Year: 1879

Common. sense rather than medical
science explains the recent outbreak of
yellow fever in the Southwest. Its
origin this season is attributed by the
Memphis AUGlG11che to the cupidity and
criminal folly of those who either neg
lected or refused to destroy the bed
clothing, and especially the wooden
blankets, upon which patients had died
during the previous year. 1t is now
known that in many instances wooden
clothing that had been hanging in sick
rooms was packed in trunks, and that
during the winter the poorer classes
slept upon bedding and between blank
cts that had been exposed to infection.
One woman, for example, preserved in
a wooden box all the clothing worn by
her husband, who had died of the fever,
and was unwilling to burn even the
bed-clothes on which he had died,
stained as they were with black vomit.
The frosts could have no effect upon
fever germs in fabrics that were kept
warm by kitchen fires during the day,
and, in some instances, by the heat of
the sleeper's body at night; and when
the midsummer days came, the poisOns
of pestilence were generated anew.
This is the theory which is generally
accepted in Memphis.


A similar conclusion respecting the
origin of the Asiatic plague has been
reached by one of the greatest authori-
ties on infectious diseases. This is
Professor Hirsch, the chief commits
sioner sent to the Volga Valley by the
German Government. In the course of
a lecture recently delivered before the
Medical Association of Berlin, he stated
that there were only two countries
which had been visited by the plague
before the outbreak in Wetlianka.
These were Persia and Mesopotamia.
For conclusive reasons he rejected the
theory of an introduction of the disease
from Persia. He also declared that
after the most thorough investigation
he was convinced that an infection of
the Turkish army by troops from Bag
dad, and consequent communication
of the plague germs to the Russian
army could not have taken place.
A devastating epidemic could not
have remained latent in great
army. Spotted typhus had appeared,
but even among the Cossacks sent home
not single case of plague had been re-
ported. Professor Hirsch contends
that only one hypothesis is tenable,
namely, that the plague was transmit
ted by infected blankets and clothing.
Booty had been sent from Armenia to
Wetlianka in post packets, and in many
instances illness and death followed the
opening and handling of these infected
goods. The objection has been raised
that although booty in abundance had
been sent to many other villages, YET
the plague was confined to compare
lively small section of the Volga Val.
ley. The Professors explanation is
| that the spoil which fell into the hands
of few regiments or companies con
sisted of packed goods sent to Armenia
from MesopOtamia, where there hac
been an outbreak of the plague. Wher
these blankets and woollen goods were
unpacked in the Russian villages, the
poison was diffused and the cUntagior
communicated. The rest of the spOi
did not come from plague spots.


Tke analogy between these scourges


so far as their origin is concerned, Il


remarkable. In each case the germs


are preserved in woollen fabrics fO


many months, and are communicated


under atmospheric conditions favorable


to their development. Professor Hirscl


and his associates of the German Com


mission did not reach the plague


stricken region until the disease ha'


been stamped out, but they made


careful examination of the Topographic


cal features of tho Volga Valley and O


the sanitary condition of the villages
and collected mass of testimony bear


ing upon the nature and spread of tn
plague. Their report will remov
many misconceptions and do muc
good. Our own National Board c


Health, which was organized last June
might profitably promote investigation
of this kind in the Mississippi Valley


1t is body invested with supervisor


control over local boards of health, bu
its utility is still to be demonstrated
! 1t occupies itself mainly in publishin
} circulars concerning disinfectants an
} quarantine, and in compiling an elat
! crate National Health Bulletin.
! There is useful and necessary wor


which this National Board can do if


will. 1t ought to brace up and do it,
N. Y. Tribune


Passing fair-Walking by lot
pretty girls.