
earrlsoned by somebody. And the only
people who can do this with safety to
themselves are the Cubans themselves. Not
the poor half starved and half armed in
surgents who have 80 brayely waged for
three long years the struggle for Their
Independence but the thousands or Gu
ban now IN this country. who have. during
the entire period Of the war, striven % aid
their brothers Ia the field "a the best OF
their ability by furnishing them with fnc
efnarus 81 war f0gHeu afufnuufftop food