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SB&lliHi 
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
             Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Public Health Service 
 
 
I
                      AN

              ACCOUNT

                   OF THE

      Maltgitatit  Jtber,

WHICH PREVAILED  IN THE CITY  OF NEW-YORK^

            DURING THE AUTUMN OF

                    1805.
CONTAINING,
    1. The Proceedings  of  the
 Board of Health, to prevent the
 introduction of Malignant Fever.
  2. The rise, progress, and de-
cline of the late epidemic.
  3. An Account of the Marine k
Bellevue Hospitals, with the num-
ber of patients received, and deaths
which have occurred, at  each of
these establishments,  during the
sickly season.
  4. Record of deaths, &c. &c.
   5. Opinion  of several eminent
Physicians, respecting the cause of
Malignant Fever, in several  dif-
ferent parts of the United States.
  6. The situation of the convicts
in the State-Prison, with  respect to
health during the last summer.
  7. Desultory observations  and
reflections.
  8. The  various modes of cure
adopted in the Malignant Feyer.
BY JAMES  HARDIE,

i^"
                NEW-YORK:

PRINTED BY SOUTH WICK S? HARDCASTU"

             NO, 2, WALL-STREIT,
,..1805..., 
\
<^L0 
DEDICATION.
  TO 1ME HONORABLE  DE  WITT CLINTON,  ESQ.
         MAYOU OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.

       Sir,
  It  has,  from time immemorial, been usual with wri-
ters of Books and Pamphlets to dedicate  their respective
performances to such persons of influence and respecta-
bility in society,  as they thought they might take such a
liberty with,  without giving offence.   In addresses
of this nature, however, sp much fulsome adulation is
generally ke&pcd upon the patron,as none but a sycophant
could write,  and a republican  could not peruse without
disgust.  In this manner, I shall not transgress; but the
occasion surely requires, nor does delicacy forbid me to
record,  that, during the last  spring and early part of
the summer, you, with the greatest vigilance and assidu-
ity, exercised every power vested in you by law, for the
purpose of preventing the origin or introduction of ma~
lignant fever into our city;  that after the commencement
of that cruel disorder, you were never absent from your
post,  as  President of the Board of Health, even for a
single hour;   and that it was your  highest ambition
in conjunction with  the other respectable members of
that  body  to  use your  utmost exertions in bringing
about such measures, as seemed best calculated to miti-
gate the distresses of the poor and afflicted, to secure the
property of the citizens and  to maintain the peace and
tranquility of this great metropolis; and that your efforts
to accomplish objects of such vast importance to the com-
munity were crowned with a success, which the most san-
guine could not have expected is so well known, that even
your political opponents forgetting the distinction of par-
ty,  cheerfully coincide in opinion with your friends, that 
IV
you acted in such a manner as to merit the honourable
appellation of FATHER OF THE CITY.

   That you may  long, continue  to fill a distinguish-
ed station in which you may  have it in your power to
promote the interest of your constituents, and receive the
patriot's best reward, the approbation of your country-
men,  is the sincere wish of

            Sir,
                Your much obliged,
                  most obedient, and
                      very humble servant,
                            JAMES H4RDIE.
   New-York,  December  1805. 
PREFACE.
   THE Malignant  Fever, which has of late years,
been so prevalent, in different parts of the  United
States, has unfortunately been the cause of more dis-
putes between physicians of respectability, than any
other disease which has afflicted the human species,
within the last century.

   Although the great question,  whether the disease
is imported from abroad and contagious, or of local
origin,  aud non-contagious, has been agitated, for
many years, amongst practitioners in the West-India
islands, and in the southern parts of Europe ; yet, if
I am rightly informed, it did not become the subject
of much discussion, amongst medical gentlemen in
this country, till the autumn of 1793, when the city
of Philadelphia was afflicted with a Pestilential Fever,
which, in respect to its mortality, has never been
equalled by any  endemic or epidemic, which has since
that time appeared, in any port or place of the Unit-
States.   Upon the close of  that calamity, various
publications appeared in Philadelphia, written by gen-
tlemen  highly respected for their literary and profes-
sional abilities, some of whom espoused one side of
the question, and some the other; and since  that pe-
riod, a vast number of paVnphlets and several volumes
upon the  same  controversy,  have  issued from  the
press in many parts of the United States.  Many ex-
cellent essays, have,  likewise, appeared in our public
prints, written with a view to elucidate the subject,,
but  stil!,it is to be regretted, that the point remains un-
settled, and our  citizens are in general as much in the
dark, respecting the cause and origin of pestilence as
ever. 
VI
  It is not because  I have been greatly conversant
amongst  the sickMn eveiy malignant fever,  with
which our city has been afflicted since the year 1798,
and that during these years I have thought and con-
versed much with intelligent men upon the subject,
that I have  been induced to submit  the  following
sheets to the public.  Indeed,  since  the first, and
most eminent physicians in America, notwithstand-
ing all their exertions, have not been able to satisfy
their fellow  citizens with respect to the origin or na-
ture of the disease, it would certainly have been un-
pardonable vanity in me to have thought, even for a
moment,  that any thing could  flow  from my pen,
which  could settle* the matter in  difference.

  From the nature of my official situation, however.,
during the hist season, I was acquainted with all th<*
proceedings of the Board of Health,and beingpersuad-
ed that a .summary thereof, would be highly gratifying
toour felbw citizens, I respectfully present them vyitij
the following.   Several of our physicians were, like-
wise, pleased to  furnish the Board with their obser-
vations respecting the nature of the first cases of the
disease in this city.  On whatever side of the  ques^*
tion their opinions lay, I have placed them before the
public without reserve, thus affording an opportunity
to those wUo vvi_.li to decide impartially, the more ef-
fectually to  judge for themselves;  and I have like-?
wise, acted  in the same manner with respect to eoin>
munications respecting  the origin  of pestilence  in,
other ports and  places of the  United States.   The
list, containing the names of the dead and some othec
tables  connected therewith, it is hoped, will be found,
accurate and interesting.  The  chapter containing
desultory olservatinns and reflections, comprises a^
number of particulars which have come  under my
own cognizance.  They are not  advanced  with a
view to sup-port any particular theory; but merely
to record fads, from which the intelligent reader can 
VII
draw his own conclusions.   It is, therefore, hoped,
they will be received with candour.

  Upon the whole, however, on taking a retrospective
view of the different ©pinions, which have been ad-
vanced this season, by the most eminent physiciansj
respecting the matter in dispute, it may be observed,
that though those  gentlemen who advocate the doc-
trine of importation and contagion, consider, in op-
position to their opponents,  our present quarantine
laws as very defective and susceptible of much legis-
lative improvement; yet  they  readily agree with
them, that when the disease has once been introduced}
offensive privies, filthy streets, foul docks, putrid ani-
mal and vegetable substances, &e.  tend greatly to
spread and propagate  the disease.  Since, there-
fore, we have, as yet, had no proof sufficiently satis-
factory to the public mind, to which of  the two sour-
ces the evil with which we have been afflicted is to be
attributed,  is it not  the wisest  and best  policy to
suppose, that it may proceed from either ?

   Should we be influenced by a belief of this kind, a
wise and intelligent legislature, upon due represent-
ation, will  undoubtedly  render the quarantine laws,
so much more efficient and rigorous, as to preclude
the importation of  the  disease from  abroad  ; and
such undoubtedly will be the vigilance of our Board
of Health, that for the sake of themselves  as well as
of their fellow-citizens,  they will assiduously endea-
vour to remove every cause of impurity, which can
be supposed to engender or propagate it from with-
in.  Proceeding in this manner and living, in all re-
spects,  conformably to the nature of  the  climate,
which we  inhabit, may  we not expect, under the
blessings of Divine Providence, an absolute exemp-
tion from the disease commonly called Yellow Fever,
which has for so many years, been  the scourge and
terror of our country ?
                          JAMES HARDIE. 
) «*! 
HISTORY
                  OF THE

'MALIGftANT* FEVER.
           '--------/">fc_  A.

                           •. ■ •■         ■' t v : .. s .1
              ,  CHAPTER I.

OF TfiE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ' BOARD OF HEALTH,  TO
  PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF MALIGNANT FEVER. ^

  BEFORE I enter upon  this subject,  it will, no
doubt, be deemed interesting to many of my readers,
to be informed with what powers the Board of Health-
are, by law, invested, as they will thus be better able
to decide,  whether  that body have not done every
thing which they legally could, or which, indeed,
could reasonably  be expected of them to prevent
the introduction or origin of so dreadful a calamity.

 L It is well known  that^the public opinion has, for
along time,  been greatly divided with respect to
the important question—Whether the Malignant or
Yellow Fever, with which we have, of late years,,
been so grievously afflicted, be of domestic  origin or
imported?  Physicians, of the first eminence, have
espoused opposite sides.   It was, therefore, the wis-
est policy for the Legislature, in forming the health;
laws and for those  entrusted with the execution ot
them, to act as if  they believed, that the evil might
proceed from either source ;  and, I doubt not, that it
will be evident to most reflecting persons, that they
nave conducted themselves in this manner.
                    3 
10
  The Corporation of the city, about the beginning
of the present year, had deemed that it would contri-
bute to the public health, if, instead of a Health Com-
mittee, which it had heretofore been usual for them
to appoint, as occasion required, a  Board should be
appointed, with more .full and ample powers.   A
draft  of a bill, for that  purpose, was  accordingly
transmitted  to the Legislature and passed, as fol-
lows :

                    AN ACT,

RELATIVE TO THE PUBLtC HEALTH IK THE CITY OF NEW
            YORK—PASSED 9th MARCH, 1805.

  1. Be it enacted by the People of the Slate of New-
York,  represented in Senate and Assembly, That the
powers granted in and by the thirty-first and thirty-
second sections* of the act, entitled  "an apt to pro-
   * The following are the sections alluded to :

  " XXXL  And be it further enacted,  That it
shall be lawful  for the said commissioners of  the
health-office  or a majority of them,  as they shall
judge advisable, to make and  execute the rules and
orders for cleansing and scouring the streets, alleys,
passages, curtilages, sewers,  yards,  cellars,  vaults,
sinks, and other places, where  filth  and corruption
collect, within the said eity, and for removing all of-
fensive, noxious,   or  putrid  articles  or substances
which may be stored, or otherwise collected, within
the said city j  and all necessary expences for carry-
ing the said rules and orders into effect, where the
same relate  to the cleansing of such places as are
not  the  property, of  private  individuals,  shall  be
deemed as part of the contingent expences of <she
said city, and the monies for defraying the same shall
be raised in like manner as the other  contingent ex- 
11
vide against infectious and pestilential diseases," to
the commissioners of the Health-Office, be and here-
penees of the the said city ;  and where the same
shall relate to the cleansing such places as are the
property of individuals, such  expences shall be paid
by the owners or occupiers thereof;  Provided, All
such rules and orders shall be reported to and may be
suspended or repealed  at any time by the person
administering the government of this State.

   " XXXII.  And be  it further  enacted, That
whenever the city of New-York or any part thereof
shall be annoyed or  rendered foul by any manufac-
tory, trade, work, or business, producing noxious va-
pours or highly offensive smells, or by any place where
noxious or putrid substances  shall be stored or col-
lected  within the said city, it shall be the duty of the
said commissioners, or  a majority  of them, if in their
opinion, the public health or that of individuals shall
be endangered thereby, to proceed forthwith to such
place or places and to make due  inquiry and strict
examination respecting the same ;  and  that it shall
be lawful for  them  or  either of them whenever it
may be necessary, to require the aid or assistance  of
a justice of the peace  and constable in making  of
such inquiry  and examination, who are hereby au-
thorised and  required to break  open, whenever ad-
mittance cannot otherwise  be obtained, the dcor or
doors of such place where such manufactory, trade,
work or business is carried on, producing or afford-
ing such noxious vapour or highly offensive smell, or
where  such offensive substances are deposited; and
if the said commissioners or a majority of them shall
judge,  any such manufactory, trade, work,  business
or repository to be carried on or kept  in such manner
as to be a nuisance, they shall  declare it so in writ-
ing to the owner thereof, or, in his absence, to such 
12
by  are  transferred  to the Mayor,  Aldermen and
Commonalty of the city of New-York.  And that
the said Mayor, Aldermen  and Commonalty shall
have power, in their discretion,  to remove or order
the removal of all  persons and things,  within  the
said city, infected by or tainted with pestilential mat-
workman, clerk, keeper, or one of the family as they
may then find on the premises, and, at the tame time,
shall require the removal, abatement or discontinu-
ance of the said nuisance, as the case may require,
within the time to be limited  in the said writing; and
if, on the expiration of the said time, the same order
shall not  have  been complied with, it shall be  the
duty of the mayor cr recorder of the said city, upon
representation thereof to either of them made by the
said commissioners, or  a majority of  them, imme-
diately to  issue a  warrant under the Jiand and seal
of the said  mayor or recorder, directed to the sheriff
of the said  city, commanding him forthwith  without
delay to cause to be removed, abated or discontinued
such nuisance;  and the person to whom  such decla-
ration  and requisition in writing as aforesitid shall
be made, shall  besides for not complying therewith,
be considered  as guilty of a misdemeanor, and on
complaint being made thereof in  writing  by  any one
or more of the said commissioners to any one of the
justices of the peace of the said city, it shall be the
duty of such justice to bind the person so complained
of in a recognizance with sufficient surety in  the
sum of two hundred dollars, for his appearance at the
next general  sessions of the peace in the said city, to
answer to the laid charge, and on due proof thereof
it shall be lawful for the said court to impose a  fine
on the person or persons so  offending, in a sum not
exceeding one hundred dollars, out of which fine the
expences of removing, abating or causing to be dis-
continued such nuisance shall be paid." 
15
 ter, to such place or places as may, in their opinion,
 most conduce to the preservation of the health of the
 said city ;  and that such penalties may be contained
 in such bye-laws or ordinances, relative to the pow-
 ers hereby granted,  as  the said Mayor, Aldermen
 and Commonalty shall, from time to time, judge pro-
 per, in order to enforce  a prompt^and punctual com-
 pliance with the same, and for the punishment of all
 offenders in the premises, not exceeding one hun-
 dred dollars for each offence.

   •2. And be it further  enacted, That  it  shall  and
 may.be lawful for the said Mayor,  Aldermen  and
 Commonalty,  to  institute,  from time  to time, a
 Board of Health for the said city,  consisting of the
 commissioners of the health-office, and such other
 persons  as they may think proper,  and to invest the
 said board with such of the powers of the said May-
 or,  Aldermen and  Commonalty,  in relation to the
 public health,  as they may  judge proper, and to
 enforce a compliance with the orders of said board,
, by the infliction of penalties,  not  exceeding  one
 thousand dollars, for each offence.

   3. And whereas doubts may exist,  whether ves-
 sels described  in the second section of, the act, sup-
 plementary to an act, entitled  " An act to provide
 against 'infectious and pestilential  diseases may not
 be permitted, after being discharged of their cargc.es,
 to approach within three hundred yards of-he island
 of New-York -9 .therefore,

   Be it further enacted, That such permission shall
 not,  in any case, be granted.

   4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be in
 the power of the Mayor of the said city,  or of the
 Board of Health, to order to the quarantine ground,
 or some other place of safety,  any vessel or vessels 
14
nt the wharves, or in the vicinity of the said city,
which he or they may deem prejudicial to the pub-
lic heaUh ;  and in case any master, owner or con-
signee of such" vessel shall refuse or neglect  to obey
such order?, the person  so offending shall be consi-
dered guilty of a  misdemeanor and shall be fined in a
sum not exceeding one  thousand dollars, or impri-
soned for a term not  exceeding twelve months, in
such case ;  and also,  in case the master, owner or
consignee cannot be  found, the Mayor of the City
of New-York, or the Board of Health  shall have
power to remove as aforesaid, such vessel or vessels
itt the expence of the master, owner or consignee.

  5. And be it further enacted, That if any surplus
money shall, in future, remain in the hands of the
commissioners of the Health-Office,  after each an-
nual accounting with  the comptroller of the state, the
same shall be paid to the Board of Health of the said
city, to  be  by them applied to  promote the  objects
of tbat institution."

   On the 2£th of March the Common Council re-
solved,  that the Mayor, Recorder, and the  Alder-
men, of the first five wards, together with the Com-
missioners  of the Health-Office should be appointed
a Board of Health,  in conformity to the preceding
Jaw.  The number  was, sometime thereafter, ex-
tended, so as to comprehend the Aldermen of all
 the nine wards, and the city inspector, and when
 the citizens  began  to  flee,  in consequence of the
 sickness, it was deemed expedient, that the assistants
 of the different wards should,  likewise, be added.

   On the °d of April, the Board having met and
 bein^ organized, agreeably to the act aforesaid, elect-
 ed Jacob  Delamontagnie, Esq. as their Treasurer",
 and James  Hardic as  their Secretary  and Agent.
 At the same meeting, a committee was likewise ap» 
                       15

pointed to draft an ordinance for transferring such
powers from the corporation to the board, as it might
be deemed necessary, that they should  be invested
with for the preservation of the public health, and for
enforcing  the orders and  regulations of said board.
In consequence, of which, the following was presented
to the board on the loth April, and at the next meet-
ing of the Common Council passed into a law.


                    4 LAW

    PqR. THE ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A b6-AR'd OF HEALTH.
    ■ ' '' '                    '. ' '     n»0 ' j A  .
   Whereas by an act of the legislature of  this state,
entitled,  " An  act relative to the  pubiic health of
the city  of New-York,"  passed the ninth day of
March, 1805;- the Mayor, Aldermen and Common-
alty of said city, are empowered to institute, from
time to time, a Board of Health for the said  city, con-
sisting of the Commissioners of the Health-Office, and
such other persons as they-may think proper, and to
invest the said, board with  such of the said  powers of
the said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, in re.
lation to the public health, as they  may judge pro-
per, and to enforce compliance with the orders of the
said board, by the infliction of penalties, not exceed-
ing one thousand dollars, for each-offence :  therefore,

 '  I. "Be  it ordained by the  Mayor, Aldermen and
Commonalty of the city of  Neiv-YorL  in Common
Council convened,  That a  Board of Health shall be
and is hereby  instituted to consist  of the Commis-
sioners of the Health-Office, and of the Mayor, Re-
corder and Aldermen of the city, who shall assemble
at such time and place and as often as they may judge
proper, to superintend and carry into effect all laws
and ordinances of this state and of the Common Coun-
cil, which at present exist or may hereafter be passed,
providing against infectious and pestilential diseases, 
16
  or which  relate to the public health of this city.
  And the said board are hereby invested with all the
  powers of the said Mayor,'Aldermen and Common-
  alty of the city, which regard the public health of said
  city, to be by them exercised in such manner as, in
  their judgment awl discretion, may best promote the
  important  objects for which the said  board is insti-
  tuted,  and  that any five of the said board shall be a
  quorum to transact  business.

    2. And  be it  further  ordained,  That the said
  Board  of Health, shall  make diligent enquiry with re-
  spect to all nuisances that may exist, and which they
  may deem obnoxious  to the health and  lives of the
  inhabitants of this city, and  shall have fulfpowerto
 order the removal of the same at their cliscretion, un-
 der the several penalties in such case made and  pro-*
 vided.
                                      00'' ■ •
   3. And be it further ordained,  /That the  said
 Board of Health may provide or erect a suitable of-,
 ficefor  their accommodation, on the public ground
 or elsewhere,, .and during the existence of any. epi-
 demical disease, or upon its probable approach, shall
 have power at the pujblic expence, to open the  hos-
 pital at Bellevue, for  the accommodation of the sick,
 and to make such rules and  regulations for their re-
 ception, and also to determine what persons  shall
 be entitled to admission, as they may think proper;
 and moreover, that the said  board  of health, during
 the existance of  any  epidemic, shall  have power
 to furnish and employ physicians, nurses, medicines^
 and other necessaries, not  only for the use of the sick
 who shall have been  removed into  the  the said  hos-
 pital, but also for the use of the sick and indigent of
 the city.

  4. And be it further ordained,Th&t the said Board
 of Health shall have power in their discretion to re-
move or order the removal of all  persons and things 
17
within the said city, infected by or tainted with pesti-
lential matter, to such place or  places as may  in
their opinion most conduce to the preservation of the
health of this city, and in order to enforce a prompt
and punctual compliance with the said order, all of-
fenders in the premises shall be subject to a penalty
not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence.

  5. " And be it further enacted, That it shall  be the
duty of the city inspector and his assistant, to attend
the meetings of the Board  of Health, and to be sub-
ject to such instructions as may be given to them in
relation to nuisauces, and to execute the several re-
solutions and orders of the said board."

   Having thus laid before my readers, the  act cf the
state, and the ordinance of the Corporation,  for the
appointment of a Board of Health, I now' proceed
to relate the measures which were adopted by that
body, to prevent the  introduction of pestilence.

  During the winter, four discreet persons had been
appointed to examine into the state of all the pri-
vies, within the first seven wards, and to report their
condition to the City  Inspector,  by whom ordi-
nances were prepared, and afterwards passed  by the
Common  Council,  for cleansing all such,  the con-
tents of which arose to within three feet of the sur-
face of the  earth.  This  duty was  performed with
great assiduity and attention, and though there were,
no doubt, a  few, who contrived to evade these ordi-
nances, it is certain, that,  in by far the greater num-
ber of instances, they were complied with.

  On the 15th of April, his Honour the Mayor stat-
ed to the Board of  Health, that he  had received a
deposition concerning the health  of Point  Petre, of
which the following is a copy.
                        c 
13
   « _--------* deposes,  that he left Point Petre on
the 9th of March, in the-------, and arrived here on
Friday evening last; that a Malignant or  Yellow
Fever  prevailed there to an alarming extent, princi-
pally on board of the shipping, the persons infected
with it,  dying witlnn 12 or 14  hours after being
takeu,  if they did not recover; that the deponent and
all his  hands were sick, except one ; but that they
all recovered ; that the disease was generally attend-
ed  with black  vomit,  and that it had  considerably
abated four or  five  days  previous to the deponent s
departure,  two or three deaths only occurring at the
most daily, whereas before that  time, fourteen or
fifteen  deaths topk place a day;  that the malignity of
the disease was encreased by an interdiction of the
landing of  the sick."
  Sworn the 15th April,  1805, before
                       DEWITT CLINTON.

  After  reading the above deposition,  the  Mayor
suggested to the board the propriety of issuing the
following

              PROCLAMATION,
            By DE WITT CLINTON,
       MAYOR  OF  THE CITY OF KBW-YOHK.
  " Whereas I have received information, that a ma-
lignant or  pestilential fever prevails at Point Petre,
in the  island of Guadaloupe, I do, therefore, in pur-
suance of the authority vested in me,  by law, direct,
that all  vessels arriving  in this port, from the said
island of Guadaloupe, be subject to quarantine.
     (L. S.)      In witness whereof, &c.
                    15th April, 1805,
                     DE WITT CLINTON."

  * As masters of vessels-and others who give information concerning
the health of foreign places, might foe unwilling that their names should
appear in public, it is deemed expedient, in general, to suppress them. 
IS
  ^ The board unanimously resolved, that it  was ex-
 pedient, that the said proclamation snqufd be imme-
 diately published.

   On the 18th April, three vessels were sent down
 to the quarantine ground ; the reason for which will
 be seen from the following extract of a letter from
 the Secretary of the Board of Health to the Health-
 Officer, at Staten-Island,

   " Complaints had been made to the Resident Phy-i
 sician, with  respect to the foul situation of the ship
 General  Wayne, from  Toningen.   The schooner
 John  had, likewise, been stated to have come from
 Point  Petre,  a sickly port in the West Indies,  and the
 ship Betsey,  from Jamaica, had by the conibssion of
 the  captain, (M'Dougal) lost two of her crew by
 sickness,  at  Savannah-la-Mar, the port winch they
 had last left, and also two others, during their paiAa?;a
 to this city.

   " I  accompanied the  Reside a* Physician,  this
 morning,  on  board  the John, where ho gave orders,
 that she  should be ■ immediately  removed  to the
 stream, to the  distance of at least three hundred
 yards from the wharf.  We,flikewise, went on board
 the Betsey, where the Doctor gave similar orders, as
 in the case above-mentioned.   With  respect to the
 ship General Wayne, directions were given  to Mr.
 Grant Forbes, the gentleman  to whom that vessel
 was  consigned, to cause her to be sent to the quaran-
 tine ground without delay."  ^11 these orders were
 promptly  executed.

  The following letter written by direction of the
Mayor to the Secretary of the Board of Health of
Philadelphia, will shew the extreme anxiety  and at-
tention of that vigilant magistrate to obtain such in-
formation, not only within our own  port, but likewise
* 
20
from other places,  as might  be useful in preventing
the scourge of pestilence.

             " Office of the Board of Health,
                  New-York, 19th April, 1805.
     " Sir,
  " The friendly correspondence which took place
last season, between the Boards of Health of Phila-
delphia and this city, and which was unquestionably
productive of reciprocal benefit, has induced his Ho-
nour the Mayor to instruct me to solicit its revival.

  " With this view, he has directed me to assure
your board,  that a full  and candid disclosure of all
facts, within our knowledge, relative, to the objects
of our appointment, shall be strictly adhered  to on
our part, in the correspondence, as we are fully per-
suaded it will be on yours.

  " I inclose you the affidavit, on which the Mayor's
late proclamation, restricting  vessels from Guada-
loupe was founded, and have, likewise, to inform you
of the case of the ship Betsey from Savannah-la-Mar,
which arrived at this port a few days ago.  The cap-
tain (M'Dougal) states, that while at Jamaica, he
lost two of his crew by sickness, and two more on
their passage to this place.  The  death of the two
first v as, in his opinion,  to be attributed to an in-
flammation of the bowels, occasioned  by their  fre-
quent exposure to damps and rains, in the woods,
where they  concealed themselves in order to avoid
being impressed by the British.  One of the others
died after an indisposition of about four  hours,  and
from the manner in which the captain described the
Symptoms attending the fourth, the Resident Phy-
sician was induced to apprehend, that he might have
died of Malignant Fever.*

  * The captain asserted, that at the time he left Savannah-la-Mar, it
was  remarkably healthy, and subsequent information from that port,
shewed that he was perfectly correct. 
£1
  " Although, at this early*period of the srason, it is
not probable that imminent danger was to be appre-
hended from a circumstance of this nature, the Health
Commissioners thought it must prudent to send the
Betsey  to  the quarantine ground, from the  place
where she now lies, as also the ship General Wayne,
which lately arrived here in a fojil state, with passen-
gers,  from Toningen.

   " The alarming indications, which have taken place
thus early,  and  the transfer of the scat  of war from
 Europe to the West-Indies inculcate the absolute
 necessity of adopting all the precautionary measures
 in our power ;  but while our conduct will be mark-
 ed by a spirit of this kind,  we shall never lose sight
of the respect we entertain for your board, nor of the
duties we owe to your city.
            With great respect,
                 X am, &c.
                    JAMES HARDIE,SecVy.
  To Dr. James Remolds, Secretary, )
    Board of Health, Philadelphia." $

   A polite acknowledgment of the aforesaid letter
 wib  soon  after received,  in  which a   scrupulous
 transmission of every circumstance that should come
 to their knowledge of the existence of yellow fever,
 eitheramong themselves,or elsewhere,was promised.

  Altho' as yet, no sickness had appeared or even been
 supposed to exist m, the- city,  the  board  deeming it
 expedient to take'every precaution against the worst
 that might happen, proposed  to the common coun-
 cil the adoption  of the following resolution :

   "  Resolved, That the buildings  and grounds be-
 longing to the corporation at Bellevue, be put under
 the direction of the Board of Health, and  that they be
 authorized to make such repairs for the preservation 
12
 f*f Che buildings, and the accommodation of such sick
 persons, as may be sent there by the said board."

