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.

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    discharges IVoin the stomach, howels, and skin of any person undergoing an attack of the dis'ea.se. Thc.-o gonns n:ay attach themselves to clothing, bed- ding, carpets, and furniture in a sick-room ; they may penetrate the wa'lls and Avood-work of a house, or the hold of a ship; when, by the general preva- lence of the disease they become numerous, tliey may poison the atmosphere of a street or even of a whole town; they may contaminate and render dan- gerous drinking water, ccss-pools, privy-vaults, and all places where the oflal of houses is thrown. They have the power of self-production outside of the human body; hence but an iufinitesimally small quantity of the original virus need be imported to produce a wide-spread epidemic. They are killed or rendered innocuous by certain substances known as disinfectants, among which may be mentioned a high degree of heat, carbolic acid, sulphate of iron (conuiiercial copperas), nitrous and sulphurous acid gases, etc. A tem- perature of 32° Fahrenheit destroys their vitality. Should any of these germs hibernate and survive through a winter, it is found that on the return of warm weather they are revivified, but have parted with a portion of their vitality, and are no longer capable of self-reproduction; hence in the second season they only give rise to isolated or sporadic cases, and do not produce an epidemic. It has been found by actual experience that those cities and towns exposed to the disease, which are neglectful of sanitary laws, those localities in towns which are the filthiest, and those individuals Avho are the most careless or indifferent in their moral and physical habits are the greatest sufferers. It follows from the foregoing that while neglected streets, alleys, and yards, and defective drains and sewers, vaults, sinks, and cess-pools, rotten vegetable matter, or filth of any kind, can no more originate yellow' fever than they can small-pox, yet their presence in the vicinity of human habitations affords a richly-manured soil for the imported germ to arrive at its fullest malignancy. The dan_ger to a community cognizant of and having a due regard for the well-known laws of modern sanitation is reduced to a minimum, tliat to one ignorant or indifferent to them is intensified to a max- imum. Dr. Hughes, of St. Louis, also contends for the germ theory and that an atmosphere below 32° kills. Dr. Mitchell, of Memphis, and nearly the whole corps of medical experts under him during the epidemic of 1878 took the same view. Dr. Ford, of St. Louis, believes, on the contrary, in the principle of ferr mentation—that yellow fever W'as existent in the form of dry particles of dust everywhere it had been once, but that the cold woidd repress their activity—in that cold would render the person less receptive, and his body would not be in a condition to induce the fermentation of the dry dust. He says that a person might go into a cold climate Avith the dry dust or active principle of yellow fever upon him, and while he remained in that cold climate he would not be afflicted with the disease, but if he went to a warm, malarial climate, he would l)e very apt to be stricken down. In other words, cold did not kill the vitality of yellow fever, but simply repressed it. He, however, admitted the efficacy of ])r()per sanitary regulations to prevent a man's system from getting into the condition necessary to fermentation of tlic ]i:irtirlcs.