Year: 1878

Havana for the purpose Of Investigating th


rise and progress Of the yellow fever; ant


they shall be required to investigate wha


flying of ships leaving that port during Their
voyages and what further may be done II
addition to the present methods in use for the


further improvement Of the practical work


ngs of an improved and general quarantine


system.


2. Resotved, That the government be urged
to set apart q sum Of money sufficient for the
full and untrammeled employment of all the
time and energies OF such commission; and
cians, scientists and laymen, who shall enter
upon their work with as little delay as prac
ticable


/ DR., Vanderpool offered the following:
Reaoiped, That it be earnestly urged upou


the President Of the United States to confer


with tho Spanish government, and request the


appointment Of an international commission,


who sllal study yellow fever at Havana, its
| principal place of endemicate with q view Oi
| adopting measures which shall eradicate its
| spread In that city.


! Whether Or not these resolutions. or either
! of them, was adopted, the meagre report
| of the proceedings before us does not state
| If they were not adopted we think 1t is much
| to be regretted. We never expected the yel-
low fever commission organized in tbls city to
discover the origin Or cause of yellow fever.
Not that we do not entertain very high
opinion OF tho physicians who compose it, but
because it was unreasonable to expect any
such miraculous discovery to be made by such
q commission. All the gentlemen who COM
pose it could hope to do was to collect mass
of evidence which would be valuable as con-
stituting part of the history Of tho progress
al nd n ri pf hp nd oh
might lead us to some clearer convictions as
to tho efficiency Of quarantine. This we have
no doubt the commission has done. Their
|abors, therefore, have not been barren.
The commission was too one-sided q body
Its means were too limited and the field of its
observations too narrow for any sane man to
have expected any result from its labors COM
mensurato with the fearful magnitude of the
question it attempted to handle.


Whom the commission was being organized
we suggested that it should be q mixed COM
mission, composed of eminent physicians, dis
tinguished iurists and sanitnrians. In short
that 1t should be largely judicial in It's COM
position. This suggestion was cordially
approved and urged by several eminent ply
slcinns of this city. Later, believing that the
subject was one reaching immeasurably be-
yOnd the grasp OF q small committee of
medical practitioners though they
are-that the commerce Of continent, and
the happiness of nations were involved we
suggested that, the President of the United
States should be authorized by Congress to
invite the rulers Of the civilized nations to
send representatives from among their most
illustrious scientists and jurists to an inter-
national convention, to be held in this city, to
Investigate the cause and origin of yellow
fever end the conditions under which it
spreads and becomes epidemic. This propo-
siton was noticed favorably in many of the
journals of the country, and reproduced with
out comment by others.


The resolution offered by DR.. Vanderpool,
and quoted above, contempates substantially
such commission as that suggested by the
DEMOCRAT. We suggested that the commits
sion should assemble in New Orleans; his
proposition is that it meet in Havana. Such
commission, organized for purpose affect
ing the human race, might reasonably visit
both cities, and, through sub-committees,
many others. The disease should be, perhaps,
chiefly studied In the West Indies Mexico
and South America. Wo befieve It's tt1c1n55 Is
in the torrid zone. Thore where frost never
makes it's appearance the fever rises, runs its
course and subsidies; but the germ is never
killed; like the rich and luxuriant vegetation
of those regions, it is perennial


Imported into this country, it sometimes
becomes epidemic, and RACES with the fierce
ness that characterzes it in the tropics. But
our cold weather, our frost and ice destroy it
utterly. Again, 1t Is frequently brought here,
and also to Northern ports, but fails to become
epidemic or to spread, and it seems to die out
with the few victims who bring it in their
systems


The question then arises: Why does the yell
low fever spread and become epidemic In New
Orleans one year, when, year after year, it Is
brought here and is perfectly harmless? This
is q question fully as interesting as the one SO
often propounded, "What is the yellow fever
poisonW and, 1t is. to this generation, of in
fnitely greater Importance. We, of course
have never investigated the subject and
possess no positive or reliable knowledge ON
it; but it seems to us that In the epidemic
years our climate must change it's natural or
temperate character and approach very near
ly that of the tropics.


Would not observation and investigation
show that this Is the fact; and this fact estab-
lished, would it not solve the whole question
of quarantine Neither one nor two years
of tropical or abnormal weather can create the
fever poison in our midst. But if its spread
is affected by climatic conditions the intro
duction of a single germ, when the climatic
conditions here ara similar to those of the
tropics, will create an epidemic This is, we
believe, the first problem for an international
yellow fever commission or congress to solve.
And could not some data be obtained relative
to the climatic conditions under which the
yellow fever became several times epidemic
in New York and Philadelphia and under
which it has frequently become fearful
scourge in Spain?


II so, such data would aid in the solution
Of the problem, and warn those cities that
they may again be visited by the pesti-
lence. This we believe is practicable ques-
tion which observation and investigation,
aided by science, may solve, and in solving