   The resolution was accordingly agreed to, and di-
 rections  were given, on the 18th day of May follow-
 ing, to the Superintendant of Public Works, to pro-
 ceed as  speedily as  possible to make the necessary
 repairs.

   The experience of former  sickly seasons  having
 sufficiently taught us, that a very great proportion of
 cases of  Malignant Eever occurred in such taverns
 and boarding-houses, as were kept in a filthy state,
 and were generally overcrouded by logders, in order
 to obviate this evil as much as possible, it was deem-
 ed expedient to appoint an additional assistant to the
 City. Inspector, who should have it in charge to pay
 particular attention  to  that business.  In the mean
 time, care was taken  to remove every nuisance
 which could be discovered, with all possible dispatch.

   It is to be  observed, that all vessels  coming from
 the West-Indies, and certain other places, betwreen
 the  1st day  of June and  1st  of  Oetober, in any
 one year, are by law prohibited, from approaching
 within three  hundred yards of the  lower part of the
 island of New-York; but by  a subsequent  act, the
 Mayor or the Board of Health are invested With
 authority to order to the quarantine ground, or some
other place of safety,  any vessel at the wharves, or in
 the vicinity of the cit}^, which he or they  may deem
prejudicial to the public health, at any season of the
year.

   In conformity to this last act, on the  23d of May,
 the following resolutions were passed.

   " Resolved,That all vessels which may have arrived
 at this port, from any port or place in the West-In- 
S3
dies, since the 18th day of May instant, be directed
forthwith to leave the wharves, and haul out into the
stream, to the distance of at least three hundred yards
from that part of the island, which lies southward of
a line drawn froir. the house  owned and occupied bv
Wiiham Bayard, on the north river, and Stuy vesant's
dock upon the east river,  and that the same regula
tion shall be  observed, with respect  to  all vesje's
which may hereafter arrive from the West-In dies, un-
der the penalty of being prosecuted according to law.."

   tc Resolved, That the Secretary of this board shall
serve a notice of the above  resolution in writing, upon
the masters, commanders, owners, or consignees, of
all vessels of the above description, which may have
come to his knowledge.  It was also  resolved, that
the said resolutions should be published in the several
newspapers employed by the Corporation."

   In consequence  of the above resolutions, the Se-
cretary, on  the evening of the same day, (the 23d)
delivered five different notices to Samuel G. Ogden,
Esq. the owner or consignee of the ships Hindostan,,
Leander, Oliver Elsworth, Sophrona, and of the brig
Dolly, and, on the day following, served another to
the same .purport,  on captain James  Newell, of the
ship Clyde, from St. Thomas.  All these vessels, the
Hindostan excepted, were moved to the stream forth-
with ; but owing to some peculiar difficulties in car-
rying out the Hindostan, she did not leave the wharf
till the evening of the 2?th.   It is evident, however,
that no mischief arose from either of these vessels hav-
ing been at the wharves, as no person was taken sick
of fever, in the  vicinity of any of those places, at which
they respectively lay, till at least two mouths there-
after.

  At a meeting of the board, on the 7th June, it wa«
stated, that a man named Daniel Wright,  was sick 
54
 in Roosevell street, of a disease which was deemed
 to be of a malignant nature.   As this man's case was
 unfortunately the subject of a short controversy be-
 tween certain medical gentlemen, who are deserved-
 ly ranked amongst  the most emintrnt in their profes-
 sion, I would have willingly pa-Aed it over in silence,
 but   as it is  indispensably   necessary,   that   I
 should state how tremblingly alive the board were to
 every thing, which might endanger the public health,
 I cannot consistently with justice to that body, omit
 recording their proceedings upon the occasion.  Af-
 ter the case had  been represented, it  was  immedi-
 ately " Ordered, that James Hardie and John Dela-
 mater,  or  either of them,  cause  the said Daniel
 Wright to be immediately removed to the Marine
 Hospital, with all  possible precaution for  the safe-
 ty of the sick person and jor the prevention of a
 spread of contagion ; that they cause the bedding and
 cloathing infected or$ suspected to be infected  to be de-
 stroyed,and the house of the said Daniel Wright to be
 thoroughly cleansed,  and that they furnish the fami-
 ly of the .Aiid Wright, with suitable accommodations
 and  provisions until the farther order of the board,"
 &c.

   In consequence of the above orders, the  sick per-
 son was forthwith sent to  the marine hospital,  and
 his wile, who expressed  a desire  to  that  purpose,
 was  readily permitted to accompany him.*   A fea-
 ther  bed, on which he had laid, a straw bed, a sheet
 and  bed spread,  together with some wearing appa-
 rel,  which lay upon the bed were forthwith  destroy-
 ed ;  the house was  thoroughly cleansed and white-
 washed, and his five children committed to  the care
 of Mr. William Davis, a worthy man, and very par-
 ticular friend of the family.

   *The wives and relatives  of such persons who were sent from
 this city either to the. Marine Hospital or Bellevue were not, in a single
instance, refused a similar pnviledgc. 
23
  Mr.'Wright's illness was severe and tedious j  but
after some weeks, he, at last, returned to the city hi
good health, and received a satisfactory compensa-
tion for that part of his property, which  it had been
deemed necessary to destroy, with a view to the pre-
servation  of the general health of the city.

  From this period till the beginning of July, nothing
remarkable  occurred to the board; the city  enjoy-
ed good health, nor did the citizens appear to  be un-
der the least alarm.

   On the 1st of July, the Secretary wrote a letter to
the Mayor, of which the following is a copy.

                      New-York, 1st July, 1805.
     " Sir,
   " Complaint having been made to me this morn-
ing, that a sloop was lying, at the west side of the
Old-slip,  which emitted so offensive a smell, as al-
ready to have occasioned the sickness of one person,
I immediately went  to the spot, and found the vessel
alluded to, to he the sloop Polly, of New-Orleans.

   " With respect to any person having been taken
sick there, I have made particular enquiry, and am
perfectly satisfied that it is not true; but the hold of
the vessel is foul, and the bilge-water emits an offen-
sive smell.   I am, therefore, of opinion, that this ves-
sel should be moved to the distance of three hundred
yards from the wharf.
                          I am, &e.
                          James Hardie, Sec'ry.
   Hon. De Witt Clinton."

   In consequence of the above letter, the  Mayor is-
 sued an  order, directing the said vessel to be forth-
 with moved into the stream to the distance aforesaid.
The vessel, however,  having immediately been tho 
26
 roughly cleaned, and as there was not a single article
 tu board, she was permitted to remain.  No evil re-
 sulted from this vessel.

   A vessel named the Happy Couple, last from Ha-
 lifax, had been detained in the stream, because she
 had been cleared out from St. Mark, a sickly port in
 the West-Indies. A petition, praying that she might
 be permitted to come up, was presented to the Board
 of Health, on  the 21st June.  This  was accompa-
 nied by  the following deposition.

   " Thomas W. Story maketh oath, that he sailed
 in the brig Happy Couple of New-York, as  master,
 from the port of St. Mark, in the island of Hispa-
 iv<■:]?,, en the 2.?d day  of  February last, bound for
 New-York, and on  said passage, said brig was inter-
 cepted and seized as a prize, by the British ship of
 war Cambrian,  and carried into Halifax, where this
 deponent left said brig, and came to New-York some
 time since; and  this deponent further saith, that there
 was not  any sickness nor  any death on  board  said
 brig Happy Couple, at any  time  during said  pas-
 sage, from St. Marks to Halifax, and that said vessel
 hath lately arrived at New-York from Halifax, as he
 has been informed and believes.
                      THOMAS W. STORY.  -
  Sworn 20th June,  1805, before)
   John Keese, Public Notary." £                (  A

   It being, likewise, made evident to the board, from
 other respectable testimony, that the Happy  Couple
 had beoii about three months at Halifax, it was re-
 solved, that the  Happy Couple cannot be  considered
 .is a vessel coming from the West-Indies, and that she
 may, therefore, be permitted to come into  the dock.

  Complaint having been made concerning the state
of the Ely-market-slip,  the  same was referred to the
Street Commissioner, on the 1st of July, who report-
ed as follows. 
27
   *' That the Fly-market-slip is now so much filled
 with mud, as to stop the drain, and that the Super-
 intendant of Scavengers believes it can be dug out
 with shovels, in the evenings, at low water, without
 injury to the health ol the citizens.                 \

   " That the people who pay for the use of the slip
 for their market-boats, complain of the want of ac-
 commodation at the  ferry-stairs, and  that they can-
 not land their goods on the wharf at low water.

   " That it would probably be well to cause,a plat-
 form to be run across, on the head of the slip, with
 a small stairs on the w est side for their accommoda-
 tion, and to prevent the noxious effects upon the mud
 in the head of the slip, which is bare at half tide."

   These measures  were afterwards  adopted ;  but
 not till a committee, appointed to examine into the
 circumstances, had given it as their cpinion, that it
 could be done consistently with the health of the
 city.

   But why, it may be asked, was not this and some
 other slips cleaned before this period > It was owing
'to no neglect in the.Superintendant of Scavengers,
 than whom no man can be more attentive  to the
 duties of his office;  but  to  the circumstance, that
 there was only-one mud machine,  and that it could
 only be used for a very  short period  this season, as
 it was unusually late before the winter broke up.
 The corporation, at so early a period as the 24th
 January, were aware that one  machine was inade-
 quate for the purpose of cleaning all the slips, at the
 proper time of the year, and then advertised for pro-
 posals to constrticr  two additional ones, similar to
 that which they had already : but as no person could
 be found, who would contract for having .them fin-
 ished, so as to answer any purpose this season, the 
28
 business was, for a time, postponed.   Contracts,
 however, have been since formed for their construc-
 tion, and there is no doubt that  these machines will
 beat work early next spring, so that all the docks
 and slips will bet horoughly cleansed, previous to the
 commencement of hot weather.

   Complaints  having been  made  that bad smells
 were emitted from  the vats  of  several  tanners and
 curriers, on the 8th of July it was resolved, that the
 existing laws,  concerning these objects, should be
 strictly put in force.  A Committee was, at the same
 time,, appointed to draft  an  address to the citizens,
 containing an abstract of the  laws, which have been
 enacted for the preservation of the public health.
 This Committee made their  report to the Board on
 the  11th following.   As it is  rather long, I, at first,
 doubted the propriety of giving it a place,  in this
 publication, but when I consider how very desirable
 it is, that every oitizen should be  acquainted with the
 existing laws respecting health, and that the perusal
 of them might,  likewise be interesting to strangers
 I have deemed it advisable to insert it : —

                   ADDRESS
           TO THE CITIZENS OF NEW-VOUK.

  " The Board of Health find  it expedient, at the
present critical period of the season to call the atten*
tion of their fellow-citizens to the measures,  which
are now in operation for  the  purpose  of providing
against  malignant and pestilential diseases.   They
consider this duty as the  more important, as they
are anxious to diffuse information on this subject, to
prevent undue apprehensions, to secure the vigilance
and co-operation of every good citizen, and to attach
that degree of confidence,  which  is requisite  to the
success of their exertions. 
29
   " The system of measures which is nowjn full ope-
 ration, may be divided into external and internal, or
 into such  as are intended to guard  against foreign
 and domestic causes of disease.

  ff The external precautions comprehend the regula-
 tions of commerce and shipping.^ All vessels arriv-
 ing from any part of the world, except  the ports of
 the  United States,  north-east of Sandy-Hook, be-
 tweeen  the 1st of June and  1st of October,  are
 strictly examined at the quarantine ground, and
 made subject to the directions of the Health-Officer,
 under a penalty not exceeding two thousand dollars,
 or twelve months imprisonment.

   *' All vessels arriving from a place where  a Malig-
 nant or Pestilential Fever was prevailing, at the time
 of departure, or if,  during the voyage, any person
 has died or been sick on board, with such fever, are
 absolutely prohibited  from approaching the city,
 nearer than the quarantine ground, until the 1st day
 of October, under a penalty not exceeding two thou-
 sand dollars, or imprisonment for a time not exceed-
 ing three years.  No person, arriving in such or any
 other vessel, at the quarantine ground, is allowed to
 proceed to the city,  nor is any part of the cargo of
 such vessels allowed to  be conveyed to the city,
 without a permit in writing, from the Health-Officer,
 under the same penalty.

   " The Governor, or in his absence the Mayor, or
in the absence of both, the Recorder, may designate
other descriptions of vessels, that may become  liable
to quarantine,  and may prohibit or regulate the in-
tercourse by land or ferries, with all sickly or suspect-
 e places.

  " For the sake of additional security, all vessels ar-
riving from any port in the W. Indies, in South Ama- 
30
 rica, in the United States, southward of Savannah in
 Georgia, in the Mississippi, in the Mediterranean,
 in Africa, or in Asia, (except Canton and Calcutta,)
 between the 1st of June and 1st of October, altho'
 no Malignant or Pestilential Fever was prevailing at
 such  ports, at the time of departure; although no
 person hnd died s^ been sick on board with such fe-
 ver, and although the Health-Officer, after examina-
 tion,  had given his permit to proceed, are prohibited
 from  approaching within three hundred yards of that
 part of the island of New-York, which  lies southward
 of a line drawn from the house of William Bayard, on
 the North River, to Stuyvesant's dock on the East
 River, under a penalty not exceeding two thousand
 dollars, or imprisonment  for a time not exceeding
 three years.

   " The Mayor or Board of Health may order to
 the quarantine ground, or other place of safety, any
 vessel at the wharves, or in the vicinity of the city,
 which they  may  deem prejudicial to  the public
 health, under the  penalty of one thousand dollars,
 and when  the owner, consignee, or commander of
 such vessel cannot be found, they may remove them,
. at the expence of such owner,  &e.   The Board of
 Health may,  likewise, order the removal of persons
 and things infected by or  tainted with pestilential
 matter, to such place as they may think proper, and
 any one wTho 'resists their authority in this respect,
 forfeits one hundred dollars.

   " Many articles of a suspicious kind  are particu-
 larly excluded.  Hides are excluded between the 1st
 of June and  1st of November,  under the penalty of
 being sohl tor the use of the Health-Office.  Foreign
 cotton is prohibited, within the same period; but that
 which is the produce of the United States, is only ex-
 cluded from that part of the city, which lies south of,
 the out-lft of Lispenard's meadow and Ferry-street, 
31
 near Corlaer's-hook.  Damaged coffee is specially
 prohibited.

   " No communication with vessels at quarantine is
 allowed, without special permit, under a penalty not
 exceeding two hundred dollars.  All sick persons of
 whatever description, found on board  such vessels,
 are conducted to the Marine Hospital, and there de-
 tained tjll their recovery or death.   All vessels found
 to be unhealthy, or even suspected to be so, are wash-
 ed,  cleansed, ventilated  and white-washed,  at the
 quarantine ground, and in ease of disobedience to the
 directions of the Health-Officer, in this respect, the
 master, owner, or consignee, is liable to a fine-not ex-
 ceeding one thousand dollars.   All wearing apparel,
 bedding,  &c.  are washed and cleansed, or if k be
 thought proper, destroyed."

   " The above may be considered_as a summary of
 the external precautions.   The internal precautions
 comprehend  those laws and regulations, which re-
 spect the removal of nuisances, and  the preservation
 of cleanliness in the city; the principal of which fol-
 low."

   " No dead  animal shall be left exposed, in  any
 place, within the first eight wards of the city, under
 the penalty of ten dollars.

   " No pickled or salted  beef shall be deposited in
 any place, to the southward of Lispenard's meadow
 and Grand-street, between the 1st  of June and 1st
 of November, under a penalty not exceeding five
 hundred dollars,  or imprisonment for a time not ex-
ceeding six months, nor shall  any beef or  pork be
 sold at auction, within the said period, under the pe-
nalty of twenty-five dollars.

  "Boarding-houses shall be  kept  neat and clean,
and no more lodgers shall  be admitted than the City 
32
Inspector shall think proper, under the penalty of
twenty-five dollars, for each person exceeding such
number.  The City Inspector or his agent shall, like-
wise, examine them, at least once a week, during the
summer.  Persons taken sick in boarding-houses, be-
tween the 1st of June and 1st of November, must be
reported to the Health-Office, within twelve hours
after they are so taken, under the penalty of one hun-
dred dollars, or six months imprisonment.

  u  Butchers shall bring no gut-fat into the market,
nor the head  ef any sheep rr lamb, unless the same
be properly cleaned,nor any sheepor lambih carcase
or quarters, with  the  feet or trotters thereto,  nor
any hides or skins, (calves-skins excepted) under the
penalty of two dollars.  They shall, likewise, imme^
diately after killing any animal, destroy the offals, or
convey the same into the river, under the penalty of
twenty-five dollars.   They  shall not expose to sale,
any stale or unwholesome provisions,  under the pe-
nalty of ten dollars.

  " All  dirt  and filth shall be  brought  out from
houses, cellars, alleys, yards and lots, (twice a-vveek,)
on sweeping days, before ten o'clock in the morning,
under the penalty of two dollars.

  " No Sexton shall inter any person who may have
died of a Pestilential  or  Malignant  Fever, in any
place to the southward of Pump and Nicholas-streets,
under the penalty of one hundred dollars; nor shall
they inter any corpse, within the above limits, except
in graves or vaults, at least  six feet xleep,  and withr
out removing any other dead body or coffin,  under
the same penalty.

  " No privy shall be emptied during the summer,ex-
cept between the hours of eleven at night and three
in the morning, under the penalty of fives dollars,-nor 
35
I
 shall any  human excrements be  thrown into any.
 street,  lane, alley, dock, &c. under the  penalty of
 ten dollars.

   <c No new made ground shall be turned up, dur-
 ing the summer months, under the penalty ot twen-
 ty-five dollars*

   " Gutters shall be thoroughly sweeped out and
 cleansed on sweeping days, under the penalty of two
 dollars.

   " Noisome or offensive substances shall not be de-
 posited in  any  place to the  southward of Grand-
 street ;  nor shall any pit for tanners and skinners, or
 pool of stagnant water be allowed, except in Beck-
 man's swamp, underthe penalty of five dJIars.  Ma-
 nufactories which emit offensive smells, may,  like-
 wise, be suspended by the Baord of Health.

   " No oysters shall be brought into or sold in this
 city, between the 1st of June and 30th of September,
 under the penalty of two dollars for every hundred.

   " Undressed  skins,  hides, blubber,  &c. shall not
 be kept to the southward and westward of Catherine-
 street, and  the Fresh-Water-Pond, underthe penalty
 of five dollars for every twenty-four hours neglect.

   " Putrid and  unsound provisions shall be destroy-
 ed by starting them into the river,  and no salted or
 pickled fish, (except smoked)  shall be kept, to the
 southward  of Grand-street, between the 1st of May ■
 and 1st of October, under a penalty not exceeding 300
dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months.

   " Nuisances of every other description must be re-
moved or remedied, agreeably to the mode prescrib-
ed by the  City Inspector, underthe penalty of five
dollars for  every twenty-four hours neglect;  and" in
                        £ 
34
addition to the penalties prescribed in the  cases of
nuisances, by the statutes of the state and ordinances
of the city, the remedies by common law, may like-
wise be enforced.

  " Any physician, having a patient labouring under
a pestilential or infectious disease, shall forthwith re-
port in writing to one of  the Commissioners of the
Health-Office, under the penalty of fifty dollars.

  " The Board of Health being conscientiously im-
pressed with the opinion, that these laws, if duly ob-
served,  are well calculated, under the  blessings of
Divme Providence, to avert pestilential diseases from
our city, conceive it  to be their duty to inform the
public/that they are determined rigorously to enforce
their observation,  by exacting the several penalties
therein contained, for neglect or violation 5  and, as
they are persuaded, that the thinking part of the com-
munity will see the necessity of paying a strict at-
tention to  these laws, they earnestly request, that,
when any violation shall take place, information may
be  lodged at the office of the City Inspector, in order
that a prompt and adequate remedy may be applied.

  " THe board will conclude this address,  by con-
gratulating theirfellow-citizens on the state of health,
which we now enjoy, and which, in so populous a
city, is almost unparalleled, at this season of the year;
and they think it proper further to inform the public,
that they may, at all times, ascertain with precision,
the state of health, by recurring to the weekly bills of
mortality,  published  by the City Inspector, which
beino- collected with the  greatest  care,  and issued
forth to the wTorld, without reserve or disguise, may
always  be  relied on as correct  and authentic.
                By order and in behalf of the
                   Board of Health,
              DE WITT CLINTON, President.
  James Hardie, Sec'ry.
  Office of the Board of Health, )
    11th July, 1805."       $ 
35
   On the 15th July, the following letter from the
 building committee of Trinity Church was received.

             No.  10, Broadway, July 13th,  1805.

      *c Gentlemen,
   " The Corporation of Trinity Church having lately
 purchased the ground between Rector street and the
 house of Mr. John Livingston, in Broadway, for the
 purpose of erecting thereon  a house for public wor-
 ship, the committee of the vestry charged with  this
 business, are ready to begin the building; but as it
 may be requisite to remove a vault, and open such of
 the graves as shall be found in or near the line of the
 walls of the building, we have considered it to be our
 duty  to  consult your  board  previously to doing so,
 and to request that you will be pleased to inform us,
 whether, in your opinion, there will be any objection,
 on the score of the public health,  to our now going on
 with the business.  It  will be recollected that the
 ground has been but little used for  burial, and rarely
 of late years.
              With sentiments, &c.
                          RUFUS KING,
                   In behalf of the Committee."

  The above was referred to  the medical gentlemen
of the board and the City Inspector, who after an in-
terview with the committee of the  vestry,  reported,
that these gentlemen were satisfied, that on the score
of the public health, it would be most prudent to sus-
pend the work till  the month of November.

  On the l6th of  July, the Secretary was directed
forthwith to visit the ship Experiment, from Newry,
at the  bottom of Courtlandt-street, represented to
be in a foul situation, and report her state as soon as
possible to  the proper authority. 
36
  The following extract of a letter from the Secretary
to his Honour the Mayor, written on the evening of
the same day, will shew the state of that vessel.

  " Agreeably to the directions of the board, I have
this afternoon, particularly examined the ship Expe-
riment, and have the pleasure of informing you, that
she is so far tr in being in the state represented, that
I consider her to be remarkably clean.

  " A barrel or two of putrid pork, from on board of
thai  vessel, was yesterday started  into the river, from
the lai  ciid of the dock, and this, by occasioning, for
a short time, an offensive smell, might have given rise
to the report, that the ship was foul.  All the beef
which was on board has, according to information,
whicn I deem to be correct, been carried to a pack-
ing yard, at the upper end of Greenwich-street,  We
have, therefore, in my opinion, not even the slightest
reason to be apprehensive of danger either from the
ship or her caigj."

   On the 18th July, the following case of disease oc-
curred, which was universally acknowledged to be Ma-
lignant or Yellow Fever, by every physician* who vi-
sited him, as well as by several other persons, who had
been accustomed to see that disorder.  A man by the
name of Christopher Hibbron, hostler, in the employ-
ment of Mr. AndrewStayley, who kept a livery-stable
in an alley,  in the rear of No. 92, Maiden-Lane, was
taken'sick on the 9th July.  His case was no ways
alarming until the 14th, when he was reported to Dr.
Miller, the Resident Physician, who, on visiting him,
did not regard him as being in a critical-state, until
the  13th, when tl:e symptoms had become so alarm-
ing as to induce that gentleman  to recommend his re-

  *  l lit- £.>ii vMcjaub Msusaw him ii. tins city, were Drs. ;\iihtr, Jones
Moore, Vv ,.£. r attd Manley.  At the Marine Hospital, he was undej
xhe care of Drs. Rodgua and Bay ley. 
57
Mioval to the Marine Hospital, where he died on the
third  day after his arrival.   On the  same day, a
man named William Aylesbury, another hostler, who
was, likewise,  in the same employment,  and under
the same roof, was likewise sent to the Hospital. He
was for some time very sick, but at last recovered.

  I, for the  present, pass over the medical opinions
and observations concerning these men, in order that
I may go on in chronological order with the most re-
markable transactions of the board.  1 shall, there-
fore, only observe, at present, that every p ;ssible pre-
caution was taken to prevent the spread of infection,
by destroying the bedding and wearing apparel of
the persons  removed, and  by thoroughly cleansing
and white-washing the apartments, in which they had
$lep t, &c.

   On  the 20th of July,  the following deposition was
taken  before the Mayor.

   "----deposes, that  he  left the Havannah in the
----,  on — July,  when that port was  remarkably
healthy; that at the time of the departure of the said
vessel, there were but two  or three cases reported to
be so, that the deponent was informed of, of Yellow or
Malignant Fever, in that place, and that no person
was sick or  died, on board  of the said vessel, during
the passage, as this deponent believes."

    There were, at that time,  two  vessels which had
just arrived from the Havannah, viz.  the Eliza and
the Mary.  The former of these was lying in the
 stream opposite the city; the latter had not yet come
 up from the quarantine ground.  To captain Bur-
 gess, master of the Eliza, the Secretary,  on the same
 day, delivered an order from the Mayor, directing
 her immediate removal, which was promptly compli-
 ed with.  He, likewise, wrote to the Health-Officer, 
38
 ~t  Staten-Island,  requesting  the  detention  of the
 Mary till further orders.

   It may be observed, that in the above deposition,
 there was nothing very alarming.  Reports had, how-
 ever, gone abroad, that two captains,  who had be-
 longed to the Eliza, had  died in  succession.   The
 Mayor, therefore, from motives, which every reflect-
 ing citizen must deem to have been highly prudent,
 thought  it advisable to have the vessels detained at
 quarantine, till further information could be procured.

  The captains of the Mary and Eliza, having peti-
 tioned the Board of Health to be permitted to come
 up from quarantine, the Mayor directed the Secre-
 tary, on the 21st of July, to write to the Health-Offi-
 cer, requesting him to put questions, on oath, to the
 following purport,  to  the sailors of the Eliza sepa-
 rately.

  1st. Did captain Burgess go out as master of the
 Eliza? If not, who did, and what became of him?

  2d. What persons were engaged, as captains at the
 Havannah before Mr. Burgess, and what became of
 them ?  Did  they die there ?

  3d.  Was there any Yellow or Malignant Fever at
the Havannah, when the Eliza left  that port ?

  4th. Did any person die, or was any person sick
 en board of the  vessel,  at the Havannah, or in the
 passage, or in this port?

  To these queries, the Secretary, on the 22d July,
 received a letter  from Dr. Rodgers, containing the
depositions of the mates of the Mary and Eliza, and
 also of six seamen belonging to the Mary, and of five
 Leionging to the Eliza; all of which,amounted to the 
39
same purport, viz. that Captain Eliab Burgess com-
manded the Eliza at the time of her departure from
New-York, in May last, and ever since; that no per-
son had died or been sick on board the Eliza since she
had left this port; and that at the time they left  the
Havannah, they believed it to be perfectly healthy.
On the 24th  of July, the ship John Jones, likewise
arrived from the same port, the master of which, cap-
tain Sherry, deposed, that the port, at the time of his
departure, was remarkably healthy, and that he  had
brought back all his former crew, no one of them hav-
ing been sick.  Upon the  board having received so
satisfactory evidence upon this subject, it was deemed
advisable to permit the vessels  to come up and  an-
chor in the stream.

   The following extract of a letter fromthe Health-
Officer to the Secretary, dated the  21st cf July, will
shew the state pf the shipping, with  respect to health,
previous to that time.  " You may assure the Board
of Health, that not a vessel has passed through our
hands this summer to the city, from any part  of the
world, which the law contemplates, that has lost  any
of her crew by  sickness, or en  beard of  which  any
person was taken sick with fever. This I aver, if
any confidence is to be placed in the oaths of mas-
ters of vessels; but if people will perjure themselves,
I am not responsible."

