New-York tribune., 1905-07-01
HOW YELLOW FEVER rs SPREAD.


The physicians who think that mosquito Is
not the only agent by which yellow 1eVer
germs are transmitted from one human body to
another have not yet entirely disappeared.
Every now and then one arises to eVince his
skepticism Dr. George R. Reynolds does so
In the July number of 1.-THE Medical Times.
In justification Of his attitude he cites the eX-
perience of the United States warship Plym-
outh in 1879, which is a matter of public rec
ord During the previous autumn she had
cruised in the West Indies, and In November
several cases of yellow fever developed Ihe
patients were put ashore at Norfolk for hos
pital treatment, and the ship spent most of the
winter at Boston. While there she was fum1-
gated in what was thought to be q thorough
manner, and exposed to prolonged and severe
cold besides. Late in March she sailed south
ward, and before she had touched at any other
port two or three new cases OF yellow fever
developed DR.. Reynolds argues that the meas
ureS here described ought to have Killed OH
any mosquitoes which had been on the vessel,
and he feels warranted in believing that the
infection must have been lodged in the ship It
self or in articles of clothing
| If DR.. Reynolds had watched the literature of
his profession closely for the last two years he
! would have noticed q review of this same story
! in the pages Of "The Medical Record" for De
cember 1908. The task undertaken in
response to request from DIR. Stanford A.
! Chae, of New-Orleans, by Major w. G. Cor
gas the United States surgeon in charge OF the
! sanitary work which is now in progress on the
! Isthmus of Panama. Major Gorgas has a
simple explanation of the mysterious recur-
renee of the disease He is satisfied that the
| germs were carried in the bodies Of few mos
uuitoes which hibernated on the ship, and
which were so well sheltered that none of the
precautions taken to rid the ship Of infection
| proved fatal to them AS the vessel
reached a warmer cline they became active,
and by biting the sailors caused fresh out
break of the malady. In support of his sus-
| picion he refers to the report of naval board
appointed to exaurne the Plymouth after
second thorough freezing. Inspection showed
that there was an air space between two floors
into which rats and other vermn had crawled,
and from which living and active flies emerged.
The board declared that this and other spaces
were so protected from outside atmospheric
changes 'as to be practically unaffected by
either heat or cold, and they probably had not
been reached by any Of the disinfectinS agents
| heretofore employed
This verdict was rendered nearly twenty
years before the new theory about the mode
by which yellow fever is disseminated was
evolved. 1t antedates the discovery of the first
disease producing bacillus, that Of tuberculosis.
1t is not the less valuable on that account. TO
be su1e II the officers who examined the Plyn-
outh in 1880 had known what Drs. Reed and
| Carroll discovered in Havana In 1899. they
might have looked for other insects than flies.
However the essential fact In the whole case
is that the treatment to which the ship was
subjected on the second occasion was not suf-
| ficient to extinguish all life 1t Is not unrea-
sonable, therefore, to suppose that it was made
uuate the first time. EntOmologists are well
aware that in cold climates Qike that of New
Jersey for instance mosquitoes are often en-
abled to survive a winter by seeking refuge in
houses tree trunks and other suitable places.
The insects which do so belong to one OF the
latest crops of the autumn, and they die early
in the spring. but they serve to perpetuate their
race and in some instances make even greater
mischief The possibility of Information having
been established beyond question, the last rea-
son for doubling the applicability of the mod
ern doctrine about yellow fever to the case or
the Plymouth disappears.
1t is always a good thing for conservative
thinkers In science to hunt for fallacies and
defects in the teachings of the radicals. Hon
est intelligent criticism is needful Unless new
ideas can undergo it successfully they should
not be adopted Dr. Reynolds has done well
in expressing his doubts, but disinterested
Judges will probably feel that he has been
effectuaIly answered already. Until evidence or
81 new kind has been offered for rejecting the
view which modern sanitarians entertain in re-
gard to yellow fever, the public Is warranted in
accepting it, at least tentatively.