Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair, surgeon general of British Guiana ; edited by John Davy, inspector general of army hospitals, etc.

  • Blair, Daniel.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair, surgeon general of British Guiana ; edited by John Davy, inspector general of army hospitals, etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    73/290 (page 51)
    CHAP. VI. ORIGIN OF THE EPrDEjnC. As Demerara lies permanently within the meteorological yellow fever zone, and as persons fresh from cold climates and sus- ceptible of the pathogenic influence of yellow fever arrive daily, and as notwithstanding it is only after long intervals of years that yellow fever is observed among us, it is evident that some element is required in the formation of the disease besides European blood and tropical heat. It is also evident that, whatever that element may be, it is different from the patho- genic entity of intermittent fever; the latter a disease which is constantly present here in all its types, complications, and sequelte.* The condition of the health of the shipping before, during, and after the last epidemic, as shown in the difference of mortality, points out how the sanitary condition of the same locality is altered by the presence or absence of the subtle and invisible poison of yellow fever. Perhaps as striking a contrast is seen in the condition of the present water-side terminus of the railway company. These premises, when owned by the late Mr. Benjamin during the epidemic, gave out the most virulent malaria. By sleeping one night on those premises Dr. E-eld (of the east coast, then on a visit to town), a settler of eight or ten years' residence, was attacked by the gravior form of the pre- vailing disease, from which he narrowly escaped with life. At present these premises are filled with red blooded Englishmen, and yet no symptom of yellow fever has shown Itself among them, after an exposure of many months to the locality. • [The history of the disease in the West Indies seems to me perfectly in accordance with the above conclusion. It is remarkable that some of the most destructive outbreaks of yellow fever have occurred amongst the troops at stations where intermittent fever is almost unknown as indiijeuous. Brimstone Hill, in St. Kitts, may be particidarised; Fort Charlotte, in St. Vincent; and the garrison of St. Ann, in Barbados ; nnd it is not less remarkable that those colonies, in which agues are most common, have been least frequently visited by the malignant fever; of which Demerara and Berbice are striking examples.]—Y.-o.