   On the morningof the 22d of July, it having been
represented to the board,  Uua. Mr. Thomas Young
was sick of a suspicious disease, at No. 25 Rose-street,
the  Health Commissioners,,  Drs. Miller and Jones,
were  requested to examine into the  nature of  the
complaint, and report  to the board at a meeting,
which was to beheld in the afternoon of the same
day.   The following is their report  upon this sub-
ject  :  " The undersigned, Commissioners of  the
Health-Office, to whom was referred, by  the Board 
40
of HeaTth, the consideration of the  case  of Tho-
mas Young, at No. m Rose-street,  report, that,
having visited and carefully examined the case of the
said Young, they find him, after an illness of thirteen
davs, apparently convalescent, and unless some un-
expected reverse should take place, likely to recover
iu a short time.  They  think, however,  that  this
(<;se, though mild and*  moderate  in  degree, when
considered in its whole duration, may be justly sus-
peeted of partaking of the nature of malignant fever.*"
Mr. Vouijg lingered for some time and recovered.

  On the 22d day of July, the board, for  the  first
time, received some private information, that a ma-
lignant or pestilential fever existed in New-Haven,
Connecticut.   The intelligence, however,  did  not
appear to carry along with it, that degree of authen-
ticity which  would warrant the interdiction of com-
merce between  the two cities.  It was, therefore,
deemed expedient to postpone the business till the
nature of the complaint at New-Haven should be
more particularly ascertained.   By the 26th,private
letters, as well as the deposition of a respectable gen-
tleman from that quarter, had fixed  it beyond  a
doubt, that a fever, prevailed in that city, concerning
which there was a considerable  diversity of  opinion,
some believing it to be bilious, and others to be  the
true  yellow, or malignant fever.  It was,  how-
ever, admitted, en all hands, that several persons  had
fallen victims to it, after an illness of a few days.

  The board, upon receipt of the above information,
recommended to  his Honour the Mayor, " to issue
his  proclamation, subjecting all vessels from  New-
Haven to quarantine of course, and  prohibiting all
persons from that city to enter this city, unless they
had been fourteen days from that place."

  The following proclamation was, therefore,  issued
©n the same day. 
41
               PROCLAMATION,
      BY THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.
  ■" Whereas it appears to me, that an infectious or
pestilential disease doth prevail in the city of New-
Haven, in the State of Connecticut, I do, therefore,
by virtue of the powers, in me vested, by the act, en-
titled "  An act to provide against infectious and pes-
tilential diseases," and in pursuance of the advice of
the Board of  Health, order and direct, that all ves-
sels which shall arrive at this port, from New-Haven,
shall be subject to quarantine, of course, and that no
person shall be permitted to enter the city and county
of New-York, who shall have been  within the said
city of New-Haven, within fourteen days next pro-
ceeding his or her arrival, at the said city and county
of New-York.                         ,

  cc Whereof, all pilots and other officers entrusted
with the execution of the said act,  and all other per-
sons, are requested to take notice, and govern them-
selves accordingly, under the pains and penalties im-
posed upon offenders by the said act, which will be
rigorously enforced.
                In witness whereof, &c.
                  the 26th day of July, 1805.
                     DE WITT CLINTON."

  On the 27th  of July, the following letter from
our Mayor, was transmitted to the Mayor of New-
Haven.

                  " New-York 21 th July, 1805.
     " Sir,
  " Information from various quarters, of the preva-
lence  of a malignant disease, in the city of Nevv-Ha-
yen, has enforced upon me the duty of issuing the en-
closed proclamation.
                        F 
42
   " It is scarcely necessary to assure you, that this
 measure was taken, not without mature deliberation,
 and the most unfeigned regret.  We sincerely pray,
 that the cause which has induced it, will soon cease,
 and that a speedy change in the health of your city,
 will produce a renewal of our usual intercourse; and
 we trust, that you will feel persuaded, that there is
 nothing in this step, which can, in the remotest de-
 gree, be deemed unfriendly to the interests of your
 city,  and that we entertain every disposition to im-
 prove and extend the friendly communication, which
 has hitherto taken place between  us.
                         I am, &e.
                       DE WITT CLINTON.
 The Mayor of New-Haven.
   We shall be happy to hear from you on this sub-
ject."

   On the same  day  (July 26), the Mayor wrote  a
 letter to Dr. Rodgers, of which  the following is  a
 copy.

                 " New-York, 2Qth July,  1805.

     " Dear Sir,
   " It is of the utmost importance to ascertain the
 origin of the Yellow Fever; but in order to do this
 to general satisfaction, it is proper, that the advocates
 of both  theories  should have  an equal chance in ex-
 ploring the sources of information.

   " Under this impression, I have  concluded, in my
own mind,  to furnish them indiscriminately  and im-
partially with all the information in my power ; but
as the patients in the Marine Hospital,  have only
undergone the inspection of medical gentlemen, in
favour of domestic origin, previous to their being sent
from this place, I have to request, that you will per-
mit Dr. Hosack  and  the gentlemen  accompanying 
43
him, to see those sick persons.   This cannot be con-
sidered an interference with your department, and
the emergency of the occasion, and the interests of
the city require a step of the kind, in ord jr that a full
investigation, satisfactory to all parties, may be had.
                          I am, &c.
                     DE WITT CLINTON."

  On the afternoon of the same day on which the
above  was written, Dr. Hosack, accompanied by
Drs. Williamson and Stringham,  proceeded to the
Marine Hospital, at the quarantine ground.  The
result of their observations will appear presently.

  At a meeting  of the Board of Health,  held on the
30th July, 1805, it was " resolved, that James Har-
die be, and he is hereby authorized, to cause James
Dougherty, from No.  127 Water-street,  to be forth-
with removed to the Marine Hospital,  and that he
also cause all proper means of purification and pre-
vention to be enforced."   In conformity with the
above  resolution, Mr. Dougherty was forthwith re-
moved; the whole of his cloathing and bedding was
either sent along with him to the Marine Hospital,
or completely destroyed, and the apartments fumi-
gated, thoroughly cleaned, and white-washed.  It is
to be observed, that this was not only represented to
be a case of Malignant Fever, by medical gentlemen,
who believe in the local origin of the disease, but also
by Dr. Hosack,  whose opinion is in favour of its im-
portation.

  On the 1st of  August, the Mayor wrote a letter
to Dr. Hosack, of which the following is a copy.

     " Sir,
  " I understand, that in consequence of a request
made by me, (with a view that the advocates of both
theories might have an equal chance of exploring the 
44
sources of Malignant Fever) you, in company with
two other gentlemen, proceeded to the quarantine
ground, in order to examine the cases of the patients
there sick, or supposed to be so, with that disease.
If perfectly agreeable to those gentlemen and your-
self, I will thank you to favour me with your obser-
vations and opinions on this subject.
                  I have the honour, &c.
                     DE WITT CLINTON."

  In consequence of the above letter, the following
answers were received.

                " New-York, August Ath, 1805.
    " Dear Sir,
  tc In compliance with your request of July 26th,
conveyed to me by Alderman Van Zandt, one of the
members of the Board of Health, I called upon Dr.
Hugh  Williamson  and Dr. James Stringham, re-
questing them, in your name, to accompany me  to
Staten-Island, to examine the  two patients who had
been sent from the city, and reported to be ill of the
Yellow Fever.

  " Impressed with the belief, that the Health-Offi-
cer would readily afford us the opportunity we de-
sired to see and examine the patients, it was from de-
licacy concluded, not to  deliver your letter,  unless,
which could  not  be supposed,  it should  become ne-
cessary, in order that the object in view should not
be frustrated.

  " Discovering, however, in the Health-Officer, a
reluctance to shew us the sick, or to give us the in-
formation we desired, Dr. Williamson presented him
your letter. We  were then admitted to the Hospital.

  " The first of  the two hostlers shewn us, as those
from Stayley's livery-stable, was Aylesbury.  He had 
45
 a yellow skin, but of the natural temperature; afee^
 ble, but not a quickened pulse; his stomach was re-
 tentive, although  we  were informed by the nurse,
 that, in the beginning, he had thrown up large quan-
 tities of bile, and that the evacuations from the bow-
 els had been of a dark green colour', they were now
 natural.  Upon enquiring into the state of his urine,
 we were informed that it had been very yellow j that
 it still remained so, and that it stained his linen.

   " We next visited the man last sent down, by the
 name of Kirkwood;* his symptoms were all so mild,
 that we could scarcely perceive the marks  of febrile
 action of any  sort;  indeed it was admitted on all
 hands, that his illness was not the Yellow  Feve:-.

  *' IJibbron, the first person sent down,  and whose
 case had excited the most  attention,  and  given the
 most alarm, we were informed, had died the Mon-
 day preceding.   We, therefore,  could only satisfy
 ourselves as to his case, by enquiry, and having seen
 it asserted  in one of the public prints, in such a man-
 ner as to induce the belief, that the information had
 been received from the Health-Office, that Hibbron
 had died,  with all the  decided and most malignant
 symptoms  of the Yellow Fever, and, that he had the
 black vomit, attended with bleeding at the  nose,  we
 examined  as far as we could into these facts.   It
 appeared,  that he had voided blood from  the intes-
 tines,  and  that he died of a mortification of the bow-
 els.   I asked the Health-Officer in particular, whe-
 ther he had had the black vomit? Fie answered, (hat
 he did throw up a dark coloured matter, as he was
 informed by  the nurse.  The question  was then
 urged in a more precise shape, and he was asked if
 be had had  the particular species of black vomit*
 which attends the  Yellow Fever, either  the coffee-

  * James Kirkwood was^ent to the Marine Hospital from Mr. Stay-
ley's on the 23d July. 
46
ground or (hefiakey ? He answered, No, he could
not say he had.

  " Such, sir, is the history of the material facts, that
we saw and ascertained at the quarantine  ground.
The remainder,necessary to complete the cases, will
be found in the affidavit of Mr. Stayley,* who attend-
ed upon  these men,  prior to  their removal to the
Marine Hospital, at whose examination I was pre-
sent, as was also the Resident Physician.

  " As you request not only  a detail of particulars,
but also my opinion of the nature of the disease of
those persons, I do not hesitate to express it.

  "I have no doubt that the illness of those three
men was the  effect  of cold from  exposure to  the
night tfz'r,and,excepting Kirk wood ,of intemperance;
and that their disease, was the common Bilious Fe-
ver of our country,  to  which strangers  (as  all
those persons were)  are particularly liable on their
first arrival. And I have no hesitation to pronounce
that after  a minute and  I trust a candid and  im-
partial  examination  of  all   the  facts,  there  has
been  no Yellow Fever in either of the above cases,
bur that the unnecessary and injurious alarm, which
has, in this instance, been raised and propagated
respecting our city, has been without any adequate
cause to justify it.
          " I have the honor,  &c.
                         DAVID HOSACK.
   The Hen. De Witt Clinton."

                   " New-York, Aug. 2, 1805,
"Sir,
   *' It had been asserted, and the story was often
repeated, that " two men, sick of the yellow fever,
  * Far Mr. Stay ley's affidavit see page 50. 
4?
 were lately sent to the marine hospitalfrom a house
 in Maiden-lane," and that" a third subject, labour-
 ing  under the same disease, was sent to tne hospi-
 tal after a few days,  from the  same house."   Re-
 ports of this kind have a rapid  circulation, and in
 every case are exceedingly injurious to the commu-
 nity ; therefore, the sooner they are corrected, if
 false, the better. As there was no reason to suspect,
 that either of the men in question had caught an
 imported disease,  it must follow,  that the Yellow
 Fever is a complaint  of domestic origin,  provided
 these men have been ill of that  disease.  Sundry
 cases of Yellow Fever, generated in the  country,
 had been stated to me by respectable authority and
 I believed the  report, but had reason afterwards
 to be satisfied  that in every case my informants
 had been  deceived.  It  was  alledged, however,
 that the case above mentioned was a  case in point;
 that is,  was  indisputably a Yellow  Fever of do-
 mestic  origin.   Wishing, if possible, to  discover
 the truth on this question, in which our fellow  citi-
 zens are so deeply interested, I visited the Marine
 Hospital on the 26th ult. in company with  Dr.  Ho-
 sack and Dr. Stringham.  It is  understood that the
 three men to whom I refer, had  been  hostlers at the
 same livery-stable, and that they had lately arrived
 from Europe.  It is also  understood, that one of
 them who was first seized of the fever, died at the
 Hospital before we made the visit.  Of the other
two, whom we saw, I think it may be said with con-
fidence,  that they were not afflicted with the  Yel-
low Fever; they laboured under a common Bilious
Fever, from which they have since recovered.  This
compjaint is prevalent in the Southern States, dur-
ing t#e  summer season, and in many  cases is fatal,
especially to strangers who come from a northern
climate.   But, common as the fever may be, a great
proportion of the cases  that I have seen could be
traced to some act o£ imprudence in the patient, or 
48
to obstructed perspiration by rain  or dew.  The
symptoms of the fever, by which those men were
afflicted, according to their own account, have been
precisely the same from  the beginning, with the
symptoms which attend the Bilious Fever that oc-
curs every year in the southern states, and frm the
general appearance of the patients, it must be admit-
ted that the fevers are of the same kind.  The cause
also of the fever in those* m-jn appears to be exactly
the same as that to which I have alluded.  The man
who was last taken ill, is a native  of Scotland, in the
vigor of life, and lately arrived in  the United States.
He sat out of doors one night in a gig, expecting the
return of a customer, after midnight, and fell asleep.
He caught a cold, and in two or three days, the fe-
ver came on.  It must be admitted, that fevers which
proceed from the same cause, and resemble one ano-
ther in every particular, should be called by the same
names.

   " Of the man who died at  the Hospital, or of his
fever, the gentlemen  who saw him are the competent
judges; but if his fever was not strongly marked by
the peculiar features of  the Yellow Fever, if the at-
tending physicians retained any doubts concerning the
family to which it belonged, we are justified in sup-
posing that it was also a Bilious Fever.  By the way,
it is not uncommon for a Bilious Fever, in particular
seasons and circumstances, to personate the Yellow
Fever in many of its alarming symptoms; but it dif-
fers from the fever in this essential character, in not
being contagious, for which reason it should not be-
come the subject of general  apprehension.  I have
presumed that the patient who died at the Hospital
had not  the Yellow  Fever, because his disease was
not contagious.  Jrlis companions, who lived with,
him,  and sickened after him in the same place, did
not take the Yellow  Fever, but sickened with a dif-
ferent disease; but I take for granted that the Ye^ 
49
low  Fever is infectious,  and that it has more than
once been imported.   I have presumed also that the
complaint alluded to was not the Yellow Fever, be-
cause, upon the supposition tfiat the Yellow Fever
is  a domestic disease and not contagious, it would
follow that it cannot  be imported, in which case the
foundation of our Quarantine Law would vanish into
air; but that law seems to be the dictate of prudence
and parent of much safety.
         I am, sir, with the utmost  respect,
           your most obedient and
              ven' humble servant,
                    HUGH WILLIAMSON.
   The Hon.  De Witt Clinton."

                 " New-York, August 3, 1805.
     " Sir,
   " In  consequence  of your request,  I visited the
quarantine ground,  in company with  Drs. Hosack
and Williamson.  While there, our attention was
principally  directed to two persons, who had been
taken ill at Mr. Stayley's, in  Maiden lane, and who
were reported to have had Yellow Fever.  After an
attentive examination, as to the mode of attack, and
the symptoms which had since supervened,I  feel great
pleasure in declaring to you,  that none  of these cha-
racteristics, which peculiarly designate  that disease,
were in either of these instances, to be detected; on
the contrary, I consider them merely as cases of the
common Bilious Fever, which, for many years past,
has prevailed  more or less in New-York, during  the
months of summer.
         With sentiments of respect, Sir,
           I remain your very humble  servant,
                  JAMES S. STRING HAM.
  The Hon. De Witt Clinton."
                      g 
50
                  DEPOSITION
 of Mr. AnMe'w Stayley, alluded to in Da. IIosack's
                     LiTTEtl.
   Andrew 'Stay ley, of the city of New-Yoik, keeper
 or\a livery stable* No. 93 Maiden-'Lme, deposes, that
 c; Christopher Hibbron was in his employ as hostler,
 and  that on the '<)th inst.  he'complained of pains in
 the  ancles and legs, winch'made the  deponent.be-
 lieve, that he had the rheumatism; that on Wednes-
 day '  mr.rnin^, he  was unable to do  his work;  that,
 in the afternoon, he drank a great (Teal-of cold water
 (which he bad been in the habit' ofdrmking after tak-
 ing salts, also of taking salts frequently, working af-
 terwards in the sun, although he.had hot taken salts
 that day, but a few days before) from the pump in the
 y;od, which is of & very hard quality, and that about
 an hour or two afterwards, he fell down sipk in the
 fctahle, in attempting to harness a horse, and that the
'deponent immediately called  in Dr. Manhy,  who
 hied and blistered the patient; that on Friday night,
 there Was a stoppage of urine, and on Saturday morn-
 ing,  lie conrp!nined of a continuance of pains in the
 legs  and ancles; that Dr.  Manley, on the evening of
 Saturday, administered a remedy for  the stoppage
 of water, Which produced a vcmiing soon after : on
 Sunday morning he had a stool, and his water came;
 that  he turned yellow on the steppage of his urine;
 that, on Sunday morning, the deponent called in Dr.
 Walker, and  the  Resident Physician, by his advice,
 was  caMed in about twelve o'clock of that dav; and
 that, on the Thursday following, he was sent down
 t-j the  Marine Hi.spilal.; that 0:1 Monday, Tuesday
 and  Wednesday  previously, he. was much better;
 that on Tuesday he walked in the yard, and washed
 his leet in rain water; .-that on Wednesday, he ate
 plentifully of soup, and said he was bravely, and wish-
 ed to go to work,; that on Wednesday night he had
 a relapse, and appeared  to be 'delirious, and that a
 bleeding of the nose  took place on Thursday;  that 
«■
the deponent  attended  him during hi3 sickues^. iri-
this city ; that he arrived in this place from England,
on the lath of May last, and  continued from the
14th of that month,  in the deponent's; service ; tha£
he was a man of strict temperance, kept good rjours,
and had never been out late at night, but the night
before his sickness, when he did not.come home pntil
one in the morning, having been to visit a shipmate,
of his in Oak-street; that he )ia4  Hardly ever been
out of the yard, of the deponent; that  there  \yaf
nothing  offensive  or nauseous alinnt  the depo-
nent's premises; they, on the  contrary,  being re-
markably clean; that William Aylesbury,  another
hostler in the deponent's employment, took  sick last;
Thursday, and  was sent to the' Hospital with Bib*
bron; that he was s'omewhftt intemperate, and had.
been  iatoxjeated  that day; that James Kirkwood,
another hostler, also in the deponent's employment,,
tooksick^on Saturday last, and was sent down on
Tuesday; that his symptoms were the same as thosa
of Hibbron, as  \yeil as Aylesbury ;  that the tvvpj
last persons were in the habit  .of taking salts, drink-
ing cold water, and exposing  themselves to  the sun
in like manner as Hibbron.
                     ANDREW STAYLEY. '
  Sworn 26th July, 1803, before )
   De Witt Clinton."      \

   The further examination of Andrew Stay ley, who
being duly sworn,  deposes, " that when Dr. Mau-
ley was first called in, he stated that he believed Hib-
bron, in consequence of pains in his ancles and legs,had
the rheumatism ; that the patient dkl not complain ot
pains elsewhere. Ur. Manley  was called in on Wed-
nest I ay night.  Christopher Hibbron first complained
on Tuesday night.  The first  symptoms of indispo-
sition was vomiting,  He threw .up hissupper.  Dr.
Manley, on Wednesday evening, bled and blistered!
him,  his tongue having a white  fur upon-it.  On
Thursday, the |>a|ient said, that xs;ete it not for tha 
62
pains in his legs, he would  get up and go to work:
made no complaint of any pains in his back or head.
On Wednesday, his countenance sunk to a death-like
appearance.   On Friday he felt so much better, as
to walk about the yard, sit at the door and eat pana-
do; but walked lame, and said if it were not for tb.3
rheumatism, he would go  to work.  Hitherto, his
evacuations by stool were of a natural appearance.
On Friday night there was a suppression of urine.
The evacuation of  urine of Friday morning  was
thick and yellow: he felt worse on Saturday night.
Hibbron complained  of his bowels  on Saturday
night.  All the illness the deponent perceived, was
arising from pains in the lower part of the belly, in
his limbs, and stoppage of urine.   He did not sup^-
pose him dangerous.   On Sunday morning, the pa-r
tient felt himself alarmed, and wished for more me-
dical assistance; he walked down stairs to the ne-
cessary, and returned easier.  He turned of a high
bright  yellow (between gold and orange).  A blis-
ter was applied to the pit  of his  stomach,  by Drs.
Manley and Walker;  of the weight  of which he
complained    On Monday, as the deponent thinks,
on dressing the blister, there was  a discharge, from
a wine glass to a gill of water, as yellow as his skin.
Three  or four days  before he went to the Marine"
Hospital, he was worse in the evening, but better
in the  morning.   On Sunday evening and the  sub-
sequent, he appeared delirious. On Monday, Tues-
day and  Wednesday, his stools became of  a light
colour.  On some day, between the first illness and
Sunday, he had a dark stool, as Stayley was informed,
but  did not see it   On the Wednesday  after he
was first taken, his complexion was of a pale livid
colour; his eyes  not  inflamed.  Throughout the
whole of his illness, his complexion was uniformly
pale.  There  was the most unlimited  intercourse
between the family and patient; the children play-
ed with him.  On Monday night, he visited his fel- 
 low passenger, a gunsmith, in Oak-street.  On his
 return home, about one o'clock at night, Mr. Stay-
 ley could not but remark that he had been drink-
 ing, being  somewhat  merry; but not intoxicated.
 The deponent states, that he is patticUlarlv careful
 as to the cleanliness of his stable  yard   That Wil-
 liam Aylesbury was removed the'same dav he was
 taken sick, and had  arrived here  from England,
 seme time in May last, and  resided  with the depo-
 nent, as hostler, from that time-;  that Aylesbury
 complained of pains in his legs, although the depo-
 nent did not believe, him ; that he was in the habit
 of laying his head out of the window at night, and,
 in other respects, followed  the same mode of life,
 as to hours,  as the other hostlers ; that when  he took
 sick, he vomited a good deal,  and drank brandy.
 That James Kirkwood, the other  hostler, took 5Jck
 as before-mentioned,  and  complained  at  first, of
 pains in his legs, and the deponent does not recol-
 lect of pains in the back  or  head ; that he'told the
 deponent, that he had not had a  passage but once,
 for fourteen days before, and then about eight davs
 previous ; that he  was' very sick on the "day of bis
 removal, vomited a good deal, and was considera-
 bly thirsty, and so'lame, that he could scarcely walk,4
 and complained, at the same time, of a violent pain
 in his belly; in vomiting, he did not throw  up any-
 thing, except  what  appeared to  be the food and
 drink he had recently taken ; that he was from Scot-
 land,  and had arrived  here  some time  last fallor
 winter,  and was a man of temperate habits; that
 when he took sick, and some days afterwards, he
 appeared pale, and his eyes aMd not indicate unu-
 sual redness.
                     ANDREW STAtLEY.
  Sworn 29th JuTv, 1805; before )
   De Witt Clinton."       \     :„,.         ■'A\A
             .   . .      ;  .-.- I
  On the 7th of August, the Secretary  was direct-
ed " to request ot the physicians who may have 
*4
 cted
ever,
 seen, or shall hei'eafter see any cases, or suspe
 cases of Malignant, Yellow, or Pestilential Fe
 in this city, this season, all such information as they
 may possess, respecting the origin and nature of the
 disease in question."

   Inconsequence of which, the  Secretary wrote  a
 circular letter to the physicians of the city; to which,
 he received the following answers, from Drs. Ho-
 sack and Walker.

                " Nezo-York,  August 3th, 1805.
 TO THE  PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF  THE BOARD OF
                    HEALTH.

     " Gentlemen,
   " In reply to your letter of the 3d instant, request-
 ing ' any information tending to illustrate the; origin
 and nature of any real or supposed cases of Malig-
 nant Fever, which may have occurred in this city, the
 present season,' I am happy to remark, that the only
 cases of Malignant Fever, either real or supposed,
 that I have seen in the present season, were the host-
 lers from Stayley's livery-stable, in  Maiden-lane, two
 of whom I visited at the quarantine ground, and Mr
 Dougherty, the clerk of Moore and Storey.

   " For the account of the first of those cases I bee-
leave to refer to my letter to the Mayor, which con-
tains all the facts I have been enabled to obtain rela-
 tive to therm


 •  ? °v  ^Ue^aL?°Tngi Ju]ythe 50th> ab°ut nine
 o clock  Dr  Riddle, for  the first time, requested me
 to  visit with him in consultation,  Mr. Dougherty in
 Water-street, a clerk in the cm ploy of Messrs. Moore
 and htorey, which I did  immediately. 
$$
  " As s' on as I entered the room of the patient, I
perceived his skin to be of a dusky yellow colour, es-
pecially about the neck and chest.  He lay in a state
of stupor; but upon Dr. Riddle's raising his eye-lids,
to shew  me the state of his eyes,  I  observed them
also to be of the same yellow colour with the skin; his
pulses were -bw, not exceeding 60 in a minute, but
soft and of their natural healthy fulness—his skin was
temperate—*his tcngue was moist, and nearly of its
natural,  appearance,  excepting somewhat furred m
its centre; upon speaking to the patient,  I found his
mind to be quite incoherent.  Enquiring into the state
oi his stomach, I was told it had been  so much afflict-
ed by vomiting, that the Doctor had found it neces-
sary to  apply a large blister;  but notwithstanding
this application, the vomiting  still  continued.  The
matter  discharged  was represented to me, both by
the Doctor and the nurse, to  be very Hack.   As it
had been just carried out of the room,  I did not see it.

  « Dr. Riddle informed me, that his patient had
been  sick since the  preceding Wednesday,  the 24th
inst. that this was the seventh day of his disease—that
he was attacked with excruciating pains  in the fore-
head, immediately over the eyes, attended also with
pains' in  the back 'and limbs-^hat his eyes were suf-
fused with  blood—that his countenance was also of
a highly florid colour.  Upon retiring, I did not he-
sitate to express to  Dr.  Riddle, my belief of the na-
ture of the disease.  Dr. Riddle immediately replied,
that the patient had not been out of the city.  Upon
enquiring of the gentlemen,  in whose employ he had
been, the answer was the same; but a lady sitting at
the table, and accidentally hearing the question, im-
mediately  remarked, that some time since, he had
been down at Staten-Island, to procure letters from
some of the passengers then detained at quarantine.
As she could not ascertain the time precisely, she re-
ferred us to iris cousin, who was then attending him. 
*<5
The cousin stated, that the Sunday preceding, was
the third Sunday since he had been down at the is-
land.  I asked her if she meant three weeks from the
last Sunday ? she said no, but the " third Sunday."
Lest there m'ight be some mistake, and Dr. Riddle
expressing some doubt,  we went up stairs a second
time, when she, as before, stated that it was not three
ivecks, but that the last Sunday was the " third Sun-
day" since  he went down to  the island.  Hence it
appears, that the patient had been at the quarantine
ground, on Sunday the 14th instant, and that he was
taken sick on Wednesday the 24th instant, ten days
after.  Dr. Riddle, doubtless, has made the  same
distinction in his report to the Board of Health, other-
wise it would induce a belief, that seventeen days had
elapsed between his visit to the quarantine ground,
and the time of his attack; whereas, the interval was
but ten days.  As the patient was  near his dissolu-
tion, I immediately made a report to the Mayor, of
the case and the circumstance attending it—the steps
afterwards pursued by the Board of Health, and the
result your records contain.

