Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-08-17
THE STORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.

lt is piODaply true tHitb az no tllAe LAS
there been an absolute elimination of the
disease Of yellow fever IN this country II
may be traced TO the earliest settlement, its
appearance II colonial times being noted,
attacking not only white men, but the
remnant Of the Delaware Indians, who, un-
like the negro slaves, were not immune.
Indeed, the presence Of the disease is re-
corded as early as 1912, when ii was desig-
mated as the Barbados Distemper, show
ing that the disease was popularity supposed
to be of West Indian, il not Of African
origin. The pestilence than stalked
among the Swedish settlers on the lower
Delaware.
About the opening, and during the mid
die Of the eighteenth century, the yellow
fever ragged in Philadelphia, in 1741 being
called the sPalatinate Distemper," and
was supposed to have come over sea with
the later Low-German immigrants to
Pennsylvania.
From 1890 to 1904, yellow fever again
appeared in Philadelphia, and was scattered
through West jersey. In 1893, when
PENIS city had about $4,000 people, one
tenth OF the number died, and in 1857 the
Federal administration fled in terror from
the town, then the national capital. The
State and Post Office Departments were
located temporarily in Trenton TO this
day there are traces of the most famous Of
these epidemics, that of 1898, to be found
in New jersey. Many Of the refugees, there
were Il, 600 of them, fled to the southern
part Of the State, aud in some remote ham
let developed the disease, dying in shelter
ing farm houses. A graveyard well filed
with the unmarked graves of these victims
is yet to be seen in the old Ludlam planta-
tion in Dennisville, Cape May county.
A contributor in the Philadelphia Record
calls attention to the epidemic Of the nine
tenth century, being those of Norfolk, in
1850; Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1862.
and Savannah, Georgia, in 1876. Between
1917 and 1868 there were six visitations in
New Orleans, and in 1873 10 Memphis was
almost depopulated.
Various have been the causes assigned for
yellow fever. In the days of the Swedes
and early Quakers. it was the old theory of
the visitation Of God; in 1887 the fever was
said to be due to the presence of a comet,
and in 1898 the theory, only abandoned at
the close of the Reconstruction period, was
that the plague was due to the exalations
from the bodies of West Coast Africans,
captured for the slave trade. III 1881,
Charles Findlay, Of Havana, a city which
was then notable culture point for the
disease, advanced the theory that one Of the
many species Of mosquitoes was the inter
mediate host for the dissemination of the
plague. The theory was ridiculed, but in
1901, under the direction of Major Gorgas,
now chief sanitary officer Of the Panama
Canal zone, systematic campaign was
carried on in Havana against the ''steg
omyia fasciato, = the scientific name of the
yellow fever germ-carrying insect. To
day, as the result of that crusade, Havana
is entirely free from the disease.
The basis of active sanitary work in New
Orleans is the eradication Of the mosquito.
OF course, the metropolis Of Louisiana is
paying the penalty for her negligence in
not profting by the lesson taught by
Hayana's experience. It is the old, old
story so frequently told in sanitary circles,
Of locking the stable door after the horse
has run away; but it may be that the lock-
ing Of the door will prevent future escapes.
It is unquestionably true that New Orleans
is making the best fight for proper sanitary
conditions she has ever made during her
municipal history. And it is further true
that after this experience New Orleans will
not be again caught mapping.