The cause and prevention of yellow fever at New Orleans and other cities in America / by E.H. Barton.
- Barton, Edward H.
- Date:
- 1857
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cause and prevention of yellow fever at New Orleans and other cities in America / by E.H. Barton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
28/440 page 20
![No resident of New Orleans, or indeed of any other city of our Union, could candidly examine the exposition o( Dr. Barton without instruction ; and wu hope for the sake of the common weal, that it may bo carefully and widely studied, in the North aa well as in the South. There are many hints to be found in it which would be well worth at- tending to in places north of Mason and Dixon's line, no loss than in the warmer regions of our more exposed neighbors. It was intended for the public at large, and is therefore addressed to the nation instead of the profession : and should it meet with but a small share of iho consideration to which it is entitled, the people ot New Orleans cannot fail sooner or later to derive a lasting and inestima- ble benefit. [E.t'ract of ii letter from Wm. Brawne, M. D., of Fredrickaburg, A'a.] Receive my grateful thanks for a copy of the Report of the Sani- tary Commission. I do not flatter you when I say that your paper on the sanitary condition of the city, contains a map of valuable informa- tion well digested and most judiciously arranged, that cannot be found in auy paper I have ever read, and I have read much on the subject. * * % * u -phe various circumstances which you have embodied and arranged connected with the disturbance of the soil—the hygrome- tric and other conditions of the atmosphere,—the comparison now in- stituted betweeu the local position of your city, the peculiarity of its soil and its proximity to water courses, marshes, &c., _ with others throughout the whole range of the yellow fever zone, requiring an im- mense amount of labor which feAv could have been found to encounter, have gone fai-, if not to the entire extent of elucidating those conditions in yellow fever districts which produce the causes of the disease, to prove its local origin—and that proper hygienic regulations judiciously administered, will, most probably form an effectual barrier against the encroachments of this most fatal malady. I have not had sufficient time to give this report the thorough ex- amination I could wish and which I design to do. The Immense mass of facts it contains—and the variety of information derived from such various sources upon which its reasoning and conclusions are^ deduced, render it necessary that it should be studied not merely read. And in another from the same : * * * * 'phe protracted and onerous labors of the members of the Commission, and the immense benefits likely to accrue to the best interests of the citv from them, is eminently entitled to the high- est appreciation by the civil authorities. If I am not much _ mistaken, the publication of the several reports of your sanitary commission will form a new era in the investigation of the causes of epidemic diseases and result in incalculable blessings to countries subject to epidemic in- fluences. It is only those who are by education capable of placing a proper estimate on the value of such services as have been rendered who can properly appreciate the obligation which the city owes to the members of the Commission. Money can scarcely remove it.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20402521_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