  "  Having never, gentlemen, met with a case of
fever attended with the above-mentioned symptoms,
that  could not be traced to  contagion, I cannot but
believe, that, in this instance  also,  the  patient had
been exposed to the atmosphere of an infected vessel,
or to persons that had been sick, or in some way con-
nected with the sick of the Yellow Fever.

  " Had Mr. Dougherty not been out of the city, nor
in any way exposed to the contagion, I should have
wanted candor not to have acknowledged its domestic
origin. Under the present circumstances, it certainly
cannot be considered as  generated here; the unusu-
ally healthy state of our city, is also  directly opposed
to this belief.
         I am, gentlemen,  with respect, yours,
                        DAVID HOSACK." 
*7
                   " New-York, August 11, 1805.
       te GENTLEMEN,
    " By the letter which I received afewdays ago, from
  the Board of Health,  I have been encouraged to re-
  late the case of a man who fel) sick of a disease,  ac-
  companied with very malignant symptoms, in an al-
  ley adjoining to Maiden-lane.

    " This has been considered by myself, and a num*
  ber of other witnesses, as an instance of our Malignant
  endemic or Yellow Fever.  And I communicate it as
  such, in the face of those who admit that a febrile dis-
  ease, with slighter symptoms than this case exhibits, is
  a true Yellow Fever, provided they can trace it to a
  searvessel, or something that has been brought from
  the West-Indies;  but deny that the  disease, I  am
  about to describe, however malignant and violent;
  however distinguished by appropriate  and character-
 istic signs is Yellow Fever, unless they can trace  its
 prigin in some occult cause of foreign  derivation.

   " The unfairness of which mode of reasoning, is only
 surpassed by  the fashionable,  but pernicious notion
 of deriving all our ills of this kind from distant places,
 without reflecting that in so  doing, we lay dowh a
 precedent, authorizing all the inhabitants abroad,  to
 retort our charges  of imported infection, to recrimi-
 nate with positiveness and pertinacity  equal to ours,
 to assail ourselves,  climate and  institutions, with  as
 much railing and abuse as we bestow upon them and
 theirs, and finally to have thereby confirmed the na-
 tives of Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo,  and other  is-
 lands of the south, who are mighty sticklers for the
 purity and healthiness of their respective places, that
 they should always escape the Yellow  Fever, if they
had no comnaercial connection with New-York, Phi-
 ladelphia, Charleston, and the other foul and pestilen-
tial cities, situated on the continent of North America.
                        H 
6$
And in  this way  the favourers of importation,  like
Ishmael, raise indeed their hands against every man,
and ought to remember that every man's hand  will
be raised against them.  But as it is my chief inten-
tion to relate to the board an instance of Yellow Fe-
ver,  which occurred this season, in the course of my
practice, I shall detail the particulars,  with all the
plainness and candor that I possess, without forging
a chain  of connection with the West-Indies,  on the
one part, or concealing or disguising facts as plain as
noon-day, on the other.

   " Christopher Hibbron, aged about thirty, born in
Yorkshire (England) arrived at New-York early in
May last, in the ship Hudson, from Liverpool.  On
the fourteenth of the same month, he was retained in
the service of Andrew Stayley, No. 92 Maiden-lane,
in the capacity of an hostler, with whom he resided
until he was removed to Staten-Island.  He posses-
sed  a mild and obliging disposition; was not subject
to violent passions, nor did he indulge in dissipation
or intemperance; he  seldom went from home, his em-
ployment requiring all his attention, from early in the
morning, until late at night.

   " He enjoyed good health from the time of his ar-
rival in  this country,  until the ninth day of July last;
when he complained  of great languor, aversion to mo-
tion, and depression  of spirits.

   " The next day following, he was suddenly seized
with vertigo, and fell upon the ground ; this affection
soon subsided,  and was succeeded by constant nau-
sea and frequent vomiting of bilious matter, accom-
panied  by  acute  pains in the calfes of his legs and
knees, which gradually progressed upwards, until his
thighs,  back and head were equally affected;  the
pain was excruciating, and there  seemed to be a spas-
modic action of the muscles of his legs.   These affec- 
59
      tions induced him to speak of extreme cold, being ap-
      plied to his body; this sensation almost immediately
      passed off,  and great irritation, tumult and excite-
      ment of the vascular system became very conspicu-
      ous.   The  pain at this time seemed to be altogether
      removed from the lower extremities, and fixed in his
      back and head ; pulse  100 or upwards, hard, labour-
      ing and irregular; heat of the body burnipg and con-
      centrated ;  skin dry and rough ; tongue white, slimy,
      and moist; countenance flushed,  agitated and anxi-
      ous ; eyes red,  disturbed, watery and wandering.

         " Dr. Manley judiciously prescribed bleeding, blis-
      tering, bowels evacuated, and the antiphlogistic re-
      gimen  enjoined.

         " On the third day of his disease, the violence of
      the symptoms were greatly subdued; eye and counte-
      nance more natural and  cheerful; tongue dry and
      rough; continual thirst; fbeces charged with yellow or
t      bilious matter; pain in the stomach and nausea; skin
      moist,  but  rather clammy and cool  when  lightly
      touched, but when hard pressed, conveyed a sensation
r      of morbid heat; pulse  soft and  swelling.

         " There were no particular variation of symptoms
      during the fourth and fifth days of his disease; but on
      the sixth day,  he complained of  great pain and un-
      easiness throughout his body; this, however, soon be-
      came local, and was confined to his stomach and uri-
      nary bladder,  attended with vomiting and suppres-
      sion of urine, his skin was dry. and the heat unequal.
      His medical treatment, was full and regular; at this
      time blistered freely; alkalies with acids; Sp. Nit.
      Dul. tepid  bathing; injections;  fomentations; calo-
      mel and opium, &c. &c. every  thing requisite under
      such circumstances.  On  the morning of the seventh
      day of disease, there obtained a copious discharge of
   ..  urine,  loaded  with a dark coloured matter; fpeces 
€0
having the appearance of tar or molasses, pain in thd
stomach, constant vomiting, which was no longer bi-
lious, but rejecting every thing thrown into it.  The
colour of his skin was, on this day, completely chang-
ed J in health, his skin  is uncommonly fair, but its
present bright and general yellowness is beyond all
description ;  it bears a strong aaalogy to a high co-
louring of gambouge upon fine glazed paper.

  " The eighth and ninth days of his disease were
not marked by any particular occurrence.   On the
tenth, his pulse was slow and regular, apparently soft
and full; a great  proportion of animal heat retired
from the extremities; discharge from his bowels, black
and seemingly charged with blood; confused and ir-
xegular ideas; delirium ; haemorrhage from his nose;
his tongue was loaded with a dark brown thick incrus-
tation ; skin moist  but evidently morbid, and widely
•different from the  warm and fluid moisture arising
from an healthy action of the extreme vessels; sigh-
ing, anxiety,  throwing his  arms and legs from  one
side of  the bed to  the other; a constant desire to
change his situation, without assigning a cause; hick-
up,  with a mahogany countenance, and a variety of
malignant symptoms, not easily described.  In the
evening of this day he was removed to Staten-Island;
vomiting of black matter came on, during his passage,
and continued at intervals until he died, which took
place on the  thirteenth  day of his disease, attended
with all the horrid and  awful appearances that  usu-
ally occur in  malignant cases of concentrated ende-
mic, or Yellow Fever.

  " I have sought  with all the diligence and  care
fhat I  possess, for the origin of this frightful disease.
It has  been impossible for me to trace it to any  ship
or vessel whatever.  And indeed if I had been  able
to do so, it would not  have followed,  that the un-
clean rubbish of a ship had been  taken on board in 
61
      bulk at a foreign port, and not have been engender-
      ed and manufactured within her.

        " For a ship, from her construction and use, being
      first a manufactory of pestilential matter, and then
      a vehicle to transport it from place to place, where-
      ever she goes, is herself the local source of the great-
      est  part of that very mischief, which is unreasonably
      ascribed to the ports between which she sads.

        " As to local nuisances in and about the alley and
      stable, where the man  lived and  worked, there did
      not appear to be any one, which could be fairly sup*
      posed to excite the disease; for it  would be extrava-
      gant to ascribe such to stable-dung.

        " As far as I can penetrate the cause of this dis^
      ease, I will state it.  The patient was an  English-
^     man; he had been accustomed to a portion of earth
      and atmosphere, by far cooler than ours ; he had the
V      northern constitution and habits of a Yorkshire man,
      and he had been but a short time in our city.

>        <{ It is  well known  when men of such tempera-
      ments migrate to the south, they commonly undergo
      a seasoning as it is called, to their new place of resi-
      dence ; Englishmen have to undergo this operation
      when they  remove hither,  as our  own  people are
      obliged to submit to it, when they move to Orleans.
      Men so circumstanced, often become diseased before
      they are reconciled to their new situations, and in
      many cases, the stamina of life break before they can
      be  bent to the required shape.

         " In the case of Hibbron, there was the ordinary
      predisposition of an English stranger, and he seems
      to  have fallen a victim to the combined agency of
      causes, which a native scarcely  feels, because he is
      seasoned and habituated to them,  but which frequent* 
62
ly act with irresistible powers upon visitors from the
north.
       With sentiments of high respect and esteem,
         I remain your most obedient,
                   RICHARD L. WALKER.
  The President and Members >
   of the Board of Health." J

  The following extract of a letter from Dr. Man-
ley, published  in the Morning Chronicle, will shew
that gentleman's opinion of the disease in question.

  " I shall now take the liberty of examining briefly,
such parts of Dr. Hosack's  letter, as relate  to the
case of Hibbron.   * It appeared,' said  the Doctor,
'  that he had voided blood from his intestines,  and
that he had died of mortification of the bowels.'  As
I am the person more interested in the opinion which
the public shall form of this case, than any other man,
I should be glad to know, for the sake of information,
how it  appeared to him, that  he died with a morti-
fication of the bowels.   As a man of candor, his rea-
sons for such an opinion should have appeared in
print as well as the opinion  itself, and he is hereby
informed, that  they are still expected.   He could not
draw this conclusion  from the circumstance of the
man's voiding blood, for this  we  see every day oc-
curring in cases of the Dysentary; yet we do not be-
lieve the mortification of the bowels to exist any length
of time, proportionate to the  duration of the disease;
we know that patients will labour under the most ag-
gravated form of Dysentary for the term of six weeks,
and during all that time pass blood ;  comparatively
few instances  even then are found to terminate in
mortification of the intestines, as has been repeatedly
proved upon dissection.  But suppose for a moment,
that the man had mortification of bowels, as expres-
sed, how is it possible to be accounted for ? the mor-
tification surely was not the  consequence of  the ap-
plication of a caustic; it must have been preceded by 
63
inflammation; if such inflammation did exist, it must
have been apparent, from the torturing pain, the ob-
stinate costiveness,  and the  peculiarity  of pulse,
which in such cases, do exist, and he must have died,
according to the  common  course of such a  disease,
long ere the termination of the thirteenth day of his
illness—neither of which circumstances did obtain.
I therefore shall rest satisfied in the belief, that he did
not die with mortification of his bowels, as a primary
disease, as represented; and the public will, no doubt,
do themselves  the justice to withhold their belief of
such a statement, until more clearly proved.

   " I asked the Health-Officer  in particular, whe-
ther he had the black vomit ?"   He answered, " that
he did throw up a dark coloured matter, as he was
informed  by the nurse."  The question was then
urged in a more precise shape, and he was asked " if
he had the particular species of black vomit which at-
tends the Yellow Fever, either the coffee ground, or
the flaky ?"  He answered, " no, he could not say he
had:'

  " The public will observe,  that the last sentence
here given, as delivered  by the Health-Officer, was
not divided into two distinct parts, as  Dr.  Hosack
would wish it to be believed, by printing one part in
capitals, and another in italics.  I pledge myself that
Dr. Rodgers did not expect to be thus  understood,
when he was more particularly interrogated whether
the vomiting was either the coffee ground or the flaky ?■
He answered he did not know; the information  he
had received from the nurse; he himself had not seen
it, and he possessed  too  just a sense of  the value of
truth, to assert that for fact,  which rested merely upon
the statement of one of the hospital attendants.  Dr.
Hosack's enquiry of the Health-Officer, amounts of
course to nothing more  nor less than he could not
precisely define the appearance of the matter, having 
64
 never Seen it.  It is certain, however, that the patient
 had an irritable stomach during the whole course of
 L.s disease, and that he had black vomiting before he
 arrived at SLaien-Island; and whether he had or had
 not, is not a circumstance essentially  necessary to
 the point in question.   Had Hibbron Yellow Fever ?
 It is acknowledged, on all hands, that Yellow Fever,
 notwithstanding it is a disease of peculiar malignity,
 does not possess one single symptom which,  taken
 alone, can characterize it.  Again, if it be necessary
 that black  vomiting should be present to constitute
 the disease Yellow Fever, at least nine  out often at*
 tacked by it must die; for in cases where that symp-
 tom obtains to any extent, the chances of recovery
 are still less than this proportion, as will appear from
 the experience of many of our most able  physicians.
 Yellozv Fever, though malignant, is not so generally
 fatal as would thus appear.

   " Dr.  Hosack thus concludes his letter.   ' I have
 no doubt that the illness of those three  men was the
 effect of cold, from exposure to the night air, and ex-
' cepting Kirkwo'-d, of intemperance, and that their
 disease was the common Bilious Fever  of our coun-
 try, to which strangers (as all those persons were) are
 particularly liable on their first arrival.  And I have
 no hesitation to pronounce, that after a minute, and,
 I trust, a candid and impartial examination of all the
* facts, that there has been no Yellow  Fever in either
 of the above cases, but that the unnecessary and in-
 jurious alarm which has, in this instance, been raised
 and propagated  respecting our city,  has  been with-
 out any adequate cause to justify it.'

   " It will here readily appear to the reader, that the
 Doctor,  with all his caution, has  not  been able to
 avoid absurdity.   He, in the first part  of this letter^
 imputes the death of Hibbron to a mortification 06
 the bowels, and now in common with Kirkwood and 
6,5
Aylesbury, he had the common Bilious Fever of our
country, to which strangers are particularly liable;
this  needs no further comment; the contradiction
would scarcely  have been more apparent if it  had
Occurred in the same sentence.

   " I shall now conclude my observations on this let-
ter,  by remarking upon  the candor and humanity of
Dr. Hosack, which charged Hibbron with being ac-
cessory to his own death, when, if he had not known,
the least enquiry would have satisfied him that he
was a  man temperate even to a fault, if I may so ex-
press it.  Air. Stayley told me, when speaking of his
habits, that he had never seen him intoxicated dur-
ing the whole time he was in his  employ, and that it
was with difficulty he could prevail upon  him during
the warm weather, to drink any other thing than cold
water; yet the illness of these three men was the effect
of cold, from exposure to the  night air, and except-
ing Kirkwood, of intemperance.

   "  I have now  said all that  the public required of
me, and no more.  It was my intention to have ana-
lyzed the letter of Dr. Hosack, on the case of Dough-
erty ; but that,  I am informed, will come from its
proper source, in the course of  a few days, and as
that case affords ample matter for a lengthy comment,
we trust that  it will meet with its merited attention.
I  trust that  I have done away all  injurious impres-
sions that the public  may have entertained of me, as
the physician of Hibbron; and I likewise hope that I
have done some service to the public, in exposing the
designed misrepresentations in the above case.

   " I shall only observe, in regard  to the paragraph
in Mr. Coleman's last  evening  paper, that if' by
those who know better,' he would  be understood as
meaning  Dr. Hosack and himself—he is  perfectly 
66
correct; since they (and their communications) alone
prompted me to come before the public.
                    JAMES R. MANLEY/'

     " Dear Sir,
   " As you have requested the most important facts
in the cases of Hibbron, Aylesbury and Kirkwood,
I have been as particular as my memory, (aided by
nurses and patients) admit of.

   " Christopher Hibbron was received into the Ma-
rine Hospital on the 18th inst. late at night.  The
morning  of the 19th, I first visited him.   His body
was of a dusky yellow, especially his face; his eyes
were yellow, and the blood vessels turgid ; his tongue
Covered with a dark brown fur, but moist, except at
the edges, which were dry, and darker than the rest;
pulse full* soft and frequent, beats 100; mind collect-
ed ; he had ten or twelve thin evacuations in as many
hours, which were of a dark bloody colour; urine red-
dish arid turbid; he vomited four times, at an inter-
val of twelve hours between each, except the last
twenty-four hours of his life, when hedid not throw up
any thing; the fluid vomited was the colour of por-
ter, with  some ash coloured mucous floating in it,
except immediately after he was admitted, which is
stated to have been very dark; porter was his drink,
and when he did vomit, it was shortly after he drank;
volatile alkali and laudanum were prescribed for him,
which produced a free perspiration, and lessened the
number of his stools; at night blisters were applied to
his ancles.

  " QOth. The same medicines were continued, he
having expressed sensible relief  therefrom; some
coma taking place, a blister was applied between his
shoulders, which drew well; during the night he had
a dark green stool, of natural consistence. 
67
   " 21st. Coma increased; pulse soft and quick; me-
 dicines continued, with the infusion of bark as the ve-
 hicle ; blisters applied  to the legs, and cataplasms to
 the feet.

   " 22d. All the symptoms increased, with laborious
 breathing; had several convulsions, and died at three
 o'clock, P. M.  N. B. He bled several times at the
 nose.

   " William Aylesbury was admitted into the Ma-
 rine Hospital with Hibbron.  His body was of a
 natural colour; eyes slightly inflamed ; tongue white ;
 pulse tense and frequent; skin hot; had taken a ca-
 thartic, which had ceased its  operation  before he
 came here; a sudorific was given at short intervals,
 with acidulated tepid drink, which caused a free per-
 spiration j had several dark green stools;  urine tur-
 bid and high coloured ; in the evening complained of
 heat and fulness at his stomach, with increased pain
 in the back part of his head, and aching of his back
 and limbs; twenty-four ounces  of blood was taken
 from him, which produced relief.

   " 20th. Had  the same sensations  at his stomach
 and head as last night; pulse full and frequent; blood-
 ed him eight ounces; sudorific mixture continued; in
 the evening costive; mixture omitted; took 10 grains
 of calomel every four hours, and rub  mercurial oint-
 ment on the thighs; had many dark green stools dur-
 ing the night, and vomited once some light greenish
 bile, which was very bitter.

   " 21st. Calomel  and opium  were directed, and
mercurial frictions continued night and morning.

   "22d. Remedies as yesterday; his eyes have a yel-
low tinge. 28d.  His body generally of a yellow hue ;
bled twice at the nose; his breath has the mercurial 
68
 taint; complains of soreness of his gums, medicines
 as before.

   "24th.  Medicines discontinued; complains very
 much of the soreness of his mouth;  stools, of which
 he has had several daily, are of a very dark green;
 took a solution of scda.

   " 25th.  Bled at the nose; stools lighter; his jaws
 swollen; from the 25th to the 30th, under the influ-
 ence of mercury.

   " 30th. His yellowness, which when at its height,
 was of a dusky yellow, is rapidly lessening;  st ols
 continue green; the swelling of his face diminishing,
.and he is recovering.

   " James Kirkwrood  was taken into the Flospital
 on the 24th inst.  his skin of a  natural Colour ; eyes
 slightly  suffused  with  blood  and heavy ; tongue
 white; pulse full and sh.w; complained of pain in
 his head, back and limbs; took a cathartic,  which
 operated freely ;  opened  a vein, but only  a few-
 ounces flowed ; stools green ; at night calomel and
 opium were administered every four hours; very
 copious vomiting  of a light green bile ensued ; mer-
 curial ointment was applied to  his  legs and thighs.

   " 25th.  Complains more than yesterday ; had a
 very restless  night; calomel  was exhibited in a
 smaller quantity,  and the opium  increased  e^ery
 fourhours,but his vomiting continuing, was obliged
 to omit them; a  solution of soda  in mint water,
 with the addition of laudanum was given ; this al-
 layed the irritability of his stomach, and  he had a
 much  better  night; his stools of a lighter green;
pulse full and slow.  26th  and 27th. solution  of
 soda in mint continued ; laudanum Omitted ; pulse
 full and slow, beats 60; he is mending.  28th, 29th 
69
and 30th. Pulse from 52 to 56 beats in a minute ;
full and soft; complains of a soreness in his gums;
he walks about, and is in the use of tonic remedies;
his evacuations have a slight tinge of green, in other
respects natural.
                         JOSEPH BAYLEY.
  Dr. John R. B. Rodgers."

  On the 24th August, Mr. Andrew Stayley, the
gentleman  in  whose house the three hostlers had
taken sick, became indisposed, and on the third day
thereafter, was sent to the Marine  Hospital.  It was,
indeed, his own desire to go there, as7 he had heard
a most favourable report:  of the institution  from
James Kirkwood,  who had been sent down sick,
and a few days before Mr. Stayley's removal,  had
come  up perfectly  recovered.  Soon  after  Mr.
Stayley went down, the Secretary wrote a letter to
the Health-Officer, to which he received the follow-
ing; answer.

       " Quarantine Ground, August 1§th, 1805.
    "  Dear Sir,
  " Your anxiety respecting your friend Stayley,
induces me to inform  you that he is still very ill,
but from his having had a better night the last than
before, and having a clean  and airy apartment, and
a situation giving him as pure an air as the island
affords, I am yet in hopes he niay  do well.   He had
yesterday a  most distressing hiccup, and this has
occasionally come  on   this  morning,  but by no
means so severe as  before.  He had yesterday a
disposition to  bleed freely wherever he scratched
himself, and his pulse intermitted frequently.  The
tendency to haemorrhage has gone off this morning,
and his pulses  are more regular; he speaks, though
with a quickness that shews his brain is still affect-
ed.  The other man of Stayley's  is much better.
                                             i 
70
   " I find by the public prints, that what was said
 to the three gentlemen who visited the Marine Hos-
 pital, on the 27th of  July last, has been put in a
 very improper point  of view, and that there  are
 some omissions of necessary truth.  Whether this
 proceeds from design, I cannot say ; but as the ac-
 count has been given to the Board of Health,  to
 whom I owe respect, and with whom I am offici-
 ally connected, I esteem it  my duty to make  the
 present communication, and to state all the circum-
 stances ot the visit.

  " On the 27th of July, Drs. Williamson, Hosack
 and Stringham came  to see  me at  the quarantine
 ground; they arrived while we were at breakfast;
 after the usual compliments, and being seated at the
 table with the family, one of the gentlemen, (Dr.
 Hosack) said that they had come to make enquiry
 relative to the cases of fever which had been sent
 down from the city to the Marine Hospital. I imme-
 diately told them that, if they wished information for
 themselves, I would give it with pleasure, but that
 what we had said at the quarantine ground, had
 sometimes gone into the public papers without our
 permission, and sometimes been misrepresented—
 that if it were required by those in authority, I would
 at any  time give in writing, all the information in
 my power, but that what I  should say  then,  or
 at other times in conversation,  was not to go into
 the public  papers, or serve the purposes of partv or
 controversy, and that if they intended my answers
 to do this, I  should be perfectly silent.   They all
 of them replied that they had no such idea; and
 under the persuasion of being candidly dealt with>
 I proceeded in the conversation,

  " I held them, from what was said and from their
manner, as much under the obligations of honour
 and good faith, that the conditions prescribed would 
71
 be strictly performed, as if they had expressed the
 terms in writing, and bound themselves in a bond, or
 by an oath ; and ail those who respect the obligations
 of hospitality, will look on such a tie as paramount.
 Very soon after this stipulation, I was asked if they
 might  go into the Hospital.  I replied, that if they
 had any request from the Mayor, the CommisA.oncis
 of the Health-Office, or the Board of Health to that
 effect, they should be admitted, but if not, that I must
 think of it.  Upon which Dr. Williamson produced
 the Mayor's letter for that purpose.  I immediately
 told them that they should be admitted,  I  now en-
 tered on the account of the case of Hibbron—I told
 them that he had  died some days before—that he
 came to us with all the symptoms of Yellow Fever,
 and died with that complaint.  1 was asked  what his
 appearance was ?   I said  he was  very yellow*. I was
 asked if it were a bright yellow,  with an observation
 of the gentleman asking the question, making a dis-
 tinction between the yellow colour accompanying
 Jaundice and Yellow Fever.   I told him  that the
 yellow  was deep, but of a dirty hue, and that his
 eyes were  deeply and extremely suffused  with  fed
 and yellow, and that he had that cast of countenance
 and that peculiar look of Yellow  Fever, which no
 one acquainted with that disease could mistake—that
 he had a bleeding from his nose—that his stools were
 bloody—that his stomach was very irritable, and that
 he frequently vomited.  I was asked (while I was in
 the detail) if he had black vomit?  I went on to say
 that he had vomited dark coloured matter, as the
 nurse informed me, but that J had not seen it myself.

  |e I was then asked whether it was of a flaky ap-
pearance, or of the nature of coffee grounds ? i told
the gentlemen asking, that I could not say,  for that
I had not seen it.  At the same time I remarked to
the gentlemen that many died of yellow fever with-
out any bjack  vomit, or even dark  matter  ejected 
72
 from the stomach.   The insinuation, therefore, that
 what I then sard was at variance with what I had be-
 fore expressed  to  the Board of Health, or  that  I
 evaded any questions or intended to evade them  is
 neither consistent with fact nor candor.   The man-
 ner of answering the first question  prevented evasi-
 on, for I had distinctly said that I had not seen the
 matter vomited myself, but had received my inform-
 ation from  the  nurse.  No questions  wete  asked
 about his pulse.  As soon as we r^se  from breakfast
 we went to the hospital;  the first  person seen was
 Aylesbury ; he was asked by Dr. Hosack if he had
 any pain on  his first attack, and where  it was, if in
 his legs and knees ? He answered yes, in his legs and
 knees—on the small  of his back and in  his head.—
 Dr. H. asked him if his stomach had been affected
 before he came here ?  He said yes, that he had vom-
 ited.   Dr. H. asked  if it were yellow or  bitter mat-
 ter ?  He said it  was black.   Black ! said Dr.  H.
 with  apparent surprize—of a deep green replied he
 then—he was asked what was the colour of hi- stools,
 —He answered dark coloured—his urine was in the
 climber  pot and was inspected  by the gentlemen,
 and was high coloured.  He was asked if it stained
 his linen ?  He  replied yes.   These  answers were
 partly given by Aylesbury, and  partly by his wife,
 his mouth being sore from the use of mercury.  He
 had at this time a dusky yellow tinge on his skin and
 eyes, and his eyes looked as if they had been inflam-
 ed.  The person who came in last was then  asked
by Dr. H. if he had any pain on his first attack  ? He
 said yes,  in his head and limbs.   He was asked in
what part of his head. ? He said in the back part of
his head, and put his hand to the hinder part of it—-
if he had  any pain in his back ?  He said yes.   This
examination  did not take up more than six or  eight
minutes; not ten I am sure.   The questions asked,
and the answers  given were written down directly.
after the gentlemen  left the  quarantine wharf, and 
73
within  three quarters of an hour  after they were
asked, they were taken to  the hostipal, and there
read to Aylesbury  and his wife, in the presence of
Dr. Bayley, and declared by them to be  correct.
Upon  leaving this ward, Dr. Bayley came up to us
on the green in front of the long Hospital.   I hand-
ed him the Mayor's letter, and stated to him the ob-
ject of the visit of the gentlemen ; at the same time I
told him that I had expressly said to them,  that no-
thing which he or I should say, was to go into the news-
papers, or be made the subject of controversy.   Dr.
Ba\ ley told them, that he considered Hibbron's case
as a mixed one, but that if he were to class it, or were
on his oath, he should say it was Yellow Fever—that
he had a mortification of his bowels before  he died.
Here you will observe that Dr. Hosack-has kept back
part of what Dr. Bayley said, and has misstated part;
for Dr. Bayley never  said that Hibbron died  of a
mortification of his bowels.  He expressed himself in
such a manner as to shew that the mortification of
the bowels was a symptom  of the disease, and not
the disease  itself.  These are the  leading circum-
stances of what occurred on that  visit.  How any
one can infer from what 1 said, or from what I heard
Dr. Bayley  say,  that the case of Hibbron  was not
Yellow Fever, is to me very strange.   It is equally
surprising to find gentlemen denying the existence of
a disease,  because they cannot see  how it was pro-
duced, or the truth of a fact, because they cannot ac-
count for it.  Such  a mode of reasoning or  conduct
would soon land  in the region of downright scepti-
cism.   How many thousand truths are there that we
oannot account for 1

  " The facts in this case we know—We know that
in this summer, as  well as preceding ones,  cases of
Malignant Fever have occurred, which  could not be
traced to any connection with ships or  infected per-
sons-—We have seen this summer already, the cases
                        K 
74
 of Mrs. Pfifer, Dougherty, and  the four men from
 Stayley's—these all shew that  Malignant Fever ex-
 ists, and they  shew the solemn truth that it is of dor
 mestic origin.   We must not shut our eyes upon the
 truth.  The law under which we act, recognizes in-
 ternal as well  as external causes  of disease, and it is
 our duty to look to both; but while we know these
 things, I look upon it as improper to make them the
 suhject of newspaper discussion—the  public mind
 may be irritated and inflamed, but it  can never be
 directed in a proper course on such a subject, in this
 way.   Before  I conclude, permit me  to say  that I
 find no fault with Dr. Williamson or Dr.  Stnngham;
 as it related to me personalty they have my respect';
 and their abstaining from saying a word of what was
 told to them,  shews that they felt and acted under
 that obligation which I have before  mentioned.
              With much respect,
                I am, Dear Sir,
                  Your obedient servauf,
                   JOHN R. B.  RODGERS.
  Mr. James [Iardie, Secretary \
    to the LJoaiduf Bedlili."  >

   I have been thus particular in  communicating all
 the documents,  of which I was possessed, either in
 favour of importation or local origin, in order that my
 readers may the better be enabled to judge for them-
 selves.   In the case of Mr. Dougherty, however, it
 is  necessary to state, that there are two affidavits
 taken before the Mayor; the one  by Captain Smith,
 of the ship Endeavour, and the other by Mr. Storey,
 of the firm of Moore and Storey; both of which are
 to the  same purport, viz. that" the said Dougherty
was down to the quarantine  ground on the seven-
 teenth  day, previous to his being taken sick; and that
they had reason to believe that he was on board of no
vessel whatever, as they saw him at Vanduser's ferry,
where he continued only for a short time, and  went, 
75
 as they supposed,  directly  to New-York."  But it
 can be of little consequence to ascertain, whether he
 had been on board of any veisel at quarantine ground
 or not, as the  following extract  of a letter from
 the Health Officer, of date August ?th, in answer
 to one  written to him by the Secretary, will ciearjy
 shew that there could be no possibility of contagion
 at the quarantine ground.

