Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-07-08


"SgaifqrH Campaigns dPd fqiR,
paiyRei1 ! HGrr Kaoifs .rds
delircIed ~ IN. .Joha ". Ross.
l.. =. ". retired. al the J.. u. q.
4. Thursday ereaiRg, Jnne 20.
Last Thursday night Prof. Jaggar
stood where / am standing and gave
is a most Interesting account Of
earthquakes--ope OF the greatest anu
grandest factors in the work of ma
ture.
God pioughed one day with an
earthquake
And drove his burrows deep.
The plains were all upstarted,
The hills were all aleap."
And the face Of the country was
nevermore the same.
Tonight, stand here TO tell you
of one of natures, tiny agents-so
tiny and common a thing that for
centuries il passed without the notice
IL deseryed-and yet, | am convinced
that its effects have been more far
reaching and deadly than those of
the great earthquake. ] was very re-
luctant to concede to the mosquito
the power for evil and destructiveness
of which it has of late years been
convicted. until / had it forced upon
me by evidence acquired during the re-
cent sanitary campaigns in which
had a small part.
II was Mark Twain, / think, who,
in commenting upon a speaker said
He told US a great many things
which we never knew before and
never were certain of afterwards. In
my remarks tonight shall endeayor
to differ materially from said speaker
by telling ,you some things which
many OF YOU already know, and 9TH
ers which you can rely upon as hav.
ing been positively demonstrated. ]
shall limit myself to two great anti
mosquito campaigns-th yellow fever
one In Cuba, and the yellow-fever-
malarial campaign in Panama. in
both of which. the contending parties
were the hitherto invincible mosquito
on one side, and the United States
government on the. other. Many of
you doubtless are aware of the inn
|, portant role played by yellow fever
N tic past ui5hUy VI lHCf WOotCl ~
hemisphere; how for centuries it had
been firmly entrenchcd in the West
Indies and certain parts of Southern
and Central America, whence it made
terrible invasions into the United
States. Its entertainments were built
up and made invincible on. the ig
noranee OF man concerning his ever
deadly foe-the mosquito. At infre-
quent but irregular intervals il
scourged the southern parts of our
country. occasionally extending into
the northern states as far north as
New York, Boston and Portsmouth,
New Hampshire. There were several
Severe epidemics in Philadelphia, in
one of which, 1893, ten per centum OF
the population of that city died OF
yellow fever. Quite a number of sim
liar visitAtions by this disease occur
red in more northern parts of the
country.
Ny first personal acquaintance with
yellow fever was in the great Memphis
epidemic of 1873 and 1879. which
ceutered about West Tennessee and
Northern Mississippi. This epidemic
ibEolved five states, 132 towns, pro-
duced upward OF 1900 cases and
killed nearly 10000 persons, paralys-
ing business, tying up railroade and
other lines Of communication, necessi-
tating cruel .quarantines9 finland and
maritime, shotgun and scientific
and costing many millions of dollars.
1t was during the first year of the
epidemic, in 1873, that ! gained my
immunity to the disease by severe
fight with Yellow Jack at Holly
Springs, Miss. After this, being i'm
mune and safe, / served in various
outbreaks on land and sea until the
ladxent of the Spanish-American war.
yellow fever had wonderful fascina-
ton to us workers and investigators,
on account of its contradicto-iness
baffIing. all our calculations and
bringing our predictions and expecta-
itions to naught. Every now and then
we would think we had established
some important fact bearing upon
the nature, causation or spread of the
disease, to have it all upset by sub
sequent epidemic. To illustrate by
one Of these riddles: If there was
anything we thought we did know, it
was that severe cold or freezing
would kill the germ or virus of yellow
fever. as epidemics had been so often
stopped entirely by the advent Of
frost or cold weather But this was
all upset by an epidemic that occur
red on the u. S. S. Plymouth in or
about the year 1876. A number Of
cases developed on the Plymouth
while cruising in the West Indies
during the autumn. The ship was
hurried north, reaching Boston in the
beginning of cold weather. She was
Immediately emptied, her crew and
officers sent elsewhere, all her stores
and other contents taken out,
opened up and kept exposed
throughout the rigors of a severe New
England winter The water in her
lowest bilges was solid ice for several
months. In the early spring She was
Thoroughly cleaned, disinfected. fur
nished with fresh stores. supplied with