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
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.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![diphtheria leads him to the following coiielusions: After a lahorioiis and scru- tinizing investigation into tlie cause of a large nunilier of cases of di]jhtheria that have come under my care during several years j^ast, I have almost arrived at the conclusion that tiie priuKuy infection of an individual comes from the fungi wliicli arc found as spots of different colors on the exterior of fruits, par- ticularly a])ples. As far a.s the j)o\ver of my microscope has shown, these fungi seem identical with the fungi from a diphtheritic ulcer, and last autumn I traced a number of c;uses, 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 2>i'evalence of this dreadful disease in the last three decjides nia}^ be well accounted for by the fact that the appeai- ance and flourishing of lower vegetable and animal organisms is j^eriodical, of which we have examples in the potato-disease, the disease of the grape-vine, and cholera, wdiich latter has been ascribed to a fungus growing on the ears of rice in East India, and carried in the human bod}' as a contagion all over the globe, and in many other cases. Of course, any ^wrson infected with the disease from the primary cause may l)e the center of infectio)i 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 nuicous mendirane upon the pharynx there may exist a previous catarrhalic affection, with a spongy condition of the same. It is my opinion that in times of epidemic diseases almost ever\^ one takes the contagion into his sj'stem, but that for the develop- ment of the disease a certain predisposition, or some additional cause, is neces- sary. Thus, cholera breaks out in an individual only after the cooling off of the abdomen; and small-ix)x attacks timid persons often after being frightened by the sight of a pitted face of a convalescent patient from a distiince. Thus, alsf>, the impunity of physicians who treat such diseases with a zealous and investiLiating mind, and with a fearless interest in every case, may be ticcounted for; their nervous energy resisting the tendenej'of their vital power to succund) 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 mediial profession should discover more of the hidden causes of zymotic diseases, which bring so nmch havoc among the human race. Dr. J. P. Davidson, of New Orleans, very emphatically agrees with the ex- perts apjxMnted 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 occurred, and periodically, after imjxirtation, the ensuing winter has Tteen so mild that the mercury has not fallen repeatedly below 32°—the special cause, germs, if you will, survive the winter, and when the sunnncr heat attains its nuiximum, they multiply sufliciently to impart the disease. He also holds that it is due to a living, organized microscopicentity, vege- table or animal, which generateil out of pre-existing germs under favorable circumstances, propagates itself indefinitely when these peculiar and essential conditions exist. Dr. GaiUard, of Louisville, Ls of opinion that yellow fever](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21354017_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