   " In answer to yours of yesterday,  I have to say,
 that no case of Yellow Fever has existed,  either at
 the hospital, or on board the shipping at  the qua-
 rantine ground,  since the  1st of July last, except
 those sick persons who have been sent from the ciry
 of New-York."

   With respect to the case of Mr. Stayley and the
 men who were taken sick at his his house, it appears
 difficult to assign any probable cause.  The different
 physicians who visited them, previous to their being
 sent down to Staten-Island, perceived no nuisance of
 any kind, which could possibly be supposed to have
 engendered a pestilential disorder.  But  as it  was
 determined  to use  every  precaution, Hibbron  and
 Aylesbury,  the first two  patients,  were no sooner
 removed than, as has already been observed,  their
 bedding and wearing apparel  were destroyed,  and
 the apartment in which  they had lain, as well as
 those adjoining to it, were thoroughly cleansed and
 white-washed.   The same" process was  likewise re-
 peated,  at the time Kirkwood  was removed.  The
 yard and all the adjoining premises, were examiued
 by me with the greatest care, but nothing was dis-
 covered, which could, in the least,  be suspected te
 be the cause of so dreadful a malady.  It had, indeed,
 been said,  that a privy situated directly under the
 window of the room, in which Mr. Stayley common"
}y sat, emitted a very offensive smell; but upon esar
 mination, it appeared, that it was at the distance of 
76
at least six feet from the window, that it was very
deep, and that it was kept as clean as any in the city;
besides, the tmstler who flrst got sick, resided in a
part of the house, the most remote from this privy.
It cannot, therefore, be well supposed, that there was
in it any cause of disease.

  That there may, however, have been some reason
of complaint, with respect to the premises, a short
time before the evil commenced, although, most pro-
bably, not sufficient to have excited it, appears from
the affidavit of a very respectable gentleman of this
city, who deposes as follows :

City of Nezv-York, ss.
     Nathaniel Prime deposes,  " that he recently
kept his carriage at Mr.  Stayley's livery-stable ; that
in passing to it some short time before the men took
sick,  who were removed to the quarantine ground,
he experienced a very disagreeable smell, which the
deponent supposed to proceed, either from Mr. Stay-
ley's or Mr.  Cheetham's possessions,  and which he
ascribed to some old privy, the smell of which was
prvhubly excited by the removal of rubbish, as the
yard, at that-iime, was undergoing-a repair.
                     NATHANIEL PRIME.
  Sworn 29th August, 1805, before )
    Do Witt Clinton."        j

   Those acquainted with Mr. Prime will, no doubt,
place the fullest confidence in the truth of his depo-
sition.  Still,  however,  there is reason to believe,
that though an offensive smell might have been emit-
ted from some old privy, either in Mr. Cheetham's
or  Mr. Stayley's yard, it could not, with propriety,
have been  considered as the cause of fever.  Indeed,
if the privy alluded to, can be supposed to have oc-
casioned so great an evil, why, it may be asked, were
not some persons taken sick in Mr. Cheetham's,  to 
77
whose house the privy was more contiguous ?  But,
in the house of this gentleman, every one enjoyed
good health, whilst in Mr. Stayley's,  the  case was
widely different.  To this source, therefore, the evil
cannot, with propriety, be attributed.

  There are also two depositions sworn to before his
Honour the Mayor; the one by Mr. John Hyde, de-
ceased,  late keeper of the Tontine  Coffee House,
dated the 5th of August, 1805; the other by Mrs. Ca-
therine Stayley, widow of the late Mr. Andrew Stay-
ley, dated the 5th of September, 1805.  Although the
substance of these depositions might be summed up
in a very few words, yet, that there may be no room
for an accusation of partiality to either of  the theo-
rists respecting the origin of Malignant Fever, I have
deemed it most correct to give them at length,

   w John  Hyde,  keeper of  the  Tontine Coffee-
House, deposes, that Andrew Stayley formerly lived
jn his employ  as hostler; that the deponent went to
Stayley's, the  day after Hibbron, who lately died at
the quarantine ground, was removed there, and en-
quired of him, the circumstances of Hibbron's case;
that Stayley told the deponent, that Hibbron had
been out an evening or two before he was taken sick,
and had come, at a very late  hour, rather in liquor;
that he (Stayley)  desired him to go to bed, and that
Hibbron told  him he had been on board some vessel,,
and had bought an English sheep; but that the sheep
was never brought home, owing, as Stayley supposed,
to Hibbron's  sickness; that Stayley also told the de-
ponent, that this was the first time that he knew of,
that Hibbron had been out of the yard.
                              JOHN HYDE.
  Sworn the 5th of August, 1805, )
    before De Witt Clinton."  J

   " Catherine Stayley,  widow of the late Andrew
Stayley,  livery-stabler,  Maiden-lane,  being duly 
78
Sworn, doth depose and say, that William Aylesbury
told this deponent, that Christopher Hibbron, in his
dying moments,had declared,that  he was very sorry,
be had told Mr. Stayley,  that  he had  not been
on board of any vessel; for that he had staid part of
a night on board of a vessel at or near Long-Island;
about eight days previous to his  being taken sick;
and further this deponent saith not.
                  CATHERINE STAYLEY.
  Sworn the 5th September, 1805, )
   before De Witt Clinton."    $

   But although  from  the  two last affidavits, it ap-
pears more than probable, that Hibbron had been on
board of an English ship,  yet there are few people
who will suppose, that Yellow Fever could be brought
to this country from that quarter.   The truth is, it
appears impracticable to assign any satisfactory rea-
son for the diseases of Stayley and the hostlers who
resided with him, unless we suppose, that,as they had
lately come to this country, they fead not as yet  be-
come sufficiently inured to the climate, to support the
intense  heat of an American summer; and that they
had been imprudent in exposing themselves to the
night air.

   Various cases of Malignant Fever were  reported
'by gentlemen, who believe in its local origin, during
the latter part of August, and the beginning of Sep-
tember ; but by those medical gentlemen who believe
in its importation, they were, in general,supposed to
be only the common Bilious Fever of the country.

   To [give  the advocates  of  both  theories  an
equal chance,  the Board of Health, on the 4th  of
September, " Resolved, that when any case of Ma-
lignant  Fever  shall be reported by medical gentle-
men, who believe in the domestic origin of that dis-
ease, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to call upon
some of those  gentlemen, who espouse a different 
79
theory, and that the physicians so employed, shall be
paid by this board,and give their opinions in writing."

   In consequence of the preceding resolution, the
Secretary  applied to Dr.  Hosack.   The following
letters from that gentleman, will shew the proceed-
ings which took place in consequence thereof.

              " Nezv-York, September 5th, 1805.
     " Dear Sir,
   " Yesterday, at the request of the Board of Health,
conveyed to me by the secretary, I visited John Pel-
sue, No. 4, Church-street.   His symptoms appear
to me to be those of the  last stage of the Yellow Fe-
ver.  His short illness, and the manner of his attack,
as related  to me by his mother, also serve to confirm
me in that opinion.   His removal to  the  quarantine
ground* will,  I believe,  afford him th£ best chance
of recovery, and as it regards the health of our city,
will certainly be a proper measure.
                I am, Sir, respectfully your's, &c.
   The Hon. De Witt Clinton."

               " Nezv-York, September 6th, 1805.

     (< Dear*Sir,
   " Accompanied by  Mr. Hardie,  I visited,  this
morning, the following persons.

     Patrick M. Loyre, in Thomas-street.
     Mr.----Davis,  128 Front-street.
     Alexander Addison, 132 Front-street.

P * In consequence of the above  recommendation, an orJer was made
•ut for his removal; but his mother being very unwilling, and it appear-
ing to the Secretary, that his dissolution was near at hand, it was not
executed. He died next day, and it is evident that no evil resulted from
his being permitted to remain, as every one of those who attended him,
or were anywise connected with him, continued,througb©ut the whole
season, to be exempt from any thing resemblingl^stilenUal Fev«*. 
80
     Mr. Dooly, 110 Water-street, and*
     Mrs. Daly, in Pine-street.

   " I also called in Augustus-street, with the inten-
 tion to visit Mr. Brannon, but learned that he was
 dead.   In the first five of the above, I  cannot per-*
 ceive any of the characteristic symptoms of the Yel-
 low. Fever.  On the contrary, I trust the greater part
 of t ;e o, if not all, will recover with ordinary care and
 attention.   Brannon being dead, I did not see him.
 This suggests  to me the propriety" of the board re-
 questing physicians to report their cases of Yellozo
 Fever, in the  early stage of the disease, and not to
 defer their  reports until the  patients are so far ad-
 vanced, that they are unable to answer those  ques-
 tions, which are necessary in the  investigation of
 their complaints; and I believe it will not be denied,
 that in the, first stage of the Yellow Fever, its pecu-
 liar, characters are as strongly designated'as in the
 last stage.   I cannot but suspect, that many cases of
 the common Bilious Fever of our country, have been
 reported as cases of Yellow Fever,  in consequence
 of the resemblance, which exists in  the last stage of
 most fevers at this season of the year. To distinguish
 them, it is necessary to see them in the early as well
 as in the last Mage.   I will be glad  if the board will
 direct, that  in  any cases which they may wish me to
 visit, that I may see them as  early as possible.   '     .,
                  I am,  respectfully your's,
                         DAVID HOSACK.
  The Hon. De Witt Clinton."

            " Nezv-York, September 8th, 1805.
     " Dear Sir,

  " In  consequence of your note of yesterday, I
called upon Dr. Servant, who had reported Mr. Pas-
chal Smith, as ill of Malignant Fever.  He  inform-'  *'
ed me,  that Mr. Smith's disease manifests the cha-
racteristic symptoms of the Yellow Fever. 
81
  " Nancy Ellis died this  morning:  not having it
in my power to visit her last evening, I did not see
her.

  « Mr. Taylor, at 46 Cedar-street, is, in my opin-
ion, in the last stage of*the most malignant form of
Yellow Fever.  The disease of Mr. Long, in Ry-
der-street, I also believe to be of the same sort, but
in a less violent  degree.

  " The existence of this disease in our city, being
now ascertained by physicians who hold opposite o-
pinions relative to the origin of yellow fever, and as
it was the object of the board, in requesting me to
yisit some of the cases reported,  to give an equal
opportunity to the advocates of both doctrines, to
ascertain the existence of this peculiar fever, I pre-
sume the board will now think it unnecessary for'
me to visit any  more  of those cases, which may
hereafter be reported.
                   I am, Sir,
                     With regard, your's,
                          DAVID HOSACK.
  John M. Pintard, Member of)
   the Board of Health."    >

  At a meeting of the Board of Health, on the 6th
of September, the following interesting communica-
tion was received from Dr.  Sir James Jay.

             " Nezv-York, September 5th,  1805.
    " Sir,

  " The  inclosed piece is written by a man, who is
an impartial spectator of the scene going on among
the faculty.   Should the hints and observations it
contains, contribute in the least to elucidate the con-
troversy, and pave the way to truth, he will not re-
                       L 
8'2
gret the trouble of writing it.   You are at liberty to
make what use of it you may think proper.
                I remain, Sir,
                  Your very bumble servant,
               1               JAMES JAY.
  De Witt Clinton, Esq;"
         .          o ':    ..   "-T
  "When  different  opinions  are entertained on a,
medical subject, and both parties pretend to found
their system on facts, it is obvious,that the first step
to be taken towards  a true decision, is accurately>to
ascertain the principal facts on which a solidtand con-
clusive judgment can be formed.  Could this be done   <.
in the case of Yellow Fever, in such a way, that men
©f tolerable education  and common seqse,  who^are
not of the profession,  could easily see into the merits.
of the dispute, and forma rational and solid judgment
on the subject, it would, I presume, afford considera-
ble satisfaction, and be of no less utility.     ,     »•,
                                 ■ '.»..* $>d TO J) -?.
   " This, I think, migjit be effected4 in a great de-
gree, were some such me-ffeftf proceeding as the fol-
lowjji^jio be  adopted/* Desire the  leaders of each
party to give you, in writing* an accurate history or
description of Yellow Fever^ mentioning particularly
the peculiar sj'mptoms attending its commencement,
progress and termination, which distinguish Yellow
Fever from any other fever.  These: descriptions  of
Yellow Fever will be a kind of standard for you and
other gentlemen to judge by, of all doubtful cases that
may subsequently occur.  When^ou have obtained
such a history .from each party,  whenever a suspici-l
ous case appears? let a physician of each party visit
the patient, and if they disagree a"s to' the disorder,
let them give you an account of the  symptom's1 at-
tending the case; from whence, by comparing it with
the standard, you may be able to judge whether- it
is Yellow Fever.or not; and whether the sick person
should be removed or not* to the Marine Hospital. 

   In the execution of this plan, it is probable that a
   good deal of reasoning may, be offered by the parties,
   in support of their respective opinions; but as alhrea-
   soning'on the subject,  that is not  founded o.n clear,
   indisputable facts, tends rat Her to.  con-found and pb-
   scure,  than to elucidate the subject, it will deserve
   no further attention than politeness dictates.  Hip-
   pocrates, who wrote above two thousand years  ago,
   was so sensible of the insufficiency  of speculative opi-
   nions, that  he declared, * no benefit is to be derived
   in medicine, from mere reasoning, but-'from such as
   is demonstrated  by experience  to be true'; for un-
   founded assertions,  however strongly urged, vvith a
   profusion of words, are fallacious, and-lead to error.'

     " Lest these reflections should appear illiberal, it
,   becomes necessary to unfold, in some measure, the
   weakness of the  profession.   It is to be regretted,'
   but it is nevertheless true, that  an unhappy fatality
   has generally attended the science of medicine, which
   incited its professors, even the most learned of them,.
   to dispute warmly  about matters, which  an unlet-
   tered man, of common sense, would think could be
   determined by plain experiments.   For instance, it
   is reasonable to think, that  were the same medicine
   to be given in similar  cases-, it would uniformly pro-
   duce similar effects, and  impress every person  with
   the same idea of its good or bad qualities; and that
   to ascertain its merits or demerits,  nothing need be
   done but to give it a fair and accurate trial.   Yet the
   utility of the bark, mercury and antimony, all excel-
   lent medicines, was contested many years, in  the
   most enlightened  parts of Europe. ' So true is the
   observation of Galen, *  that erroneous opinions, when
   they prepossess the minds  of men, not only  ren-
   der them deaf but blind, so that they cannot see what
   appears plain to other people.'  And a little further
   he adds, ' physicians seldom agree  on  medical sub-
   jects';  they not only dificr, but  maintain the most 
84
Contradictory opinions.'   The late learned and cele*
brated Doctor Huxham observes, * that from the days
Of Galen, and indeed long before, vain hypothesis,
the love of novelty, the fashion and faction of physic,
too often led its professors devious, and attached them
to error; and it is too well known,  the same misfor-
tunes still attend us.'   It may with truth be added,
that while physicians pursued a vain, delusive theory
in treating the  Small-pox, they rendered that de-
structive disease still more fatal.  When they conde-
scended to observe and follow nature, they then, and
not till then, began to be of service to  mankind in
that distemper.

  " This little sketch of medical history, by shewing
what lengths physicians have gone in support of a
favorite theory,  and the ill consequences resulting
from such a procedure, will render men of sense cau-
tious of adopting the opinion of any physician on a
controverted point.   It  likewise strengthens  what
has been said above, that the only sure way to arrive
at truth in the present case, is by adhering closely to
an  accurate enquiry into facts, till a sufficient collec-
tion of them shall be obtained, to enable a man of
common education and understanding, to form a just
opinion on the subject.

   " To shew how cautious we ought to h§in sending
sick persons to the Marine Hospital, I shall make a
few observations, which  evince that the utmost cir-
cumspection should be used on those occasions. The
many instances of the amazing influence of the mind
on the body, which  are  recorded  by  historians as
well as physicians, prove that the passions and affec-.
lions of the mind, are among the most powerful  and
active instruments that can be employed for the de-
struction or preservation of the body.    Sudden  joy,
grief and fright, have occasioned immediate death.
The fire of ambition, confidence, faith and hope have 
S3
raised  many persons from  dangerous disease*  to
health  and strength.  On the  other hand, anxiety^
despair, and fear, not only make men more suscepti-
ble of contagion, but have brought on infirmities of
the worst kind; and have even  rendered  diseases
mortal; where no danger was  otherwise to  be ap-
prehended.  Thus, many people, who were  long
impressed with a belief that  they would die with the
small-pox, have sunk under the disorder before any
symptom of its virulence appeared.

  "The consideration of the very pernicious in flue nee
of the mind, on people in  general, in a place where
contagion  really does or is supposed to  exist, and the
frequent unfounded reports  of yellow fever  that are
spread in this city, excite a wish that some steps were
taken to prevent our citizens from crediting any ac-
count  of cases of yellow fever, except such as may be
published by the Board of Health.

   "  Let me now ask, whether it is not  reasonable to
think,  if a  person should be attacked with a common
fever,  and should apprehend  it to be  yellow fever,
that such an idea would  endanger his recovery, and
much more so, if his physician should adopt the same
injurious opinion ?  Still" more dangerous would ssch
an idea be likely to prove, were persons in a com
l.non fyer, but "in that unhappy state of mind, to be
sent from their friends and family to the marine hos-
pital, under a positive declaration that-  they had yel-
low  fever.   The safety of the cjty is certainly not to
be risked for the sake of any  individual: but per-
haps it would not bo improper, nor paying too great
a tribute to humanity, if a suspicious case should not
be precipitately sent to the  hospital, nor until a phy-
sician of each party had examined the patient,, and
accurately reported his ease to the Board of Health.
This city and the neighbouring country, have for  a
lung period of time, been annually visited, at this 
86
 season, with bilious fever, a disease which is neither
 dangerous, nor difficult  of cure; unless the case has
 been neglected  or  injudiciously treated.  Yet this
 fever, though distinct from yellow fever,  sometimes
 assumes appearances which  might' induce ari  incau-
 tious observer to pronounce it yellow  fever.   And
 that such mistakes have been committed, I conclude,
 not only from the cases  which  I have seen, but from
 this remarkable circumstance,  that in the reports  of
 deaths and new cases, published by authority during
 the yellow fever of 1803, there is not a single instance
 of a  person's being taken ill or having died of bili-
 ous fever.   This omission is  very extraordinary, and
 can only be accounted for on the  principle that bili-
 ous fever, in all cases of it, at the time, was mistaken
 for yellow fever.

   " Notwithstanding the partiality of medical men to
 their own opinions'and theories,  it is to be hoped
 that the gentlemen of the profession in this city, will
 become impressed vvith  the  importance of rescuing
 our country from the dread  and ravages  of Yellow
 Fever.  On this, consideration, they will undoubt-
 edly lay aside all prejudices, and  cordially unite in
 investigating the nature  of the disease, and in endea-
 vourin-g to discover a method of rendering  it less dan-
 gerous and destructive.   Nor should they despair of
 effecting those desirable ends.   The Small-pWc, for
 a great length of time, was  as fatal to mankind, as
 Yellow Fever is at present.   Science at length found
out a way to  overcome  its  virulence, and  it is no
 longer the dread and scourge of nations.   And why
may we not indulge the pleasing  thought, that sci-
ence may be equally successful in  subduing the Yel-
low Fever ; and that our American physicians may
have  the honour  of accomplishing the great work?
Their liberal and spirited exertions in so laudable an
attempt, would, in any event, insure them the grati-
tude of their fellow citizens: and should they succeed, 
»7
they will do  honour to their profession and thern^
selves, enjoy  the satisfaction of impartingmealth and.
happiness to their country, and be ever ranked among
the benefactors of maakind."
               i
   In order, that I might exhibit, at one view, the
opinions of different physicians respecting the ori-
gin and existence of malignant fever in the ciity, I
haye deviated considerably from chronological  or-
der.  I now  return to the proceedings of the board,
towards the end of July.

   On the 29fh of that month, the following report
was published :—

               710 THE PUBLIC.       :  awl';j

   Inconsequence of alarming reports of malignant
cases of fever  having  occurred in this city, the
Board of Health think  it  proper to state, that  an
unusual degree of health at present prevails, and
that no case of malignant fever,  so far as they know,
now exists in  New-York.   A  few cases- of  unfa>
vorable appearance were observed a few days agd';
but the sick were removed to the marine  hospital,
and every precaution was taken to gUard against
any farther evil.  The constant vigilance exercised
at the  quarantine establishment,  the  incessant at-
tention to the removal of nuisances in  the city and
the present favorable  state of the wearher,' all en*
courage a reasonable hope, that the season will|>as5
away, without any malignant epidemic. The Board
pledge themselves to tkeir fellozv-citizens to give ear-
ly dnd unreserved notice of danger,  if any should
occur.  By the unanimous  order of the .'board of
health.
             D£ WITT CLINTON; President.
James  Hardie, Sec'ry.         •■;   r *•- ,;   <
  Office of the Board of Health, \
   New-York, July 27th, 1805." > 
88<
  On the 29th of July, in consequence, not only of
private letters, but of the affidavits of different mas-
ters of vessels, that a pestilential disease prevailed
at Providence, in  Rhode-Island, his Honour the
Mavor, in pursuance of the advice of the Board of
HValthdssued a proclamation,directing "that all ves-
sels which might arrive at thisport from Providence,
should be subject to quarantine of course, and that
no person should be permitted to enter the city and
county of Newr-York, who had been within the said
town of Providence, within fourteen days, next pre-
ceding his or her arrival,  in the said city and county
of New-York."

   On the same day (29th July) the following pro-
clamation was, likewise, published.

              PROCLAMATION
  %Y THE B©ARD OF HEALTH OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.

   " Whereas, from a proclamation  of the Board of
Health of the city of Philadelphia, dated the 23th of
this month, it appears, that Ludovvick Brode, mate,
and William  Cross,  seaman, of the brig Ann-Jane,
had made their escape from the Lazaretto  of the said
city, and  that it was supposed, that one of them in-
tended to proceed to the city of New-York.  In .or-
der, therefore, to enforce as far as practicable, on the
part of this board, the health laws of Pennsylvania*
as well as to deter infected persons from coming into
this place, an additional reward of fifty dollars is here-
by offered, for the apprehension of either of the said
persons, within the bounds of the city and county
of New-York
     In behalf and by order of the Beard of Health„
             DE WITT CLINTON, President.
   James Hardie, Sec'ry." 
89
   On the £th of August, the following report was
 published.

   "Since the  last address of this board,  a case of
 Malignant Fever  has occurred at No.  127 Water-
 street,  and a Mr. James Dougherty, who was the
 subject, was removed to the Marine Hospital, on the
 30th ul£. and died on the evening of that day.

   ce It is scarcely necessary to mention,  that all pro-
 per precautionary measures were immediately adopt-
 ed by the Board of Health, who can confidently as-
 sure  their fellow citizens, that no case of Malignant
 Fever exists in the city, and that there is nothing, in
 the state of the public health, that ought to create
 apprehension or alarm.
            By order of the Board of Health,
             DE WITT CLINTON, President.
   James Hardie, Sec'ry.
  Office of the Board of Health, \
   5th August, 1*05."       >

   On the 18th of August, the Mayor of this city hav-
 ing received information from the Mayor and Board
 of Health of New-Haven, that that city was restored
 to its usual health, issued a proclamation revoking
 the one of the 26th of July, and authorizing the re-
 newal of the customary intercourse between that city
 and ours.

  On the 29th of August, the following  report was
published by the board.  ;>.

  " The Board of Health are happy to congratulate
their fellow citizens on the present favourable state
of the health of the city.                    *i

  " The drought, which has hitherto been so  long
and sever* is, at length, mitigated by temperate
                        M 
90
showers.  A succession of rainy weather may reason-
ably be expected.  The consequent change from an
extreme dry, to a humid atmosphere, may prove very
unfavourable, unless every mean be used to ventilate
and purify cellars in the lower parts of the city.   The
board, therefore, recommend the utmost attention to
this important subject, and confidently hope, that a
vigorous perseverance, for a few weeks longer, in the
precautionary measures hitherto pursued, will, under
the smiles of Providence, avert every cause of danger.
                By order of the Board,
            DE WITT CLINTON, President.
  James Hardie, Sec'ry."

  The following is a copy of the next report which
was issued by the board,  viz. on the 6th of Septem-
ber,  by which it will appear, that the pleasing pros-
pect  which  had been  entertained on the  30th of
August, were far from being realized.

              " Office of the Board of Health,
                           September 5,  1805.
  " Since the last report of the board, nothing ha*
occurred with respect to the health of the city, to jus-
tify alarm, until within three days; during which pe-
riod, the board have been assiduously employed, not
only in executing the precautionary powers deposited
in their hands, but in obtaining as accurate an account
as possible, of the true state of the general health.

