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.
64/440 page 30
![With regard to the coefficient or terrene causes of this fever, inves- tigation has not left a doubt on my mind. The intelligent letter of the United States Consul at Vera Cruz (J. S. Pickett, Esq.,) whose ex- perience in yellow fever should attest his qualifications as a most com- petent witness, and who was incidentally a passenger in the much- abused Ben. Franklin, to whose arrival from Porto Rico the fever has been attributed,—T give below.* On a careful perusal of that letter, every candid and unprejudiced mind must fully exempt that vessel from having had any agency in the origination of the fever, and consequently from its being imported from abroad. It has been clearly demonstrated by those who have thoroughly investigated this subject on the spot, that so far from this ship having originated this fever, that cases occurred some days before her arrival at Gosport; that of all the men who worked upon her, and they were nume- rous, at this filthy spot only two were attacked with the fever, and they were exposed to other much greater liabilities than this vessel af- Veka Cettz, September 2] St, 1855. To the EdMor of the UTorfollc SercM .•—From the reiterrated statements in the public press of the ITnited States, the impression has been made that the awful mortality at Norfolk and Portsmouth is traceble to the steamship Ben Franklin, which arrived at the latter port from St Thomas early in June. As such an impression is calculated to mislead and bafde scientific research as to the true orgin of the plague now desolating those cities, suffer me to disabuse the public mind by stating a few facts The Ben Franklin left St. Thomas for Now Tork on the 27th of May, with thirty-threo passengers—men, women and children—most of them unacclimated persons. The second or third day out several of the crew and firemen were on the sick list, but whether from rum, fatigue, or malingering, (commonly called sogering,) I shall not pretend to say. Certain it is, there were no cases of yellow fever among them, and the writer has, he thinks, seen enough of that disease to recognise it when existing. On the fifth or sixth day, one of the men (who had been up and about the day before) died suddenly, and without having exhibited the least symptom of yellow fever. I attributed his death to some organic functional derangement, most probably of the bowels, for neither pur- gatives nor enemata had any effect upon him. The tenth day out we put into Hampton Roads, in distress, having for the preceeding two or three days made scarcely any progress, the ship leaking badly, and the engine almost entirely broken down. At the very time of getting in, the only other death occurred— that of one of the firemen, who had been at his duty the day before. Could his have been a case of yellow fever ? I think not. We had not anchored when the boat from Norfolk to Baltimore came in hall, and with a single exception every passenger was transferred, bag and baggage, on board of her, and found themselves safe and sound in Baltimore next morning. I have either seen or heard from every one oftUow passengers, and that one left on hoard since Vien, and not one of them has had the slightest symptoms of yeUow fever. Now, when we bear in mind that the cabin of the Ben Franklin is bolow deck, and that it had constantly open communication with the hold, and that the delicate soa-Bick women and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20402521_0064.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
