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.

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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    that produced by typhoid or the eruptive fever, and protects it from subse- quent attacks. 3d. That race or acclimation affi)rds no protection against contractino- the disease. Tliat the African race sutlered less with small mortality, while the white race, especially tliose of sanguine temperament, suliered severely with heavy mor- tality. Being accustomed to the climate certainly diminished the mortality. 4th. That the germs propagate within and without the bodv; the spread of the disease depending on cess-pools, sewers, filth and persfinal contact, tiie temperature and other meteorological conditions being faYi)ral)le. 5. That a temperature below 70° is unfavoraljle to the ])ropagation of the germs, and if continuous will destioy them. 6. That where the temperature produces frost suflicient to exterminate the germs it is probably a prevental)Ie disease by quarantine alone; but should it l)e intioduced, its benign or malignant type will depend entirely upon the sanitary condition of our villages, towns and cities. 7. I believe the disease may be introduced into any part of our country where there is a continuous daily temperature above 72° for two months. The Commission of x\llopatliic Pliysicians* appointed l)y the Congressional Committee to investigate and rej)ort upon the oiigin and causes of the yellow lever epidemic of 1878, state that the concurrence of local conditions favorable to the evolution of the yellow fever poison seems to be necessary to the evolu- tion of yellow fever epidemics; but, as to the nature of these favorable local con- ditions, we have no positive knowledge. In a negative way, we know that yellow fever often fails to swell into epidemic pievalence when high summer heat, at- mospheric moisture, maish malaria, and abundant filth are all i)rcsent; so that there must be some conditio sine qua mm other than any or all of these. The discovery of this unknown factor in the generation of yellow fever epidemics would be a great boon to humanity. Dr. P. V. Schenck, of St. Louis, who, in a well-prepared paper — from which one quotation has already been made— shows that 3X'llow fever has a home lacking in sanitary conditions; it mi- grates ; it is carried in baggage and in the hold of ships, and by a wave power; and that it requires humidity and a continuously high temperature. But these are not causes. He says: It is not generated by bilge-water; un- sanitary conditions won't produce it. Constantinople has filth and the plague, but no yellow fever; India, heat and cholera, but no yellow fever. Heat and humidity exist without the disease. Mauritius, in the Eastern, compared with Jamaica in the Western, Seas, has a mean annual temperature (80° Fahrenheit) almost the same; the fluctuations and undulations are not ex- cessive, and the humidity nearly the same. The rain-fall (sixty-six to seventy- six inches) is similar; the geological formations not dissimilar. Yet, with all these points of similarity, the diseases are very diflferent. At Jamaica the The following are the names of the gentlemen composing the Commission : John M. Woodworth, M. D., President; Stanford E. Chaille, M. D., Secretary; S. M. Bemiss, M. D.; .Terome Cochran, M. D.; M. S. Craft, M. D.; Samuel A. Green, M. D.; Thomas S. Hardee, C. E.; E. W. Mitchell, M. D.; Jacob S. Mosher, M. D.; W. H. Eandle, M. D.; Louis A. Fulligant, M. D.; R. M. Swearingen, M. D.