  " In the conflict of opinion, it is extremely difficult
to arrive at the truth, but the board submit the fol-
lowing as the result of their enquiries.  Ten cases of
Malignant Fever have occurred since Monday last;
five cases of a doubtful nature, some of which have
been  removed into the country or Marine Hospital,
and four deaths. 
91
  " Popular rumour has  vastly exaggerated the
number of cases, whereby undue alarm has been ex-
cited.   The board are extremely anxious to impress
on their fellow-citizens,  the impropriety of giving
credit to unauthenticated reports, as they may rest
assured,  that  as long as the present unfavourable
state of the public health continues, a candid, undis-
guised account of the real situation of the city  shall
be regularly published.

  " Considerable anxiety has prevailed  respecting
the power of  the board, to remove\ persons sick of
Malignant Fever.   This power, which has been le-
gally invested in the board,  and which has, for a long
time,  been exercised by fhe Commissioners of the
Health-Office has, in every instance, been used with
the utmost delicacy and discretion. Of those patients
who were citizens, it has been left  entirely at  their
option, to provide retreats.   Others, who have  been
removed to the Marine Hospital, were mostly stran-
gers, friendless and without families,  and have  been
provided with every comfort and convenience. Should
the fever continue to prevail, Bellevue Hospital will
be opened.  The buildings belonging to this estab-
lishment have been recently repaired, with consider-
able  improvements,  and every  accommodation has
been liberally provided for the sick.

  " The part of the city which, at present, appears
to be  the principal seat of the disease, is Water and
Front-streets, between the Fly-Market and Old-slip.
              By order of the Board of Health,
            DE WITT CLINTON, President.
  James Hardie, Sec'ry."

  On the same day, the City-Inspector's Office was
moved from the Federal-Hall to the Office of the
Board of Health, corner of Chamber-street and Broad-
way,  where that gentleman, except between  nine 
92
and eleven o'clock in the morning, when he went
daily to visit the Hospital at Bellevue, constantly at-
tended, during the whole time of the sickness, from
six o'clock in the morning, until nine at night.  About
this time also, the Banks, the Custom-House,  the
Post-Office,  and the printers t>f the Daily News-pa-
pers in general, moved their respective offices to the
village of Greenwich, to which place also, a number of
our most respectable merchants and others resorted.

   On the 8th of September, the Board of Health re-
solved, that for the accommodation of poor patients,
Bellevue Hospital should be opened.  At the same
time, Doctor Richard L. Walker was appointed a*
visiting physician, at the aforesaid hospital, Dr. Elias
Winfield as the resident physician, and Drs. M'Lean,
Buchannan, Huyler and Kunzie, as physicians to at-
tend the*sick poor in the city.   It was also resolved,
that from henceforth, during  the prevalence  of the
sickness, the board should meet daily.

   On the 1 Oth day of September, the board reported
twenty-nine cases of  Malignant  Fever and  three
deaths.  They, at  the same time, published the fol-
lowing address.

             fC Office of the  Board of Health,
                        September 10th,  1805.
   " The Board of Health being extremely anxious
to be informed of the  precise state of the prevalent
disease, they  therefore request  physicians  to  be
prompt and accurate in making the returns required
by law.  The power  of removal,  which has been
vested in them, will only be exercised in cases of
transient persons, abandoned and without the means
of support.   The disease being unquestionably pre-
valent, those measures which the public safety might
have imperiously commanded, at its commencement, 
93
 are now in some measure unnecessary, from the con-
 viction, that the exercise of them in the unhealthy
 parts of the city, will be of little or no use.

   " The Common Council have, at their last meet-
 ing, entrusted, during the recess, the superintendence
 of the Fire and Watch Departments to this board.
 It is scarcely necessary to mention,  that the city is,
 at this period, greatly exposed to danger, which might
 be prevented or obviated by  a faithful and vigilant
 performance of the duties  of the firemen and watch-
 men.  The board have no reason to doubt  the zeal
 and fidelity of their fellow-citizens attached to these
 departments.  On the contrary they are persuaded,
 that their attention to their duties will be proportion-
 ed to the emergencies, which demand a faithful exe-
 cution of them.   The  citizens, who remove, are re-
 quested to send their fire-buckets to the  City-Hall
 or Bridewell, for which the corporation^ will be re-
 sponsible.   The captains of the watch will make im-
 mediate reports of all delinquent?, and the board will
 not  forget,  at a suitable time, those men,  who dis-
 tinguish themselves, by their meritorious exertions.
 The Board call upon all the officers of the city to ex-
 ert themselves upon this occasion*,  and they earn-
 estly recommend to their fellow-citizens, in general,
to lay aside any differences or animosities, at this sea-
 son of common calamity, and to unite with them  in
 endeavouring to alleviate the evils, with which we
 are visited.
       By order of the Board of Health,
              DE WITT CLINTON,  President,
              JOHN PINTARD, City-Inspector."
  * It is a circumstance, which certainly reflects the highest honour, not
©nly upon the Board of Health, the Police Justices, and the officers em-
ployed in different departments Under the Corporation, but also upon
the citizens at large, that, although the lower part of the city was, in a
great measure, evacuated, no robbery, burglary, or fire, worthy of no-
tice, occurred during this season of calamity. 
94
  On the 12th September the Board  published the
following addre.:s :       ,

  " The Board cf Health have made a considerable
augmentation of the watch in the exposed parts of
the city, and will not fail to make further arrange-
ments from time to time as the public exigencies may
require.

  " They have also given special directions  for the
preservation of the city against fire. They, therefore,
trust, that their fellow-citizens will feel perfectly sa-
tisfied, that every  possible  precaution has been a-
dopted for the public security.  The  great amount
of property  at present in the village  of Greenwich
stored in wooden buildings  is exposed to considera-
ble hazari from fire.

  " The fire wardens of the eighth ward are especial-
ly enjoined to use every precautionary measure, with
the utmost promptitude and vigilance  and report to
this board.

  " Physicians have been engaged to  attend the in-
digent sick.
              DE WITT CLINTON, President.
  James Hardie, Secretary."

  On the same  day directions were  given to Mr.
Brown, chief engineer of the fire department to pro-
vide an extra fire engine for the security  of persons
and property in  the village of Greenwich, and  the
order "./as executed with a promptitude highly cre-
ditable  to that gentleman.   A fire  company was
also immediately organized to take charge of it.

   On the I3ih of September, directions were given
to the Secretary  to endeavour to persuade as many
persons as possible, who lived  in the infected part of 
95
the city to move to the country ; and on the 1.4th the
following address was published by the Board :

  " The Board have formed a decided opinion,  that
the principal seat of the prevailing disease is that part
of the city included  between  Burling-slip and Old-
slip as far west as Pearl-street. Almost all the cases
of disease, which have  occurred,  can be  distinctly
traced to a communication with that part of the city.
It is matter of extreme regret, that the repeated ad-
monitions of the board,  to  remove from  this quarter
have been disregarded  by a number of individuals,
who have remained the self-devoted victim* of dis-
ease and death.  They conceive it their duty again
to enjoin it upon their fellow-citizens, who have con-
tinued there, to remove immediately.   To obviate
every plea of necessity,  and to discharge the duties
they owe to humanity, the board have erected build-
ings for the reception and accommodation of the in-
digent, at Bellevue gate, where they will be supplied
with provisions by the  Commissioners of the Aims-
House.  Such as are able  to remove without assist-
ance, are enjoined to go into the country, and not
into the healthy parts of the  city.  The board will.
consider it their duty to interpose and prevent such
removals, which have excited the apprehension  of a
number of worthy citizens, who regard their health,as
thereby exposed to imminent danger.* Persons have
been engaged in these practices, who ought to know
better,  and who,  unless their conduct be changed,
will become the objects of severe reprehension and
public indignation.   All persons who do not comply
forthwith, with this advice of the board, to remove
from the  above described  part of the  city, which is

  * This alludes to two gentlemen who reside in healthy parts of the
city, each of whom had taken a sick person into his house, from places
deemed infected.  One of these died ; but it i» a fact, that no individual
in either family sickened in consequence thereof. All  the neighbours,
likewise, continued to enjoy good health. 
9o
deemed the principal seat of the disease, and which
does not contain more than 33 acres, will be consi-
dered guilty of a wanton exposure of their lives, and
will justify the board in resorting to compulsory mea-
sures.
             By order of the  Board of Health,
            DE WITT CLINTON, President.
  James Hardie, Sec'ry."

  At the same time directions were again given t«
the Secretary, to attempt to persuade as many peo-
ple as he possibly could, to  remove from the infected
part of the city to retreats of their own choice, if they
were in sufficient  circumstances to  maintain them-
selves; if not, to advise them  to remove to the new
buildings at Bellevue gate.  In consequence of which,
the householders residing  in  the parts alluded  to,
were generally waited upon, and by far the  greater
number left the city.   About this time, likewise, se-
veral  cases of the disease made their appearance in
Rider-street and Eden's-alley.  The buildings there
are small, and much crowded; the street narrow and
confined; and the  greater  part of the people poor,
and far from being  cleanly in their mode of living;
besides, it  was recollected, that in the year 1798, out
of upwards of thirty families, who then dwelt there,
no one escaped sickness, and that only two families
were exempt from death.   It therefore  became pe-
culiarly desirable,  that as  many of them as possible
should be  induced to move; and in the space of a
day or two, almost the whole of the inhabitants were
lodged at Bellevue gate, and such were the accom-
modations and treatment which they received, that
many of those, who were with difficulty persuaded to
go thither, have afterwards returned their most grate-
ful acknowledgments.  The number provided for at
this asylum, amounted to one hundred and fifty men,
women and children; of whom, about thirty men
were employed in working on the middle road lead- 
97
    ing through the property belonging to the corpora-
    tion, whose wages tended to lessen the expence in-
    curred  for the maintenance of their families.  The
    good order and regularity observed amongst these
    people, was extremely gratifying to all who visited
    them.  None seemed discontented, but, on the other
    hand, they were friendly to each other, and seemed
    perfectly  happy.  This was, no doubt, in a great
    measure,  owing to the superintendant, Mr. Richard
    Nixon, whose prudent and conciliatory manners, had
    the most happy effect in keeping up that harmony,
s   which was so eminently conspicuous.

      But whilst I record with pleasure the utilityWthe
    establishment  at Bellevue gate, it would be highly
    improper  to omit to mention the philanthropy of a
    private individual,  whose example, it is devoutly to
    be wished, may, at future periods of pestilential dis-
    ease,  if  such should  unfortunately  happen, be
    followed by other wealthy landlords of this city.  The
    gentleman to whom I allude, is Mr. Patrick M'Koy,
    a native of Ireland,  who resides in Augustus-street,
    in which he has a number of houses.   Several cases
    of the disease had occurred in that street, and some
    deaths.   Mr. M'Koy  deemed it advisable to move
    with his family to a house, which he had lately built,
    at the intersection of the Bowery and Bellevue roads;
    but his  humanity would not permit him to overlook
    the perilous situation of his poor tenants.   He, with
    the greatest possible dispatch, had buildings erected
   for their accommodation near to his own house, to
    which there removed upwards of one hundred  per-
   sons,  men, women and children.  I have,- with  the
   most heart felt satisfaction, visited  these  people, a-
   mongst whom was observed the same good order and
   decorum to exist, as  amongst those at the Bellevue-
   gate.  By the humanity  of the Corporation in the
   first of these instances, and of Mr. M'Koy in the
   second, there can be no doubt, that  many  of those
                          N 
98
people are now in good health, who would otherwise
have been numbered amongst the dead.

  I now proceed to the further transactions of  the
Board of Health.  From the  middle of September
till the 1st of October, nothing very remarkable oc-
curred before that body,  except  their  unremitting
care to relieve the exigencies of the .poor, to mitigate
the sorrows of the sick and afflicted, and to  provide
for the general safety of the public.  It, likewise, re-
quired much attention and was fraught  with consi-
derable expences to supply suitable nurses for  the
sick poor.  The  care of this department was, in a
.great measure, invested in an officer of  the Board,
whose duty it was, not only to procure nurses, but,
from day to day, to  visit the families in which th*f
were, to examine into their conduct,  and in case of
improper behaviour on their part, to remove them and
substitute others.   He was, likewise,  from time to
time, furnished with  small sums of money for the oc-
casional relief of such families.

,  About  this  time,  false   reports   Lad  been.
6pread  abroad  in   the country, announcing  the
breaking up of several warehouses, &c.  in the city.
To obviate unnecessary  alarm on  this  subject,  the
following address was published,  on the 1st of Oct.
" Unfounded reports having been propagated tend-
ing to alarm the apprehensions of our absent fellow-
citizens, that several ware-houses and dwelling-houses
have been broken open, the Board consider it proper
to declare, that no  such occurrence, to their know-
ledge, has.happened.  On the  contrary,  the vigi-
lance of the watchmen, through  every  part of the
city,  especially in the lower  parts is such that no
attempt of the kind  can be made without immediate
detection.  Our fellow-citizens may, therefore,  rest
perfectly satisfied,  that as far as depends on  this
board and the departments under them, the safety
and the tranquillity  of the city will be secure." 
99
   On the 11th of October, although the  number  of
deaths had considerably diminished,  vet the b^ai'd
thought  it proper " to advise those  of their fellow-
citizens, who had removed into the country against
returning,  especially to the'lower part of the city,
until notice be given that they may do the same with
safety."  It was also recommended to cause all houses
and apartments that have been shut up for some time
past to be well aired" before they are re-inhabited.

   On Friday  25th of October,   12 o'clock,  the
following address was agreed  to.   "  The Board
of  Health have  the  satisfaction  to announce  to
their fellow-citizens, that, in their  opinion, every
reasonable cause  of clanger from malignant fever has
ceased, and that thev  may return to their respective
homes with every probability of perfect safety.  The
Board recommend, however, that precautionary mea-
'sures be taken to'ventilate their dwellings.
            DE WITT CLINTON, President.
   James Hardie, Sec'ry."

   Upon the publication of the above address, those
of our fellow-citizens, who had upon the approach of
the disease, fled with precipitation, were no less pre-
cipitate in their return  to their respective habitations,
so that, in those parts  of the city, where even at the
middle of the day, there was scarcely any thing to be
observed but a dead silence, within a few days there-
after, the hammer of the mechanic was again heard,
and all that life,activity and bustle, which is common
in large and commercial cities was again renewed. 
CHAPTER II.
  OF THE RISE, PROGRESS,  AND DECLINE OF THE LATI
                     EPIDEMIC.

  THE origin, rise, progress and decline of the dis-
ease has, already been pretty fully recited in the pre-
ceding chapter, it being deemed more agreeably to
order, that the narrative of the steps taken by the
board of Health to prevent the introduction of malig-
nant fever should be continued, so as to include the
measures, which they adopted to mitigate its  fury.
Upon mentioning the first cases, which occurred, it,
likewise, became necessary to communicate the opin-
ions of various respectable physicians, concerning the
origin and nature of the disease.  Any thing further
necessary to be said upon that subject may be found
in the following farewell address of the Board :

 OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH.

                       November 13, 1805.

             TO  THE PUBLIC.

  On the termination of their duties of the late ca-
lamitous season, the Board of Health consider it no
more than a becoming mark of respect to  their fel-
low-citizens,  to lay before them such facts as may
illustrate the  extenfof the distress that has so re-
cently interested the sensibility, and affected, in a
greater or  less  degree, the interests of  all descrip-
tions of the community.

  It is a subject of deep regret, that a collision of
opinion exists,  not only  with respect to the origin,
but also in  relation to the nature of the malignant
disease commonly denominated the  yellow fever.... 
                      101

While, on the one hand, it  is contended'that it is
imported from abroad, and that it is propagated by
contagion, it is on the other hand asserted with equal
earnestness, that it originates at home,  or is gene-
rated on board of vessels, which arrive amongst us,
and  that  it is entirely non-contagious.   These dis-
cordant opinions, maintained by medical gentlemen
of the first respectability and eminence,  and which
enter deeply into the passions as well as the interests
of the community,  must necessarily have an inau-
spicious  influence upon most of the leading mea-
sures, either of  the prevention or remedy, adopted
by the guardians of the public health.

  The partizans of the opposite theories, animated
by the heat of debate, and impelled by their differ-
ent views of the  public good, will naturally approve
or censure the measures proposed to avert or alle-
viate this overwhelming calamity, in proportion as
they corroborate or militate against their favourite
opinions.   Although a  man possessed of correct
views, will proceed in the direct path of duty with-
out being  deterred by  censure;  still it cannot be
controverted, that the support and approbation of
an intelligent public must  animate and encourage
his exertions.  It is not to be denied, that with the
most upright intentions, and with the most firm de-
termination, to  maintain an impartial official posi-
tion in the conflict arising from tjhese theories,  yet
that our conduct may sometimes, insensibly and un-
intentionally, notwithstanding  our utmost circun>
spection, deviate from the strict line of impartiality.
That the inconveniences  here stated have  in some
measure been felt and observed, is highly probable.
But we are happy to note that we have received  a
candid and honourable support from our fellow citi-
zehsSn general,  and composed as the  Board is of
persons holding  different tenets, yet that our pro-
ceedings have been governed by a spirit of harmony
rarely manifested in public bodies. 
102
.-  The importance  of exploring every  source  of
correct information,  and the  expediency-of dispas-
sionate and ample deliberation, before an  official de-
claration of the prevalence of  malignant fever, must
be obvious to all.  The universal alarm excited  by
the existence of this disease,the serious injury to the
commercial and agricultural interests of the commu-
nity, and the extreme inconvenience to our fellow
citizens in particular,  render it necessary that the
evil should absolutely prevail  before it is acknow-
ledged.   On the other hand, it  is due to  the health
as well-as the security of the lives of our citizens, to
apprise them seasonably of the calamity, which men-
aces them.  ■ Circumstanced as the Board were at th.e t
commencement  of the late malignant disease, well
aware ,that  many of their fellow citizens regarded
the few cases,  which, at that period, had occurred,
merely as the common bilious fever of thecountry; sen-
sible of the calamitous consequences, which in either
case,  would result, of announcing the prevalence of
the fever, if it really did not exist; or of not avowing
it, if it did ; anxious to  unite public opinion on a
question so deeply interesting, and with the greatest
deference and respect to the opinion of the medical
crentlemen their  associates, who early, uniformly and
decidedly declared the evidence of malignantfeverand
the probability  and danger of an impending pesti-
lential epidemic, the Board considered it their duty
to avail themselves of the observations and intelli-
gence of professional gentlemen of  different senti-
ments.   Measures  were accordingly adopted to
obtain their information and the result was an ad-
mission on all sides  of the  existence of  malignant
fever.

   Although our health laws, in enforcing internal
cleanliness, and  in subjecting vessels entering our
ports to examination, proceed upon the ground that
the  disease maybe either of foreign  or domestic
origin, yet  it is evident they recognize, in commt>» 
103
with the health laws of other countries, the doctrine
of contagion.  Under this impression the Commis-
sioners of the Health-Office have been authorised,
almost since  their first establishment,  to  send all
persons and things infected by, or tainted vvith pes-
tilential matter,  to the Marine Hospital at Staten-
Island.   By an act of last session,  this Board was
created, and the Legislature, sensible that the exer-
cise of the power of removal, in this restricted form
would be in  some cases, extremely inconvenient,
and in others highly pernicious, invested the Borrd
with authority to remove either to the Marine Hos*
pital or elsewhere.  The Board and the Commissi-
oners of the  Health-Office have, consequently, a
concurrent right to send infected persons and things
to the Marine Hospital, and the Board, moreover,
have an exclusive authority to remove them to other
places.   When  some solitary cases  occurred,  the
Board, with a view to arrest the progress of the dis-
ease, exercised  this discretionary power,  but only
vvith the consent of the  parties concerned.  After-
wards,  however,  when  it was ascertained that the
disease was  too  firmly rooted, to be eradicated by
the removal  of the sick,  the Board considered it to
be their duty to discontinue the application of a re-
medy, at ail times extremely irksome and afHicting,
and  which perhaps ought only to  be resorted to
in extreme cases.  To the voluntary removal of the
healthy from the infected parts of the city, the Board
in a  great degree, ascribed the comparative fewness
of death?, which have occurred.  In the expediency
of this step all parties concurred.  Whether the dis-
ease was communicated by the principle of contagi-
on, or by the influence of an impure atmosphere, the
danger was equally alarming, and it was equally ex-
pedient to withdraw from it.

   From the  commencement to the final extinction
of the late prevailing disease, six hundred Cases.-of 
104
 Malignant Fever  have been reported to the Board.
 Two hundred and sixty two Deaths, as published in
 the daily  Bulletins, including those  that  happened
 since  their discontinuance  nave occurred.   Sixty
four patients, moreover, were sent to  the Marine
 Hospital, tzventy  eight of whom died of malignant
 fever.   The total number of patients  admitted into
 Bellevue Hospital  was one hundred and seventy-five,
 one hundred and forty-nine of'which  were cases of
 malignant fever, and  twenty-six of other diseases.
 The total number of deaths at the Hospital which
 were  included in  the bulletins,  was sixty-nine,
ffty-tzvo of which were by malignant fever,  and
 the remaining seventeen by other maladies.  The ratio
 of recoveries from malignant fever is very nearly two
 third*, which considering that a very large propor-
 tion of the  patients wrere received in the last stages
 of disease, and many of them in the very article of
 death, reflects the highest credit on the practice of
 the visiting and resident physicians of that establish-
 ment.

   To  alleviate as far as possible the miseries of the
 indigent, deprived of all resource for their daily sup-
 port by the general abandonment of the  city, the
 doors  of the alms  house were opened and rations
 issued to  sixteen  hundred and forty families.   An
 asylum was erected on the public grounds adjoining
 Bellevue gate, for the reception of such poor families
 as the Board judged it expedient to  remove  from
 the seat of disease.   Every  accommodation   was
 afforded to one hundred and fifty persons, men, wo-
 men and children, who were maintained by the pub-
 lic  bounty.  Of this number thirty men were  daily
 employed  in  improving the middle road, leading
 through the property belonging to the corporation,
 whose wages tended to lessen the expence incurred
 by the support of their families.  To improve the
 minds of  the children  in the asylum, as well  as» t« 
105
preserve order and prevent them from becoming
obnoxious to  the neighbourhood, a  school  was*
opened, which afforded instruction, for the-space  of
six weeks, to forty. On the propriety and good con-
duct or* this part of the establishment, the Board will
long reflect with grateful complacency.

  These various objects,combined with the augmen-
tation of  the city watch,  necessarily involved the
Board  in  an expenditure of nearly twenty flve thou-
sand dollars, to which it is confidently trusted their
fellow  citizens will submit with that magnanimity,
which has so peculiarly characterized them, on all si-
milar occasions. Excepting the solitary contributions
from Boston, and Richmond, in  Virginia, already
acknowledged, amounting to two  hundred  andfifty
dollars,* the Board have received no eleemosynary aid
towards the public exigences.  Voluntary assistance
not being proferred, they did not  conceive it just to
call on  their fellow citizens individually—most  of
whom had to struggle with all the  inconveniences
and  losses attending removal and the consequent
derangement of the regular course of business.

  The meetings of the  common council being only
weekly, the peculiar situation of the city, from its ex-
posure to fire and robbery, in consequence of the eva-
cuation by its  inhabitants,  rendered it expedient to
invest the Board of Health,whose meetingswere daily
with asuperintending and controuling powerover the
watchmen and firemen.  The board of course  paid
the utmost attention to these departments, and it is
a circumstance of peculiar felicitation, a fact highly
honourable to the character of our city, that not a

  * Of the sum here alluded to, two hundred dollars were transmitted
from Messieurs James and J, H. Perkins, of  Boston, by the hands of
Messieurs Grant Forbes and Co. of this city ; the other fifty dollars were
received from a gentleman in Richmond, Virginia, by the hands of
Messieurs Bailey and Bogert. 
106
single fire,  burglary or robbery of any consequence
has happened.

  To the fidelity and good conduct of the officers of
the watch and watchmen ; to the care and precaution
of the chief engineer, and the indefatigable vigilance
and attention of the special justices of Police, the
Board  deem  it their duty to make the most  ample
acknowledgments.  Nor can they omit to mention,
in terms of the highest approbation, the unremitted
attention of the City inspector in arranging the busi-
ness and executing the orders of the Board, in all its
multifarious details—of the superintendent and com-
missioners of the Aims-House, in alleviating the dis-
tress, and administering to the wantsof the poorand
afflicted—of the medical gentlemen attached to and
employed by the Board, who spared  no exertions,
and who shrunk from no danger in the discharge of
their hazardous duties—and generally of the officers
of the city and  persons in public employment, v* ith
whom  the  Board  had official connection,   with
scarcely a single exception.

  The Board will on a future occasion, submit to the
proper authority, such measures, as, in their opinion,
may appear necessary to be adopted, in order to pre-
vent as far as human means extend, a recurrence of
the calamity  recently experienced.  In the mean
time they earnestly solicit a free communication of
the sentiments of  their fellow citizens on this inter-
esting subject.

  The Board would do injustice to their feelings, did
they not, on this occasion, recommend in the most
earnest  manner, the destitute widows and orphans
of the deceased, to the special benevolence and pro-
tection of their fellow citizens.  Nor can they omit,
in this public manner, to offer up the incense of grate-
ful heart* to the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, in 
107
whose hands are the issues of life and death, for the
manifestation of his divine mercy  and goodness, in
preserving their health and lives amidst surrounding
scenes of disease and mortality.
    By order, and in behalf of the Board.
                DE WITT CLINTON, Pres.
  JAMES HARDIE, Sec'ry. 
CHAPTER in.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE MARINE AND BELLEVUE HOSPITALS,
  WITH THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS RECEIVED, AND DEATHS
  WHICH HAVE OCCURRED, AT EACH OF THESE ESTABLISH-
  MENTS, DURING THE SICKLY SEASON.

  THE first of these establishments,  the  Marine
Flospital,  is  founded on the eastern part of Staten-
Island, on the banks of the river Hudson, in a situa-
tion as airy  and salubrious as any that can well be
conceived, and having a charming view, not only of
the city of New-York and the Narrows, but also of
a large extent of the Long-Island shore.  Upon the
Hospital being opened here  in the year 1799,  as
might reasonably be expected, at the commencement
of so important an institution, much remained to be
done for the comfort and convenience of those for
whose benefit it was intended. Since that year, how-
ever,  the Commissioners of the  Health-Office have
been annually adding  greatly to its improvements,
though more has been done, in this respect, during
the last two  years, than in any former  period of the
same length. The number of apartments, which were
at first, very limited, is now such, as to render it al-
most certain, that they will be found amply sufficient
for the  accommodation of any  number of patients
which may offer, even in the worst of seasons;  and
these  are  so arranged, as not only to  keep the dif-
ferent  sexes separate,  but also persons of different
colour and stations of life; to which, it may be  add-
ed, that a particular building is appropriated for the
convalescents, and there is also a separate room, to
vvhich the dying are removed, so that those who are
sick, may not be alarmed by their groans and shrieks.
The neatness and cleanliness observed in this estab-
lishment, is so well known, as to require no eulogium. 
109
  On the 17th of June, the Marine Hospital was vi-
sited by  the Board of Health, at the request of tha
Health-Officer, when the following testimony of ap-
probation was, by that body, entered upon th°ir mi-
nutes.   " Upon examining the Hospital very parti-
cularly,  the board are  unanimously  of opinion, that
the Ileal rh-Officcr is entitled to the highest degree
of credit, for the humane and truly excellent arrange-
ment which he has made, with, respect to that insti-
tution/'

   The following extract of a letter  from Mrs. Stay-
ley, the widow, and Mr. Herbert, the father-in-law,
of the  deceased Andrew Stayley, which was publish-
ed- in several of our daily papers, will shew the opi-
nion which they entertained of the treatment of the
patients  at this Hospital.

 TO DR. JOHN R. B. RODGERS, AND DR. JOSEPH BAYLEY,
     AT  THE MARINE HOSPITAL, STATEN-ISLAND.

