A theory of the causation and suggestions for the prevention of dysentery : together with hypotheses on the causation and views as to the prevention of typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, remittent, diphtheria, typhus, and other zymotic diseases in man and animals / by Mucor.

Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A theory of the causation and suggestions for the prevention of dysentery : together with hypotheses on the causation and views as to the prevention of typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, remittent, diphtheria, typhus, and other zymotic diseases in man and animals / by Mucor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    most lovely piece of water in the worlds the deposits accumulated so that pestiferous masses of excrement remained far above all tidal levels. The immediate consequences of such a state of things ■were of course enteric fever, in all its many shapes of bilious, gastric and remittent fevers, and the inevitable dysentery. Epi- demics of these swept over the place as the local seasonal condi- tions determined. But for a long time the dreaded yellow fever kept off;—so long, indeed, that the residents at E,io thought they were to enjoy their immunity in permanence. Their fancied security, however, was dispelled at last; and when they were over- taken they suffered frightfully. For years the black vomit was allowed to run its course unchecked, and whilst there was no dimi- nution of its cause there was no abatement of its virulence. By degrees the inhabitants awakened to a feeling that some steps must be taken. Efforts were directed to draining and scavenging j and precisely in proportion to the effectiveness of these measures in reducing the quantities of excrement available as a nidus for the fever germs, was their success in reducing their mortality. Unfortunately for them, as for many, other communities in similar positions, they did not know what to aim at with precision. They wasted time, therefore, in non-essentials and applied themselves to organic matters generally, instead of devoting themselves in the first instance to fcecal matter specially. Ten years ago they were still adhering to their primitive and disgusting method of excre- ment-removal. But all this is changed now; water-closets have been introduced and an improved system of disposing of their excreta has been adopted. Although yellow fever has not been entirely got rid of, it is no longer formidable or unmanageable. Epidemics are of the past. Whether Eio can ever completely eradicate the disease will depend upon the amount of control it can exercise over its population. Your black slave is a thorn in the side of civilisation in many ways. 226. Yellow fever has visited Europe on several occasions. It has appeared in some of the seaports of England and, after causing a few deaths, it has disappeared altogether. The only European countries in which it has been enabled to make a stand have been Portugal and Spain and the Mediterranean—Lisbon especially was afflicted with a severe epidemic on one or two occa- sions. This limitation of the fever in Europe would appear to be due partly to temperature and partly to the presence of fcecal matter on the surface of the ground. Lisbon was notoriously the filthiest town in Europe—except perhaps Cadiz—and Gibraltar was bad enough—up to a comparatively recent period. Now, I believe, its condition is greatly improved, and the dirtiest places left are in Italy. Eome, Genoa, Naples, and Venice, are more fcetid and noisome from human excreta than other continental cities. But Lisbon at the time of the yellow fever was a loathsome city, where all the ordure and filth of the population was thrown into a sluggish stream, or standing pool, in the middle of the streets, and masses of excreta were allowed to decompose in one spot, un-