Tableau of the yellow fever of 1853 : with topographical, chronological, and historical sketches of the epidemics of New Orleans since their origin in 1796, illustrative of the quarantine question / by Bennet Dowler.

  • Bennet Dowler
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tableau of the yellow fever of 1853 : with topographical, chronological, and historical sketches of the epidemics of New Orleans since their origin in 1796, illustrative of the quarantine question / by Bennet Dowler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    reported that during the last year, [1822.] notwithstanding the strictest compliance with those laics, our expectations were frustrated at the very moment when we thought we could indulge the hope of the most complete success. The season was far advanced, and in the month of September this metropolis enjoyed the most perfect health, when the yellow fever made its appearance. Observe, that this report was made by a committee altogether in favor of quar- antine. They honestly acknowledged its failure, but recommended its continuance in the most rigid form, because it had not been tried sufficiently long, and because other States had similar regulations ! The committee avow their belief in the con- tagious nature of yellow fever, and even adopt the opinion of the Board of Health) expressive of its importation from Pensacola, through the Bayou St. John. The report of the Board of Health to the Legislature, dated January 15th, 1823, brief, dogmatic, and unsatisfactory, holds the following language concerning the epidemic of the preceding year, (1822) : The researches made by the board at the commencement of the late epi- demic, lead them to believe that the yellow fever was imported towards the end of August last, by a vessel from Pensacola, arrived at the basin of Canal Carondelet; and attention was first attracted to the disease in a family by the name of Lynch, passengers in said vessel. This family, of which every member but one fell victims to the yellow fever, had removed to Bienville street, when the disease first spread, and from here extended through the city. The Board of Health believe it their duty to do away with the impression made by interested persons, to induce a belief in the inutility of the powers which you have so wisely conferred on the board, for the establishment of quarantines, which these persons wish to see destroyed. * * * * This opinion is diametrically opposed to that of the Board of Health, who believe that the yellow fever is contagious, and that the establishment of quaran- tines is necessary to prevent its introduction. * * * * The unacclimated were the sole victims of this scourge. The Legislature says that the city was perfectly healthy until the month of September—the Board says until the close of August, when the Lynch family having arrived from Pensacola, communicated the disease to the inhabitants of Bienville street, and thence to the whole city. Truth is one—error legion This same Board the previous year, in an official manifesto, dated September 4th*, gave a very different account of the origin of this epidemic, charging the disease to the sun, the weather, and fatigue, and never so much as hinting that the poor Lynches had introduced contagion into the city, which latter, saving five yellow fever deaths, never was more healthy. The Board testifies to the strictness of the measures (or quarantine then existing) will check its progress. This document is a melancholy proof of the inconsistent and contradictory opinions and actions of men unwilling to relinquish power, who resort to the sun &c, to account for the origin of the fever; then they fly to contagion; now mis- leading the public by stating that there are but five cases having the usual symp- toms, and then, saying that their strict measures will check its progress''—thereby jeopardizing the lives of a whole city upon the supposition of the contagiousness of the disease ! What can be more criminal in a Board of Health, whether its * See the sequel.