 " Gentlemen,,
   " In the case of Mr. Andrew Stayley,  who was
 sent down from  No. 9~2 Maiden-lane, to the Marine
 Hospital, on the 23d ult. we, the widow and father-in-
 law of the said  Mr. Stayley, have every reason, not
 only, to be satisfied with your conduct, but think it our
 duty,  in this public manner, to return you our most
 sincere acknowledgments.

    «. Upon the arrival  of the deceased at the hospital,
 you sent him to a large, airy, and commodious apart-
 ment, as well calculated as any that could have been
 devised, for the  accommodation of himself and family,
 and  you, in every instance, even anticipated his
 wants.   Your siudy was to make him and those con-
 nected  with him, comfortable and happy; and such,
 in our opinion,  was your skill  and unceasing exer-
 tions  as medical sent'lemen,  that if- a cure had been 
110
practicable,  we are persuaded it would have bee*
effected.

   " Gentlemen, your politeness, your humanity and
attention, not only to us, but to every sick person
committed to your care, demands, and will always re-
ceive the thanks of those concerned.  For our parts,
words are wanting to express our gratitude, but you
shall always have our prayers and good wishes, &c.&c.
                    We are, &c.
                  CATHARINE STAYLEY.
                  FELIX HERBERT.
   Nezv-York, September A, 1805."

   The widow of the late  Mr. "William Fraser, like-
wise speaks in terms of the highest respect, of the
treatment received at this Hospital;  and Mr. Eustace
Long and wife, in Rider-street, Wm. Bower and wife,
245 Greenwich-street, together with several others,
who were sent down there sick and recovered, have
repeatedly mentioned to me, that if they should again
be in similar circumstances, instead  of requiring per-
suasion to be  sent to the  Hospital, they would re-
quest it as one of the greatest favours.

   That this Hospital is chiefly designed for sea-faring
people, is obvious, from its name; but the Commis-
sioners of the Health-Office and the Board of Health,
have a concurrent jurisdiction to send thither, all per-
sons and things within the city of New-York, infected
by or tainted  with pestilential matter, which they
may consider as dangerous to the public health; and
the Board of Health have also the further power  to
send persons and things of the above description,  to
such place of safety as they may think proper.  Be-
ing thus vested with this authority,  it has heretofore
been usual,  upon  the first appearance of Malignant
Fever, to cause the removal of the infected to the Ma-
rine Hospital;  but as soon as the  disease becomes 
Ill
prevalent, the  Hospital at Bellevue is opened, and
such citizens infected with pestilence, as cannot other-
wise be provided for,  are sent to the latter of these
establishments, whilst sick seamen of every descrip-
tion are sent down to the former.

   During the present season, viz. between the 18th
of July and 28th of October, sixty-four patients  were
sent from the city to the Marine Hospital, of whom
the following died of Malignant Fever, viz.

July 18. Christopher Hibbron, 02 Maiden-lane, died
       July 22......
     30. James Dougherty, Water-street, July 30.
Aug. 7- Isabella Adams, corner Chamber and Green-
        wich-streets, August 7.
     17. Mrs.  Pfifer,  102 Water-street, Aug. 17.
     23. Mr. Andrew Stayley, 92 Maiden-lane, Au-
         gust 31.
     26. Daniel  Young, Washington  and Duane-
         streets, August 27.
     30. Joshua Haines, snow Mehitable, Aug. 31.
Sept.  1. Alfred Preston, Division-street, Sept. 1.
      2. William Fraser, L. Chapel-street, Sept. 2.
      3. Samuel Woodruff, Moore-street, Sept. 5.
         George Pymer, child, Pine-street, Sept. 7.
      5. Jacob Christopher, brig Columbia, Sept.  11.
       6. Charles Everte, Bear-market, Sept. 11.
        John Crowser, from the Aims-House gate,
          Sept. 10.
        Mathew Burk. Fly-market, Sept. 12.
       7. Richard Thompson, Front-street, Sept.  8.
       8. Charles Diven, Elm-street, Sept. 8.
         Henry Blackham, Peail-street, Sept. 8.
         Mrs.  Beaman, Wall-street, Sept. 9-
         Richard Hollidge.sch. Weymouth, Sept. 18.
     10. Jonathan Campbell, Pine-street, Sept.  13.
     12. John Hardley, ship Flora, Sept. 16.
     16. John Marino, ship Delaware, Sept. 19.
     20. James Develin, Pine and Front, Sept. 24. 
112
    24.  Robert Davis, Pine-street, Sept. H5.
    25.  Charles Crowd, George-st. wharf, Sept. 2b.
    27.  William Behaut, St. Jarcies-street,Sej)t. 30.
Oct. 9.  William Logan,Catharine-lane, Oct. 11.

  Of these, 8 died on the day of arrival.
           7      on the day thereafter.
           1      on the 2d day.
           2      on the 3d day.
           6      on the 4th day.
           2      on the 6th  day.
           1      on the 8th  day, and
           1      on the 10th day.

  Having  thus given a short account of the Marine
Hospital at Staten-Island* I shall now proceed to give
a brief statement of the situation of the Hospital at
Bellevue; but as this establishment was daily visited
by the City-Inspector, who, at the close of  the sea-
son, .gave in a report of  his observations-concerning
that institution, I am persuaded, it would be impos-
sible for me  to present to  my readers,  any thing
which would be equallj- satisfactory.   In this official
communication, he not only states the condition of
that institution, during the present season, but, like-
wise, points out a variety of objects, which, if duly
attended to, (and the Board of Health will, no doubt,
weigh them with that attention which the importance
of the  subject requires) will render the  Hospital, in
all probability, still more useful, if it  should please
Divine Providence, at any future period, to afflict us
with Pestilential or Malignant Fever.

  The following is the report  alluded to :—

  The  City-Inspector  has the honour  to report,
That in conformity with the wishes  of the Board
of Health, Bellevue Flospital was finally closed on 
113
      Saturday, the 28th of October.   From  its opening
      on the 9th of September to that day, the number of
      patients admitted amounted to             175
      Of whom the malignant cases were  149
               Other diseases,             28
                                       ----    175

        The deaths, which occurred, were as follows:

           Of malignant fever,    ...  52
              typhus fever,.....3
              dysentery,.....3
              diarrhoea,......3
              pneumonia,.....I
              phthysis pulmonalis,   .  .   1
              epilepsy,  ....     .3
              cholera infantum,        .   1
              diseases unknown            2
>                     ..,,                ----
                                         69
              Discharged cured,    .   .  106

                                  Total,       175

        The Physicians of the Hospital remark,  that only
      one person died, who was admitted on the first day
      of disease.  Four of the patients were,  on closing
      the Hospital,  sent to  the City Hospital,  cured  of
      fever, but convalescent from chronic diseases.

        Of the extreme cases there died
      within 24 hours after admission,    ....   5
             12 hours,.........6
              6 hours,.........3
              1 hour,.........6
             10 minutes,........2
                                          22
nearly one-third of the total amount of deaths.
                       p 
ni
  The ratio of cures from malignant fever to deaths
by the same disorder is  very  nearly  two-thirds....
which, considering that  most  of the patients were
sent there in the last stage of disease and  death, re-
flects  the highest credit on the practice of Doctors
Walker and Winfield, the visiting and resident Phy-
sicians.

  Accompanying this Report is the Return of the
Physicians, with the list of patients admitted into
the Hospital during the present season....likewise a
schedule of  the  state or the Hospital for the year
1803 ; by which it appears, that the Hospital on
that occasion was opened on the 12th day  of Au-
gust,  and closed  on the  7tb of November,  during
which period were admitted
    Of malignant fever  patients,  .   .  .   170
    Of various other diseases,  ....    21

                             Total,       191

  The deaths which occurred  were,
    Of malignant fever,   ,  .  .  .   100
      ph thy sis pulmonalis,    .  .     1
      diarhoea,   .  .   .  .  .   .     2
                                  103
    Discharged cuied,  .  .   .   .   88
                                -----    191
  Of whom were sent to the City
Hospital,.........3
           to the Alms-house,    .  10
                                   13
  On the 7th of November, when the hospital was
closed.

  A comparative view of these tables,  shews that
the present season, although  nearly one  month 
115
shorter, has been proportionably more active, and
that the success attending the practice of the Hos-
pital has been greater this season than the former:
as the number of deaths in 1803 considerably  ex-
ceeded one-half of the cases, and, as before,remark-
ed, during the current year,  amounted only to about
one-third.

  The City Inspector wishes it to be understood,
that the comparison is made from no  invidious mo-
tive, and without the most remote idea of reiiection
on the former services at the Hospital,, but  solely
for the satisfaction of the Board, and to furnish data
for reflection and calculation, whether  the  treat-
ment of this awful malady is not better understood,
and that a reasonable hope may be entertained, that
at no distant day it will be divested of  its horrors,
and become more controulable and less  mortal, by
the skill and experience  of medical professors.

  By the return from  the  Marine Hospital  it ap-
pears, that from the  18th day of July to the 28th of
October, the number of patients  sent  from this
City, amounted to                         64
Of whom died of malignant fever,    28
Discharged cured,.....    SO
Remained  of chronic complaints,  .   6

                               Total,      64

  The total number of cases reported at the Office
from the 5th. of September to the 2 5th of October
inclusive,  amounted to                    600
The total number of deaths which occur-
  red in this City and at Bellevue Hospi-
  tal during the same period, as published
  in the daily bulletins,  was   ....  249
To which are to be added the deaths that
  have happened since  the reports were 
116
  closed, and which have been announced
  in the bills of mortality amounting to  13
                                   ---- 262
Making in all, 262 deaths of malignant fever.

  The total number of cases reported in 1803 ap-
pears to have been 1639.

 The deaths by malignant fever, which occurredthe
same year, amounted to 606.

  In ciosing his official report for the present season,
the City Inspector begs leave to submit a few remarks
respecting the establishment at Bellevue—the result
of his observation and experience.

  The Buildings called Hospitals erected at Bellevue
appear t<>have  been set up on the spur of  the oc-
casion, and on the  presumption that the fever would
never recur again. Fatal experience has proved other-
wise, and points to the conviction., that we may ex-
pect repeated aitacks from this  insidious disease.
The wards, the  one appropriated for the men espe-
cially, are every way inadequate to the wants of the
patients or the comfort of the nurses and  physicians.
The buildingsare on too contracted a scale—of mat-
erials too slight to repeal the summer heat or autum-
nal cold.  The erouded state of  the Hospital, during
the last season, must have had an unfavourable influ-
ence  on the spirits of the patients.   Those newdy
arrived were evidently depressed by the surrounding
scenes of malady, and the groans and shrieks of con-
vulsed and  dying subjects.  The senses were evi-
dent iy offended, and the atmosphere rendered impure
in consequence of the wrards being so overcrouded.
More extensive accommodation is absolutely neces-
sary against another season ; which it is  confidently
trusted that the Board will, at  all events, provide. 
117
  To render this establishment more extensively use-
ful, and to relieve such persons as may be in circum-
stances to  pay for comfortable accommodation, a
Pay Hospital with suitable distinct apartments mio-fit
be  advantageously erected.   The  difficulty of pro-
viding  for strangers and single gentlemen, labouring
under malignant fever, in private families, has been
sensibly experienced—such persons are competent
and willing to pay liberally for genteel accommoda-
tions,  were such  provided,  and there  is no doubt
that such a branch of the establishment, if not pro-
ductive,  would  at least not  become burthensome,
and would be highly creditable to our City.

   Perhaps in regarding the proposed improvements
at Bellevue Hospital, it might be of moment to con-
sider whether a change of the establishment to some
other  ground, appertaining to the  Corporation,
would not be eligible.  The scite of Bellevue might
in all probability,be sold  for a sum adequate  to very
extensive improvements. The accommodation of
poor families in suitable buildings, is a part  of  the
whole establishment,which will also deserve the con-
templation of the Board, and it is submitted whe-
ther the  present  assylum ought not to be preserved
until more permanent buildings can be provided*

     All which is respectfully submitted.

            JOHN PINTARD,  City-Inspector.
New-York, 12th Nov. 1S05. 
CHAPTER  IV.
            RECORD  OF DEATHS,

 By Malignant Fever, which have  occurred  in the
   City of New-York, at the Marine Hospital, or
   at Bellevue, during  the  Autumn  of 1805 ; in
   wdiich  is likewise included the names of sundry
   persons,  who, having caught their sickness in the
   City, afterwards died in the country.

 dpr" The zvprds in  Italic, after the name  of any
   deceased  person,  denotes the country,  of which he
   or she zvas respectively a native.

 Oct. 7.   Adams, Henry, cartman, 25 Garden, Ire-
           land,
 Aug. 17.  Adams,  Isabella,  (a  black)  corner  of
            Greenwich and Chamber,
 Sept. 29.  Allen, Elizabeth,  daughter of Mathias,
            75 Courtland, aged 26, Nezv Jersey,
 --------Arden, Thomas, S. from 186 Pearl, WTest-
            Chester,
 ----30.  Allen, Mary,  196 Broadway, aged  19,
            Ireland,
 •----29.  Allen, Mathias,  75  Courtland,  Nczv-
           Jersey,
 ----30.  Allen, Samuel, printer, 32 Lumber, Eng-
           land,
 Oct. 1.  Allen, Stephen, mason, 23 Provoost, aged
           Z%, New-York,
 Sep. 27. Amerman, Joseph B. 11 Vandewater,
 Oct. 9.  Anderson, Sarah, Cliff,
 Sep. 19. Baehr, Lewis, from 154 Wall,  Hammond,
 Oct. 16. Baisely, Margaret, 47 Gold,
 ----6.  Barr, Hugh, Broadway, near Union Fur-
           nace, aged 25, Ireland,
Sep. 15. Barry, Peter, from 26 Augustus, Bellevue,
            aged 26, Ireland, 
                     i!9

 Oct. *n.  Bates, Sally, from Thomas, Bellevue,
 S-p.  18. Bazen,  James,  34  Robinson, aged 53,
            France,
 ----28. Bazen, Rachel, from do. at Bellevue,
 Oct. 5.  Beatty, Thomas,  186 Cherry, aged 22,
            Ireland,
 1----24. Beekman, Wm. son  of  Dr. John, at the
            Wallabout, aged 11, Nezv-York,
 Sep. 9.   Mr-.  Beaman, fiom 80 Wall, at Marine
            Hospital,
 ■---■ 17.   Benjamin, Everard,  broker, 78 Broad,
            Connecticut,
 Oct. 6.  Bennet Jacob, 13 Partition, aged 25.
 ----8.  Bernard,  Joannes Christian,  from  195
            Water, at Bellevue, Holland.
 Sept. 3.  Behaut, William, from St. James-st. Ma-
            rine Hospital,
 ■----f27- Bingham, John, cartman, 33 Second.
 ---- 12. Bininger, Abm.jun.  20 Maiden-Lane*
            native.
 ----. 8.  Blackham, Henry, from 136 Pearl, at the
            Marine Hospital.
 Oct. 27. Boerum, Sarah/130 Fly-Market.
 Sept. 17. Bolen, Ann, 80 Read.
 ■—;— 7.  Bolen James,  5 Moore, aged 24, Newark*
 •----1.  Bowie Mrs. Ann, 55 Partition.
 ---- 10. Bowie, Miss Flora, near State  Prison,
            Greenwich.
 ----22. Bowers,   John,  Robinson,   corner of
            Greenwich, Baltimore.
 ----6.  Brannon,  John,  15  Augustus, aged 35,
            Ireland.
<----2.  Britton, George, 15 BurYing-sllp,E??gland.
  * Was employed in nursing a sick person in the lower end of Parti-
tion-street.

  t Attended his stand as a cartman at the Coffee-House, till
within eight days of his being taken sick. 
150
 Sept. 14.  Brown, Mr. corner Depeyster and Front.
 «---■ 13.  Brown,  Isaac,  son  of Saml. corner  of
            Greenwich and Robinson.
 ------  Brown, Isaac, 26 Read.
 •——f20. Brown, Mrs. Mary,  66 Roosevelt.
 ----12. Brown, Peter,  188 Pearl, aged 28, Scot-
            land.
 ——— 14. Browning, William,  white-smith from 90
            Water, Brannon, aged 36, England.
 ----11. Browning, Mrs. Nancy, wife of Wm. do.
            do. aged 30.
 ----11. Burk, Mathew, from Fly-Market, at Ma-
            rine  Hospital.
 ----• 10. Burling, Joseph, son of Thomas,of White
            Plains, Vandewater.
 ----25. Byass, Rebecca,  28 John, aged 21, New-
            Jersey.
 Oct. J4. Brundidge,  Daniel,  Hester,  corner  of
            Fourth.
 Sept. 13. Campbell, Jonathan, from lower  end  of
            Pine, at the Marine Flospital.
 Oct. 2.  Cathcarr, Allen, 7 Catharine-lane, aged 37,
            Ireland.
 ----6.  Christie, Elizabeth, from Dover, at Belle-
            vue, aged 31, England.
 ----23. Christie, Mrs. Sarah, Front, near Crane-
            Wharf, Scotland,
 Sept. 12. Cay wood, Abigail,  129 Water, aged 17
            Nezv-York.
----17. Christopher, Jacob, brig Columbia, ot the
            Marine Hospital
- 28. Church, Julian, 15 Fair.
  25. Coles, Chloe, 10 Little-George.
Oct. 22.  Coles, Sarah, 25 Water.
  f This person had not been out of her house for eight weeks
previous to her being attacked with the fever.  Her case was,
notwithstanding, reported to be decided.
  X Died en the third day of disease. 
                      121  /

Oct. 28. Collis Maria, 63 Roosevelt, aged 15.
------Collins, Mrs. wife of Isaac, from 189, Pearl,
            West-Chesten  ..
----2.  Colver, William;, from 72 Vesey, Belle-
            vue.       ,.. -'
----3.  Covet, Mary, 86 St. James', afed 76.
----12. Craig, Mrs. 22 Garden, aged 24, Philadel.
Sept. 28. Crane,  Abner, son of David,  aged 11,
            Greenwich, near Courtland.
Oct. 26. Crowel, Charles, from George st. wharf,
           Marine Hospital.
Sept. 10. Crowser, John,  from the  Aims-House
           gate, Marine Hospital.
'----8-  Crygier, Cornelius, jun. 18 'Warren,native,
----28. Culloden, Mary, wife of George,Chandler
           Baltimore, from 6 Stone, Bellevue.
Oct. 5.  Cushing, James, from 7 Hague,  Bellevue.
—■— 1.  Davis, James, 23 Fletcher.
Sept. 25. Davis, Robert, from Pine, Marine Hos-
           pital.
■----24. Develin, James, from  corner of Pine and
           Front, Marine Hospital, Ireland.
Oct. 19. Decker, Elizabeth Beedle,  19 Water.
Sept. 26. Deforest, Theodorus,  jun.  13 Beekman-
           slip, aged 19, New-York.
----5.  Deforest, Mrs.  Mary, 133 Water, New-
            York.
----26. Degraw,  William, apprentice   to  Wm.
           Rider, 13 Barclay, aged  18, Nezv-York.
----■ 8.  Dinah, (a black woman) 38 Church.
----8.  Diver, Charles, from  Elm,  Marine Hos-
             pital;
■—— 8.  Dixon, David, merchant, 40 Wall.
■-----27. Dixon, John,  from 95 Pearl,  Bellevue,
           aged 23.
----19. Dobbins, Mrs. Charlotte, Water, corner
            of Beekman-slip,  Pennsylvania.
July 30. Dougherty, James, from 128 Water, Ma-
           rine Hospital, Ireland.
                      Q 
12i
Sept. 23. Doughty, Morris, 63 E. George, Ireland.
-—14. Doyle, Michael, from  Second, Bellevue.
----26. Drake,  Fanny,  wife   of  John,  Essex,
           aged 50.
----14. Dufort,Mrs. Jane, 18 Fletcher.
____:*24. Dunn, Mary, 3 Rider, aged 38 Ireland.
Oct. 2.   Dwyre, Anthony, from 7 Hague, Bellevue.
Sept. 8.  EHis,  Nancy,  near the new church, Bul-
           lock, native.
         Ellis, William, 9 Dover.
         Everte, Chas. from Bear Market, Marine
           -Hospital.
Oct -H.  Fanshaw, Harriot, daughter of Mrs. Sarah,
           51 Cliff, aged 10, New-York.
Sept. 28. Feely  Michael, from Augustus, at Belle-
           vue.
■■----• 6.   Feeny, Edward, aged 25, Ireland.
__— 29. Fine, James Lefferts, son of Jacobus, 117
           Fly-Market, aged 1$, Nezv-York.
----15. Finney, Catharine,  from  11  Augustus,
   r        Bellevue, aged 26, Ireland.
 ----16. Finney, John, 11 Mulberry, aged  38,
            Ireland.
■----11. Finnick, Patrick,  25 Augustus, aged 25,
            Ireland.
 ----21. Fitzpatrick, James, 152 Front,  ageo* 22,
            Ireland.
 —--- Flanagan,  Christopher, book seller, from
             151 Water, WTest-Cbester.
 ----16. Fleming, John, from Pingree's Alley, at
-■■  • *■•      Bellevue, aged  21,  Ireland.
 ■----27. Fleron, Andr'e, 144 Greenwich,  France.
 •----21. Fogerty, Eleapor, 306 Water, Ireland.
 Oct. 5.  Foley,  Margaret, 7  Hague, aged  28,
             Ireland.
  * Was employed in nursing James Develin, corner of Pine
and Front streets.
  t Died on the third day of disease. 
                      123

Oct. 2S. Francis Tracy, 6 Upper Barley.
•—— 15. Eraser, David, son of Duncan, 8 Batavla
           Lane, aged 18, Nezv-York.
Sept. 2.  Fraser, William, house carpenter, from 3
           Chapel, Marine Hospital, Scotland.
'----30. Fulton, Alexander, grocer, corner Nassau
           and Ann, aged 30, Ireland.
----28. Gall, Patrick, from 60 Beaver, Bellevue,
           aged 60, Ireland.
-----30. Gallaghan, James, from 5 Tryon Row,
           Bellevue, aged 24, Ireland.
———27. Garcy, George, from Pine, near Fron^,
           Bellevue.     ' '
■ f.  29. Gathrey, Andrew* from 15 Rose, Belle-
           vue, aged 31, Ireland.
Oct. 4.  Giggins, Thomas, from 5 Cedar, Bellevue.
----1.  Gilchrist,  Archibald, dyer, 174 Wrilliam,
           aged 38, Scotland.
Sept. 21. Gilchrist,  James,  30 Lumber, aged 32,
           Scotland.             "**i~<^ -
Oct. 2.  Gollow, Stephen W. 51 'Roosevelt.
■----13. Gomez, Catharine, 77 Pine.
Sept. 14. Gordon, Mrs. 98 Front, aged 70,Scotla?id.
Sept. 8.  Gowdy, John, 64 Cedar, aged 23, Ireland.
Oct. 10. Graham, Mrs. Margaret, 21 Pump.
------  Grice, Margaret,Arundel, corner of Hes-
           ter.
----8.  Griffith, Robert, 41 Church.
Sept. 28. Habbermil, Mary,  115 Greenwich, aged
           17, New-York.
----8.  Haddock, James, nearly opposite  Albany
           Bason, Greenwich.
Aug. 31.. Haines, Joshua, Snow Mehitabel, from
           Havannah, Marine Hospital.
Oct. 13. Hamilton, Catharine, 21 Rose, aged  40.
---— 27. Hallman,  Thomas, Henry.
----. 15. Halsall, James, 134  William, aged 35,
           England.
Sept.  15. HardMey, John, ship Flora, Gaine's wharf,
           Marine Hospital. 
124
Sept. 28. Hartman, John, taken up from the fields
           near the State Prison, 15th Sept. Belle-
           vue, aged 53, Germany.
---- 19. Harvey, James, from 90 Front, Bellevue.
Oct. 12. Havemeyer, Charles L. 31 Pine, Germany.
Sept. 20. Hazard, Robinson, 86St. James',aged 26.
Oct. 2.  Heroy,  Clarkson,  142 Harman.
Sept. 14. Herring, Charles,  son  of   Abraham,
           Greenwich, native.
July 18. Hibbron, Christopher, from 92 Maiden
           Lane, at the Marine Hospital.
Sept. 29. Hink, Mary,  73 Broad, aged  16, New-
           Jersey.
----7.  Hobart Maria, 161 Fly-Market, aged 9.
----7. Hodgkinson, John, Comedian, from the Ton-
           tin Coffee-House, died in Washington,
           England.
Oct. 10. Hoffman, Daniel, from 3l2Water, Belle-
           vue, aged 32.
----*3.  Hogg, Mary, wife of John, taylor,  24
           Beaver, aged 25, England.
Sept.18.  Hollidge, Richard, from schooner Wey-
      mouth, North River, at the Marine Hospital.
—■— 13. Honesty, Miss Nancy, from near Potter's
           Field, at Bellevue,  aged  39.
----t 26. Howell, Silas, W. at Albany.
Sept. 27. Hoyt, Lydia, wife ofSaml. taylor, from 82
           Liberty, at Bellevue.
----30. Hunt,  Mrs. Rachel, wife of Dr. Hunt,
           Greenwich, near Budd.
----{14.  Flunter, William, and Mary his wife, 58
           Front, Ireland.

