The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-25
MEDICAL SOCIETY
 FOR QUARANT |NE Vote Almost Unanimous Favor ing Present Restrictions MAYOR WARDS LETTER Several Members Opposed to ouaran- time, But Only Two Voted Against
 lt--Discusslon at the
 Meeting.


 Jefferson County Medical society last night expressed itself as favoring quar- antne in Birmingham against New Or leans and other infected districts. Only two members of the society voted to ask the state board of health to raise the quarantine as far as Birmingham was | concerned.
 Soon after the meeting had been called to order letter from Mayor Ward to President w. M. Jordan relative to rais- ing the quarantine as far as Birmingham was concerned was read. The letter pledged the city's support in taking every possible precaution to keep the city in a healthy conoltion If the Jefferson County Medical society should decide to ask that the quarantine be raised
 Dr. H. F. Presley moved that the state board of helth be asked to remove the quarantine and pr. W. H. Wilder sec onded the motion The matter was then open for discussion. pr. E. H. Sholl, chairman of the health committee of the society. spoke against the motion. He said in part:
 
 we are considering. It is serious mat ter, effectng the health conditions of Birmingham. No altitude or latitude ef- fects yellow fever, and for that reason Birmingham is not immune from the dis ease on account of it's altitude. One case in the city would cause a paralysis in all business, the stores would close their doors, the street cars would stop running and the city would be tied up.
 ''There is no certainty that the disease will not live in Birmingham. It is all matter of suppostion and we do not know whether it would or could exist here. It is four months before a killing | frost occurs, and that is what puts a check to these diseases, and we cannot afford to run the risk for those four months l think that 1t would be very unwise to open our doors now" Dr. Sholl also gave some personal ex- periences he had in Holly Springs in 1s79 and in other epdemics in the south and the inability to control the spread of the disease.
 pr. LeGrande Speaks.
 pr. J. c. Le Grande also opposed the motion. He said that the motion was dangerous to the health of the city.
 "The governor" he said, has been ad- vised by the best physicians in the state to take this step and he has done so, l and I think that he did what was right. He ordered the quarantine and l think that it would be very unwise to open the doors of Birmingham to the refugees | n fever would hurt the commerce and bus mess of Birmingham much worse than the quarantine would ever effect it. believe that we should allow Governor l Jelks to proceed as he has started. The i matter is one too serious for the medical 1 profession to experiment with and It would be an experiment inviting the refu- gees here.
 Dr. Presley took the opposite side of the question. He argued that modern medical science would be able to cope with the situation and that the views of Drs. Sholl and Le Grande were too ancient. He said:
 .,I have listened 10 what Dr. Sholl and | Dr. I.e Grande said and they are talking of the past that Is too far back to be l considered. We are in the present. There l would be no danger of a second case of yellow fever in Birmingham even if a first case were to be imported here. We would localize it and confine 1t to that one patient believe that the quarantine should be lifted so far as Birmingham l Is concerned
 Dr. w. H. Wilder said that Dr. Sholl and pr. Le Grande had not touchtd the 1 medical side of the question, but that they had talked of the old-time theories l when matters were under entirely ,liffer ent circumstances from the present. In those days, he said. everything was fum- l igatedswhen a quarantine was establish | ed. The railroad cars, the baggage and | everything else had to be fumigatpd and | that it all since had been found to be practically useless The city had no need to fear he continued, as there was no river near here as there is near other | Alabama cities. which had yellow fever in the past. and that it would be big ! thing for Birmingham to thrown open her | doors and declare to the world that she believed in her own healthy conditions. | He said that it would also be a good thing for the health of Birmingham and | that the city would be placed on a health l fer basis
 No Danger Here. 1 Dr. J. M. Lowrey said that there was no danger in Birmingham, as the mos quito that conveys the yellow fever germs could not live here and that the disease could not spread. He stated that it would be only question oi enc case. which might be importe1 here and that 1t would not spread.
 | Dr Lewis Morr oII osed the motion ard aiso the one case theory by say ing,
 "'rhe people of Birmingham are not | educated up to even one case. Should 1 there be one case here it would mean a stampede We do not know that the mos | quito which conveys the germs cannot l live in Birmingham, and 1t would be dan gerous for us to take the risk by throw ing open our gates
 T agree with Dr. shol and Dr. Morris | in what they have said,' stated Dr. Frank Nabers If we did have one case here and isolate it how do we know that mosouito did not get to that case and slread the disease before we were able tc diagnosis the case It take a few days for the disease to make itself positively known, and in those few days a mos quito might have bitten the patient and L-s