The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. : embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere / by J.M. Keating.

  • Keating, John McLeod, 1830-1906
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. : embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere / by J.M. Keating. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/468 (page 19)
    diphtheria leads liim to the following conclusions: After a laborious and scru- tinizing investigation into the cause of a large number of cases of diphtheria that have come under my care during several years past, I have almost arrived at the conclusion that the primary uifection of an individual comes from the fungi which are found as spots of different colors on the exterior of fruits, par- ticularly apples. As far as the power of my microscope has shown, these fungi seem identiail with the fungi from a dii)htheritic ulcer, and last autumn I traced a number of cases, at one time five together in one family, back to the eating of apples picked from the ground in orchards without previously clean- ing the fruit by rubbing or washing. The prevalence of this dreadful disease in the last three decsides may be well accounted for by the fact that the a]opear- ance and flourishing of lower vegetable and animal organisms is periodical, of which we have examples in the |X)tato-disease, the disease of the grape-vine, and cholera, which latter has been ascribed to a fungus grow-ing on the ears of rice in East India, and carried in the human bo<ly as a contagion all over the globe, and in many other cases. Of course, any jierson infected with the disease from the primary cause may be the center of infection for others. Why many per- sons eat fruit with fungi on them with impunity is explainable simply on the ground that the susceptibility for disease differs greatly in individuals, and that, for instance, for the propagation of fungi upon the mucous membrane upon the pharynx there may exLst a previous catarrhalic affection, with a spongy condition of the same. It is my opinion that in times of epidemic diseases almost every one takes the contagion into his system, but that for the develop- ment of the disease a certain predisposition, or some additional cause, is neces- sary. Thus, cholera brealvs out in an individual only after the cooling ofl^ of the abdomen; and small-jx)x attaclcs timid persons often after being frightened by the sight of a pitted face of a convalescent patient from a distance. Thus, also, the impunity of physicians who treat such diseases with a zealous and investigating mind, and with a fearless interest in every case, may be accounted for; their nervous energy resisting the tendency of their vital power to succumb to the contagion. By this, I wish only to give a hint for further investigation in this matter, for certainly it is time that the medical profession should discover moi-e of the hidden ctiuses of zymotic diseases, which bring so much havoc among the human i-ace. Dr. J. P. Davidson, of New Orleans, very emphatically agrees with the ex- perts appointed by Congress. He says '' that yellow fever is exotic, and never originates locally except under peculiar circumstances of limited domestica- tion, as when an epidemic has prevailed, or in certain years when a few cases have occuri-e^l, and jieriodically, after importation, the ensuing winter has been so mild that the mercury has not fallen repeatedly below 32°—tl.c special cause, germs, if you will, survive the winter, and when the summer heat attains its maximum, they multijjly sufficiently to impart the disease. He also holds that it is due to a living, organized microscopicentity, vege- table or animal, which generated out of ])re-existing germs under favorable circumstances, ])ropagatcs itself indefinitely when these peculiar and essential conditions exist. Dr. Gaillard, of Louisville, is of opinion that yellow fever