Congressional Serial Set Volume 5919 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...except that the terror of the former was greater and their flight from their homes more precipitate than in the case of the latter. The recurrence of succeeding epidemics has, therefore, served to increase rather than to lessen the public alarm. It would be difficult to determine with accuracy the loss of life occasioned by the 95 invasions of our territory by yellow fever during the past 208 years. We have endeavored to collect from the most available sources the mortality caused by this disease, but have been unable to obtain any reliable data for the earlier epidemics. If we confine ourselves to the epidemics which have occurred since 1793, we find that there have not been less than 100,000 deaths from this cause. The greatest sufferer has been the city of New Orleans, with 41,348 deaths, followed by the city of Philadelphia, with 10,038 deaths. The epidemics of 1855, 1873, 1878, and 1879 claimed 7,759 victims in the city of Memphis, Tenn. From 1800 to 1876, Charleston lost 4,565 of its citizens by attacks of yellow fever. New York, during the earlier and later invasions of this disease, has had 3,454 deaths, while the epidemic of 1855 in Norfolk, Va., caused over 2,000 1 Read at the 29th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, held in Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 16-21,1901. deaths. During our brief occupation of the island of Cuba (July, 1898-December, 1900), with every precaution brought into exercise to ward off the disease, there have occurred among the officers and men of our Army 1,575 cases of yellow fever, with 231 deaths. If we reckon the average mortality at 20 per cent, there have not been less than 500,000 cases of yellow fever in the United States during the period from 1793 to 1900. Turning for a moment to other countries, we fi...