Report upon yellow fever in Louisiana in 1878 and subsequently / by S.M. Bemiss.

  • Bemiss, S. M. (Samuel Merrifield), 1821-1884.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report upon yellow fever in Louisiana in 1878 and subsequently / by S.M. Bemiss. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    first winter month had expired. I might, at the expense of too great length, mention many facts in corroboration of this view, deduced from an extensive practice of thirty years, but will content mj^self with referring to the almost conclusive one of the complete immunity which both armies enjoyed from yellow fever during the terrible ex- posure which they had to undergo during the late four years of civil war. Soldiers representing every State and phase of climate known to the United States, composed these two armies. The armies were necessarily exposed to the malarious as well as the most healthy portions of the Southern States, and yet not one case of yellow fever is known to have occurred among them during that protracted struggle. This fact astonished and even perplexed the profession, and was difficult to account for, the most prob- able solution being found in the very rigid quarantine which Gen'l Butler enforced in New Orleans, where yellow fever had heretofore almost invariably originated. In concluding this report, allow me to add, that to my mind the history of yellow fever in the United States for the past few years shows that it is no longer, as in the past, a disease affecting certain localities or communities lying in close proximity to the gulf coast, but has become, in its mysterious strides into the interior, a great national scourge, afflicting to the hearts of the people, and interrupting great avenues of trade and commerce, essential to the wholesome development of important industries and the material wealth of the country. Without going further into a discussion of the subject, as to whether yellow fever is indigenous to our soil, or of foreign importation, or whether, having been brought here, it has been propagated to such a degree as to guarantee it a fixed home in our midst (all of which shall and will be investigated by skill and science). I desire to address . myself more particularly to the great practical question as to how this terrible scourge is to be ^stamped out, or, if this be impossible, how it is to be modified and mitigated in its effects. As quarantine officer