El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-17

in small quantity. and other remedies
for composing the stomach, are valu-
able. Carbonate of ammonia may help
to oxygenate the blood. But quiet, dis
Greet nursing, warm drinks and blank
citing and later, abundant nutrition
are the most successful means OF cure
The mortality varies with the charac-
ter Of the epidemic, the class of per-
sons it has attacked, their hygienic
surroundings, and the discretion with
which cases are treated. It may be as
low as 3 or as high as IS percent.
Two Nurseries of the Disease.
VAra Cruz and Havana used to be re-
garded as nurseries Of yellow fever.
From the month of March to Septem-
Der or October the disease ragged like
a pestilence among recently arrived
Europeans and those natives who de-
seended from the elevated table lands
Of the interior Until 1893 the disease
was regarded as having a spontaneous
origin, being due TO tropical peculiari-
ties operating on European and I'M
seasoned constitutions, but the doctrine
Of infection suddenly started in the
year when the disease appeared with
great virulence in the island of Grana-
da. and rapidly spread over the An
TILES to Philadelphia and many parts
of Pennsylvania, TO Massachusetts,, New
York. Caroline county, Maryland, Alex
andria. Virginia, several counties in
North Carolina and Caracas, Vene-
zueIa This outbreak was preceded by
the arrival of a vessel from Bulam,
on the west African coast, at har-
Dor in Granada. in which vessel, when
stationed off Bulam, yellow fever had
prevailed about five months before to
q great and fatal extent.
Nearly every city of the United
States on the Atlantic coast having
maritime commerce or communication
with gulf or West Indian ports has
at some time or other during the past
200 years suffered from or been threat
ened by the yellow fever scourge.
Usually the pest does not thrive in a
of less than Y degrees or
north of As degrees, or above an ele-
walton of $500 feet from sea level;
hence the cooler eastern cities are
usually immune. although sporadic
cases have occurred on shipping as far
north as Portland. Me
The New York Epfdemcis.
Probably New York city suffered at
times the severest epiremics,
with the possible exception of New
Orleans. The most serious years Of
visitation in New York were 1895, 1898,
1919, 1925. In the latter years its
ravages almost took the form of
plague. In 1919 the appearance of the
occasioned great alarm, but
the sickness disappeared on the ar
rival of cold weather without causing
IS great a mortality as in former
years.
But in the summer Of 1922 there was
another outbreak on June Il, and a
month later the city was in the grip
Of the scourge. All business was sus-
pended in August and the first half Of
and the metropolis was lit !
orally a city of the dead The streets !
were silent save for the rattle Of !
learses over the cobblestone pave 1
nents and the hurried footsteps of doc 1
ors and nurses. Everybody who could /!
10 so fled On one day in September i
40 deaths occurred. and there was no /
cessation in the spread Of the disease !
until November. The dread of another /
risitation never wholly departed for /
many years thereafter. In 1867, al
.hough the pest was kept out of the |
,ity, there were 800 cases at quaran-
inc. New Orleans formerly suffered
severely from the almost yearly out
freaks of yellow fever. But in the
ast decade, owing to the preventive
measures described elsewhere, the pest
las been practically suppressed.
Once the mosquito theory was veri-
led as a working hypothesis it became
comparatively easy matter to elimi-
late the pest by rigidly cleaning up
he cities Cutters were swept all
tanding pools of water and nearby
wamps were filled up or sprayed with |
'etroleum, cisterns for domestic use
we're carefully screened, and the
ources Of Infection thus cut off Sue
ess was immediate. Cases of yellow
ever in Havana, Santiago, New Or
cans and in the Panama canal zone
ecame comparatively rare, and all
anger Of deadly epidemics was
henceforth averted. The terror of the
american tropics was vanquished.
Tomorrow-LeprOsy