  * Died on the third day of disease.
  t Had been in New-Yo k a few days before, where it is sup-
posed by some, that he got sick;  others attribute his sickness
and deaih, as well as thatof Capt. Lansing, to a parcel of skins
on board ihe vessel, which aie said to have emitted a very offen-
sive smell.
  } Both died about 5 o'clock, p.m. 14th September, within a
Lw moments of each other, after an illness of four days. 
125
Oct. 22. Huther,  George, baker, Lombard, cornet*
           E. George, Germany.
----15. Hutson, John, from 23 Fletcher, at Belle-
           vue, aged  18, England.
Sept. 9.   Hyde, Mrs. wife oV  John, Tontine Cof-
           fee-House, Wall.
----■ 14. Hyde, John,of the Tontine Coffee-House,
           Rivin'gton.
----15. Jackson,  Hugh,   from 121  Water,  4
           Roosevelt, Ireland.
Oct. 4.  James, Wiliiam,  from 3 Dover, at Belle-
            vue.
Sept. 28. Jenkins, Manuel, 18 Chesnut, aged 30.
Oct. 3.  lnnis, Lawrance, from 4 Dover, at Belle-
           vue.
Sept. 13. Johnson,  Dinah,   (a black woman) 29
           Chamber.
----8.  Johnson, Paul R. printer, 46 Cedar, aged
           24, Nezo-Jersey.
----17. Johnson,Phoebe,  Leonard, nearChapel.
      14. Jones, David, sr.n of John F. from 46 Di-
           vision, at Bellevue, aged 15, Wales.
Oct. 1.  Jones, James, son of  Benjamin, janitor of
           Columbia College,  aged 14.
Sept. 10. Jones, John  R. 142 Chatham, aged 22,
            Wales.
     4. Jones,  John F. Water,
----11. Jones, Thomas, 1  Pine, aged  46, Wales.
Oct. 2.  Irvin, Sally,  corner  of  Courthnd and
           Washington, aged  32, Nexv-Jersey.
Sept. 30. Israel,  Charles,  from  5 New  Slip,  at
           Bellevue.
Sept. 28.Kelly,Hugh,31 Augustus, aged  32,Ireland.
Oct. 28. Kennedy, Maria, 23 Old-slip, aged 2 years.
Sept. 16.  King, John, 86 Chamber.*
----24. Kirkwood, James, hostler, from 92  Mai-
           den-lane, aged 27,  Scolland.-\
  * Mr. King had been at  work at the New Colfee-House.
  j- This man was taken sick at the livery-stable of the laic Mr. Siav-
Ipy, and sent to fhe Marine  Hospital, on the 23d July, from whence he
returned to the city perfectly recovered on  the 19th of  August, and :c- 
                       126

Sept. 29.  Knifhn, Daniel, 70 John, aged 20, New-
            York.
____29.  Knowland,  William,  from  Pearl-street,
            Bellevue, aged 27, Ireland.^
____26.  Lansing, Abraham D. schooner Mohawk,
            Albany.   See Hozvell, Silas W.
Oct.   5.  Lannuier, Stanislaus, 60  Broad, aged 24,
            France.
____  4.  Latour, Francis, Greenwich,  corner Ro-
            binson, aged 6,  New-London.
Sept. 19.  Leuke, Henry, from Cross-street, at Belle-
            vue.
____28.  Lightbody, Isaac, from 25 Barclay,at Belle-
            vue, aged 23.
---- 18.  Lively, Dominic,  64 Front, aged 35, Ire-
            land.
Oct  20.  Lloyd, Mrs. Laight-street, aged 45, Nezv-
            York.
----21.  Logan, William, from Catharine-lane, Ma-
            rine Hospital.
----  9.  Lomagne, Ann Theresa,  3 Water-street.
Sept. 20.  Long, James, Bayard.
----28.  Luddington, Henry, Washington, near the
            Bear-market.
____29.  M'Andre, Patrick, Cross, aged 33, Ire-
            land.
Oct.  7.  M'Dermot,  George,  from 51 Pearl, at
            Bellevue, aged 43, Ireland.
Sept. 28. M'Dewitt, James, 18 Pearl,  aged 4 1-2,
            years.
Oct. 12.  M'Dewitt, John,  do. aged 40, Ireland.

commenced his employment as an hostler.  About the 18th of Septem-
ber, he had gone to Newark with a carriage, where, finding himself sick
on the morning of the 23d,he caused himself to be conveyed to the door
of the office, where he requested to be sent to the Marine Hospital.
There was, however, at this time, no  boat; and as he had no lodgings
in town, to which he could retire, he was conducted to the Bellevu* Hos-
pital, where he died next day of black vomit.
  t This man had crawled from his lodgings to the office door, on the
moraing of the 16th Sept. from whence he was carried to Bellevue. 
127
Sept. 27. M'Donald, Jane, daughter of Duncan, 45
           Nassau, New-York.
Oct.  2. M'Graw,,Robert, 23 Mulberry, aged 24,
           Ireland.
Sept.  3. MTntosh, Angus,  8 Batavia-lane, Scot-
           land.
Oct. 12. M'Manus, Michael, 62 Cedar, aged 35,
           Ireland.
--------Mabee, James, 33 Ann-street.
«-------Mackaness, Thomas  Thornton,  son  of
           Thomas Mackaness, Esq. of Windsor-
           Hill, Greenwich.
----  8. Mackay, John, 8 Ferry-street.
Sept. 29. Maden, Hugh, opposite the Catholic bury-
           ing-ground, Bowery, aged 28, Ireland.
----.*28. Malice, James, from S3  Ann-street,  a£
           Bellevue, aged 42, Scotland.
—— 27. Managhan,  Edward,  grocer,  from 152
           Front-street, at 333 Broadway, aged 359
           Ireland.
--------  Managhan, Charles, brother of do. from
            152 Front-street, at  Esopus.
Sept. 16.  Marino, John, ship Delaware, Rector-sL
            wharf, Marine Hospital.
----SO.  Marsh, Ephraim, 12 Rector, aged 24,  N*
            Jersey.
____  8.  Martin, Mrs. Bedford-st. near State-Pri-
         son, England,
----19.  Maxwell, John, Crosby.
Oct. 13.  Miles, Ann, 20 Broadway, aged 18, New-
            York.
 Sept.   9. Miller, Mrs. William G. 41 Nassau.
 ----18. Miller,  Miss Maria, from Front-street, at
            Greenwich, above Tyler's.
 ----25. Mills, Jane, 55 Henry, aged 26, Ireland.
 ----26. Mills, Mary Ann,  33 Ann, aged 12, Nem-
            York.
  * On the 26th of September, this man was sent to Bellevue, his wife
accompanying him as a nurse. 
128
Oct.   $.  Mills, Martha, 50 Stone.
.----23.  Mitchell, Lewis, 35 Read.
----  9-  Murdock, Mrs. Jane, 28 Water, aged 36,
            Ireland.
----16.  Murphy, Benjamin, from 78 Chatham, at
            Bellevue, aged 24, Ireland.
----  5.  Murphy, John, 4 Swartout's-Bason, aged
            30, Ireland.
----  3.  Murray, Andrew, from  100 William-st.
            Bellevue.
----  1.  Murray, Mary, wife of do. from do.    do.
.----  3.  Myers, Maria, daughter of Lewis, 24 Wil-
            liam-street, aged 9, Philadelphia.
Sept. 27-*Needham,  John, cartman, 103 Henry,
            aged 32, England.
----16.  Newkirk, Gysbert, news-carrier, 19 Rose,
            aged 60, Germany.
----15.  Nichols, Lewis, printer, 308 Broadway,
            native.
----24.  Nicholas, ------,  from  86 Maiden-lane,
            Bellevue.
----  8.  O'Brian, John, Cross-street, aged 28, Ire-
            land.
Oct. 15.  Otis, Eleanor, 36 Lower Robinson.
Sept. 28.  Parks, Thomas, from 90 Front-street,  on
            Long-Island, aged 38, Ireland.
----  5.  Pelsue, John, 4 Church, aged 17, N. York.
Aug. 17.  Pfifer, Mrs. from 102 Water-street,  Ma-
            rine Hospital.                   .
Sept.  16.  Phyfe, John, 80 Wall, aged 28, Scotland.
----  1.  Preston, Alfred, from upper end Division,
            at Marine Hospital, native.
Oct.   6.  Price, Margaret, Arundel, corner of Hes-
            ter, aged 25, Wales.
----   3.  Prior, Rachel, 59 St. James, aged 4.
  * This man attended as a cartman, at the store df Post and Russel
corner of South and Pine-streets, till the 21st of September, the dav on
which he sickened. 
12$
 Sept. 25.  Purcell, Dominick, from 8 Orange, Belle-
             vue, Ireland.
 ----  7.  Pymer, George, son  of David, from  76
             Pine, Marine Hospital, aged 4.
 Oct.  11.  Rapp, Oras, 151 Fly-market, aged 12.
 ■----27.  La Ravine, Dr. Stephen Jean Henry Bap-
             tiste, 144 Greenwich-street, France.
 ----12.  Reynolds, Thomas, 4 mile stoue, aged 50.
             Ireland.
 Sept. 14.  Richards, Stephen, taylor, 5 Read-street.
 ----27.  Richardson, Horatio*  from 156 Front, at
             Bellevue, aged 23, Boston.
 ----29- Rider, William, turner, 13 Barclay, native.
 Oct.  r Ritcher, Andrew, from near BunkerVhill,
            at  Bellevue, aged 36, Germany.
 Sept. 26. Robinson, Harriot, 86 James-street, aged
             19, New-York.
 ----15. Rodermond, John, tavern-keeper, 5 Pine,
            aged 40, Germany.
 Oct. 31. Rose, Ann, daughter of John, 113 Liberty.
 Sept. 14. Rumsev,  Thomas E. merchant, from 182
            Pearl, Greenwich.
 Oct.  2. RusseJ, Jacob,  104 Greenwich, aged 8.
 Sept. 11. Saltonstall, Miss Hannah, from 86 Pearl,
            Greenwich.
 ----15. Schultz, Henry G.  from  Water,  at 52
            Cherry, Germany.
 Oct.  28. Sells,  Mary, 22 Mulberry.
 Sept. 24. Sharp, Grace, 17 Thomas, aged 35, Nezv-
            York.
 ----30. Simpson, Mary, from 23 Cedar, Bellevue.
 r-------Singer, James, from  Greenwich-street,
            Bellevue.
 _---ii- Skillinger, Sarah, (of Philadelphia) from Q5
            Courtlandt, at Bellevue.
 Oct.  20. Sloan, Arthur, from 64 Front,  at Bellevue,
            aged 25, Ireland.
Sept. 20.  Smith, Caleb, merchant, from 15 Market.
           field, corner Fourth and DeJancey. 
130
Oct. 10. Smith, Deborah, 47 Gold-street, native.
Sept. 17. Smith, James, Orchard,  coiner of Grand,
           aged 63, Nezv-York.
Oct.  5. Smith, James Harvey,apprentice to James
           Carr, Elizabeth, aged  17, Long-Island.
Sept.  8. Smith, Paschal N. President of the Colum-
           bian Insurance Company, atHarsenville.
----16. Smith, Rachel, Depeyster-street, aged 27,
           New-Jersey.
---17. Smith, William, from 100 Water, Bellevue,
           aged 21, Ireland.
----24. Smithen, John, 277 Water, aged 16, Ha-
           lifax.
----27. Snyder,  Elizabeth, 45 Nassau, aged 32,
           Nezv-York.
Sept.  4. Snythen, Daniel, 70 John.
----4. Spinnage, Daniel,  shoemaker, 122 Water,
           Nezo-Jersey.
-—------Stanley, Margaret, Charlotte.
Aug. 31. Stayley.  Andrew, from 92 Maiden-lane,
           Marine Hospital, England.
Sept. 19. Stewart, Mr. a ship steward, 8S Water-st.
Nov.  1. Stockwell, Abel,cooper,l^Yieteher,native.
Sept. 19. Sweeny, Nancy, from 29 George, Belle-
           vue, aged 21.
—•— 10. Sykes, John, grocer, 69 Catharine, native.
Oct.  6. Tabele,  Mrs. 52 Nassau.
----8. Tabele,  Richard, merchant, 52 do. -New*
           York.
Sept. 11. Taylor, John, 46 Cedar, aged 35,England.
Oct.  S. Ten Eyck, Elizabeth, 3/ Beaver, aged 60,
           Nezv-Jersey.
Sept. 26. Thomas, David,  193 Water,  aged  26,
           Wales.
----19. Thomas, John, cartman, 46 Chapel.
Oct. 29- Thorne,  Fanny,  170 Division, aged  16,
           Nezo-Jersey.
Nov.  1. Thornton, Samuel, 28 Water.
Sept. 29. Tice, Catharine, from 70 John, Bellevue,
           aged 26. 
131
Oct.  3. Tiebout, Miss, daughter of Mrs. Sarah, 358
           Pearl, native.
Sept.  14.  Tracy, Alexander, from 153 Water, Belle-
           vue, aged 14.
Oct.  15. Turner, Sarah, 63 William, aged 50.
Sept.  20.  Underwood, John, butcher, Elizabeth.
Oct.  1. Vail, Joseph, 54 E. George, aged 38, E.
           Chester.
Sept.  27-  Valence, John, First.
----27-  Van Gelder, Phcebe, 42 William, native.
----30.  Van Home, Philip,  apprentice to  Hiram
           Gardner, 91 Broadway.
---- 15.  Van Tastle, Joshua, cartman, 2 Leonard,
           aged  35, native.
Oct.  2.  Van Rantz, Peter, 33 Oak, aged 13, Long-
           Island.
.-—— 4.  Van Steenburgh, Samuel, 35 Cedar, aged
           66, Nezv-York.
Sept.  17.  Van Wart, John, N. Catharine, aged 25,
            native.
Oct.  2.  Voisin, Miss Rosillana,  daughter of Ma-
           dame Voisin,  146  William, aged  11, Ar.
            York.
.----7-  Wade,  Elizabeth, Catharine, aged  9.
 .--------Wainwright, Francis, druggist, from 152
            Pearl-street, at Newtown, Long-Island.
Oct.   1.  Wallace, Mary  Macomb,  95 Greenwich,
            aged 10, Ireland.
Sept. 14.  Walker, Mrs. Alice, 132 Front, IVigan in
            Lancashire, England. .
Oct.  10.  Walsh, Arthur, 64  Front,  aged 5 years,
            Ireland.
„---(3.  Walsh, Patrick, from 54 Pearl, at Bellevue,
            aged 46, Ireland.
 ----27.  Walsh, Patrick,  aged 25, Ireland.
 Sept. 28.  Walsh, John, Hester, aged 36, Irelaud.
 Oct. 12.  Webb, Thomas, from Orange, Bellevue,
 Sept. 26, Webster, John, 156 Front, aged 27, Mas-
            sachusetts. 
132
Oct.   3.  Whelan, Eliza, 4 Dover, aged 23, Ireland.
S^pt. 27.  White, Jane, &6 Beaver, aged 26,  do.
Oct.  12.  While, John, from Coenties-slip, Bellevue.
----  6.  WilJer, Jonas, 24 Charlotte-st. aged 35,
            England.
Sept. 26.  Wiggmton, Seth B. of the house of Richard
            S. Hackley & Co. 128 Broadway.
Oct.  12. Williams, Henry, from 72 Front, Bellevue.
----  21.  Windle, Thomas, 56 Lombard.
Sept.  15.  Wilson, Alexander, from  lOo William,
            Bellevue.
■----   5.  Woodruff, William, from Moore, Marine
            Hospital.
----11.  Wright, Susannah, from Water, corner of
            Lombard and Catharine.
——  15. Young, William, from  102 Water, Budd.
Aug.  27. Young, Daniel, from corner Washington
           and Duane, at Marine  Hospital, Scot-
           land.
Sept.  28. Zellers, George, Little George, aged 20,
           Nezv-York.

                  A TABLE,
EXHIBITING AT ONE VIEW,  THE NUMBER OF DEATHS BY MA-
  LIGNANT FEVER, WHICH  OCCURRED IN EACH PARTICULAR
  STREET, AS ALSO AT BELLEVUE AND THE MARINE HOS-
  PITAL.
Ann Anthony Arundel	f 1	Brought over Bellevue Bloomingdale	19 52 1
Augustus	3	Brannon-street	2
Barclay	2	Broad	2
Barley Batavia-lane Bayard-street	1 2 1	Broadway Bowery Budd	7 1 I
Beaver	3	Bullock	1
Bedford Beekman-slip	1 2	Burling-slip Catharine-lane	1 1
	~I9	Catharine-street	3 91
 
133
Brought over	91	Brought over
Cedar	5	Henry
Chamber	2	Hester
Chapel	1	James
Chatham	1	John
Charlotte	2	Laight
Cherry	3	Leonard
Chesnut	1	Liberty
Church	4	Lombard
Cliff	2	Lumber
Courtlandt	3	Maiden-lane
Crane-wharf	1	Marine Hospital
Crosby-street	1	Moore-street
Cross	3	Mulberry
Depeyster	2	Nassau
Division	2	Oak
Dover	2	Old-slip
East George	2	Orange-street
Elizabeth	3	Orchard
Essex	1	Partition
Fair	1	Pearl
Ferry	1	Pine
First	1	Provoost
Fletcher	2	Pump
Fly-market	3	Read
F wth	1	Rector
Frankfort	i	Rivington
Front	11	Robinson
Garden	2	Rose
George	2	Roosevelt
Gold	2	Ryder
Greenwich	•5	Second
Greenwich-street	9	Stone
Hague	2	Swartvvout's Bason
Hammond	1	Thomas
Harman	1	Vandewater
Harsenville	1	Wall
178 i 
134
     Brought over   281       Brought over  295
Warren               2   Washington           1
Water               12   William               6

                    295                      302

  If to the above, we add 40, who, it is probable,
caught the disorder in  the city, and afterwards died
in various  parts  of the country,  the number will
amount to 342,  which is,  perhaps,  pretty near the
truth.

  Although it is expected  that the  preceding table
will, in general,  be deemed interesting, it is believed
that a list exhibiting the number of cases, which have
occurred in each  particular street, will be found, at
least, fully as satisfactory.  A table of the  former
kind, only informs us of the particular spots at which
different degrees of mortality  prevailed; in particu-  _
lar,  it mentions the deaths of fifty-two persons at
Bellevue, twenty-eight at the  Marine Hospital, two
m Brannon-street, one in Rivington-street, &c. where-   ^
as it is notorious, that no  one of these sickened in
either of these places.  Again, when we are told of-
ficially,  that  one hundred and seventy-six persons
were bent to Bellevue, and sixty-four to the Marine
Hospital, although it  justly affords a  very exalted
opinion of the importance  of  these valuable  institu-
tions, it does not convey to  the mind, a single idea of
the precise part of the city in which the disease was
most predominant.  To enable the  reader to judge
for  himself, upon this  subject, the following is sub*
mi t ted. 
135
                       A  TABLE,*

EXHIBITING THE NUMBER OF CASES OF MALIGNANT 7EVKR,

   WHICH HAVE OCCURRED IN EACH PARTICULAR STREET Of

   THE CITY3 DURING THE LATK EPIDEMIC.
Ann	2 ,	Brought over	128
Anthony	10	Chatham	2
Arundel	1	Chatham-square	2
Augustus	13	Charlotte-street	6
Bancker	3	Cheapside	4
Barclay	6	Cherry	5
Barley	4	Chesnut	2
Batavia-lane	3	Church	7
Bayard-street	1	Cliff	4
Beaver	5	Corlaer's-hook	3
Beaver-lane	2	Courtlandt-street	5
Bedford-street	1	Crane-wharf	1
Bedlow	4	Crosby-street	1
Beekman	2	Cross	5
Bloomingdale	1	Delancey	1
Brannon-street	3	Depevster	10
Bridewell	1	Division	9
Broad-street	IS	Dover	9
Broadway	17	Duane	I
Bowery	4	Dutch	i
Budd-street	2	East George	8
Bullock	1	Elizabeth	5
Burling-slip	1	Elm	3
Catharine-lane	1	Essex	2
Catharine-street	4	Fair	4
Cedar	7	Fayette	1
Chamber	7	Ferry	1
Chapel	6	First	3
	128		245
  * It is necessary to observe, that in this Table, the streets mentioned,
are those in which persons  were taken sick, not those to which they
were removed.  It may, likewise be mentioned, that of the cases which
occurred in  Water-street, Front-street, Pearl-street, fcc. at !ea*t five-
sixths' were between Burling and Old-slips. 
136
Brought over	245	Brought over	525
Fletcher	4	Nassau	8
Fly-market	11	New	1
Fourth-sreet	2	New-slip	2
Frankfort	3	Norfolk-street	2
George	6.	Oak	2
Gold	7	Old-slip	1
Gouverneur	1	Orange-street	5
Greenwich (village]	5	Orchard	1
Greenwich-street	26	Partition	3
Hague	6	Pearl	26
Hammond	]	Pell	1
Harman	7	Pi ne	14
Harrison	2	Pingree's-alley	3
Hajv.en\iilc	1	Potter's-field,vicinity	ofl
Henry	10	Provoost-street	2
Hester	5	Pump	6
Hudson	2	Read	10
Jay	1	Rector	2
James	12	Rider	3
Jew's-alley • • >	2	Rivington Robinson . . )• . .	1
John-street	4		6
Laight	1	Roosevelt	6
Leonard	2	Rose	>-*
Liberty	4	Rutgers	5
Little Water	c)	Second	
Lombard	5	Sixth	I
Lumber	5	Skinner	2
Maiden-lane	7	South	I
Magazine-street	1	Spring	
Mary	l	Stanton	I
Moore	8	Slate	I
M oo re's-Build in gs	1	Stone	3
Moore-street (Norl	.h) 5	Stuyvesant's ground	I
Mott	7	Swartwout's Bason	I
Mulberry	11	Thames-street	2
Murray	2	Third	2
	425		564
 
137
Brought		over	564 i	Brought over	582
Thomas			2	Warren	2
Tryon-row			I	Washington	5
Vandew	ater-street		4	Wate r	40
Vesey			3	Whitehall	2
Vestry			1	William	14
Wall			7 582		645
  Upon comparing the foregoing tables with the of-
ficial  report of the City-Inspector, contained ^n the
preceding pages, it may, at first sight, appear that
there some is difference.  If, however, it be considered,
that,  in that gentleman'* report, the  twenty-eight
persons who died of Malignant Fever, at the Marine
Hospital,  are not included, nor several others, who
fell victims to the same disease, previous to the daily
meeting of the Board ~f Health; the statements will
be found to be almost, if not altogether the same.  A
similar remark will be found equally correct with re-
spect to the number of cases.
s 
                  CHAPTER V.

THE OPINION 07 SEVERAL EMINENT PHYSICIANS, RESPECTING
  THE CAUSE OF MALIGNANT FEVER, IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT
  PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

The first of these is from Dr. Pardon Bowen, a celebrated
       Physician of Providence, Rhode-Island.

           TO MR. JAMES HARDIE.

    " Sir,

  " YOUR letter of the 3d instant, written by the
direction of the Board of Health of the city of New-
York, requesting information of the origin and nature
of the Malignant Fever, which then  prevailed here,
and a retrospective view of the fever in former years,
came to hand while I was in the  country, in  a  state
of convalescence, from a fever taken, I presume, by
constant  attendance upon patients labouring under      ^
the fever, before their removal; and I have been com-
pelled since my return to town,  by the pressure of
business, and the time  necessarilv taken  to procure
correct information, to defer my  answer till the pre-
sent time, as most of the persons, from whom the in-
formation was to be derived, were scattered about the
country;  and I hope the Board  cf Health will not
impute the delay to neglect, or want of respect.

  " I will now, without further preface, endeavour
to give you as correct a statement of the fever, as the
most  careful investigation  will admit, and  I  hope,
with the candour  the importance of the  subject de-
mands.

  *: And first, with respect to the origin of the fever.
In order  to investigate this point, it will be necessary 
139
to take  into consideration  the following  circum-
stances, viz.

  " In the first place, the general state of the health
of the town, and especially, of that part where the
fever prevailed.

  " 2dly. The condition of the houses,  wharves,
docks, stores, &c. in the vicinity of the fever; and,

  " 3dly. The connection this district had with the
shipping.

  " With respect to the first circumstance, the health
of the town, &c.

  " At the  time the fever made its appearance, and
for a long time before, the town in general  was re-
markably healthy; and this was the case, more espe-
cially, with  that part of the town, which was the seat
of the disorder, immedir tely preceding its origin.  For
several years past, the town  has been  exempt from
any remarkable epidemic catarrhal affection, angina,
nr other complaints, by many deemed the precursors
of Yellow Fever.

  " 2dly. Respecting the  condition of the houses,
wharves, docks, stores, &c. comprising the seat of the
fever.

  " On the most careful scrutiny, it appeared that
this district  was'remarkably clean and free from filth.
There were no oifensive putters, nor accumulation of
putrid animal or vegetable substances, to be found iu
or near  it.   The houses were detached from each
other, generally; and in the occupancy of families,
who might  vie with  any equal number, in point of
cleanliness,  in any part  of the town.   The wharves
and stores had nothing offensive about them, and the 
140
docks were as clean and free from any obvious, pu-
trid  and noxious effluvia, or filth, as in the  most
cleanly part of the town; and much more so than  in
some other parts, where the docks, at times,  have
been extremely oft'ensive, from the noisome stench
issuing from them ; and «.% inch, at the same time, has
been encreased by the putrid effluvium arising from
damaged beet and fish in the contiguous cellars and
stores; and yet as far as my  knowledge extends, no
Mahgnant or Yell-w Fever has ever arisen therefrom,
although these apparently formidable agents,  with
tlieir combined  p  wers, have existed in a number of
cases, for several  years past, that have fallen under
my observation, and to such extent as to have ex-
cited very serious alarm for the consequences.

  " 3dly. With respect to the connection of the sickly
district with the shipping.

  "  It is to be understood that the fever was confin-
ed, except in three or tour  cases,  to  be mentioned
hereafter, to  both sides of Water-street,  extending
about 113 yards parallel  vvith  the  wharves.   From
the back part of the  houses  next the  river, the dis-
tance may be about 35 or 40 } ards from the  head  of
the wharves, and from the opposite side of the street,
ahout 80  or 90 yards; ana it appears  as a mattei  of
fact,, that  all vessels from the West-Indies and else-
where, have been permitted, and have actually come
up to the town, and unloaded iheir cargoes at me
wharves,  with ut cleansing, or performing quaran-
tine, until since the commencement of the fever.

  "  And  it furthermore appears,   that three vessels
from different parts of the West-Indies, have.arrived
and  unloaded at the wharves within the infected dis-
trict, a very little while bef re the fever broke out, viz.
the brig Planter,  from St. Croix, arrived on  the 4th
of July j  the brig Hiram,  from Antigua, and the 
141
brig Juno, from Havanna, both arrived on  the 12th
of July, and the fever began m Captain Stephen Rus-
sel's family on  the 19th following; between which
time and the 25th, nineteen persons more  were at-
tacked, seventeen in this district, and two living at a
distance from it.  At this time, the town council or-
dered all that  part of the town evacuated, and the
vessels removed;  and the fever immediately ceased,
except in two cases;  one of which, a son of Captain
Trowbridge, occurred on the 7th, and Mr. Clifford,
on t he 12th of -Vugust; the latter of whom declared to
my partner, Dr. Eddy, and myself,  that  he  was two
or three times on  board  the brig Hiram, which ves-
sel  had been  removed from  her former situation,
where the fever began, to the wharf back of the shop
where he was employed, instead of  being sent down
to the quarantine ground.  She has  since gone to
sea,  and there are the strongest grounds to believe
that Trowbridge had  been in the infected street; and
if not, the shop where he worked was  not more than
30 or 40 yards from where the fever first began.

  " Of the two persons above-mentioned, who were
earl'/ attacked, and resided at a distance from the in-
fected part, one was Captain John  Warner, and the
other Mr. Jos  Masury, jun. and it is perfectly well
known, that both  had been employed on tuese
wharves, and had -been on  board the suspected ves-
sels ; and there is no doubt but that they had  the same
fever the others bad.  Warner was quite yellow, and
Masury died on the fifth day with the genuine black
vomit, and other  concomitant  symptoms of Yellow
Fever.

  " In addition to the above, I would beg leave to
call the attention  of the  Board of Health to the fob
lowing circumstances, viz.   On the 25th  of July, the
order for the evacuation  of the infected district,  and
removal of the shipping was issued  and immediately 
142
complied with, and the fever ceased, so that many
families returned to their habitations, about the mid-
dle of August, the very season when, in general, the
Yellow Fever begins its ravages as an epidemic, and
yet not the slightest case of fever or other sickness
has appeared in this district, (August 28th) and the
town continues very healthy; and what renders the
case  still more remarkable, is, that this district was
in so clean a state, that no kind of alteration of its
former condition has been made in it, except that six
loads of sand have been carted into one dock,  and
that  merely because two privies were situated  over
it, but which were constantly washed by the ebbing
and flowing of the tide,  and of course, no considera-
ble accumulation could, or did take place. This dock
was not offensive, and the house adjoining the whar£
and very near to the dock,  was the only one, whose
inhabitants were exempt from the fever.

   " It further appears by the declaration of Captain
Benjamin Dexter, who had three of his family taken
with the fever, that when some of these vessels" pump-
ed out their bilge-water, it  was so extremely offen-
sive, that the workmen on his store were made sick,
and in some of them  to vomiting.  And Mr. Goff
declares, that  the bilge-water pumped from one of
these vessels was so particularly offensive, that he
was obliged to shut up the doors and windows of his
shop, notwithstanding his workmen (shoemakers) had
been much accustomed to the smell of bilge-water.

   " I would further  state to the  Board of Health,
that the persons attacked with the fever had been on
board the suspected vessels, as well as that they lived
in the vicinity of them.

   " With respect to the condition of the abovemen-
tioned vessels, the following circumstances appear,
viz.  the brig Planter had two men taken sick with 
143
yellow-Fever  on board, at St. Croix,  early in the
month of May,  who were carried on shore, as  soon
as the disease was  ascertained, and died ; but  I
cannot learn  that the clothing belonging  to them
was brought home, and  the vessel underwent no
cleansing, before or after, her arrival.

  " The Hiram arrived on the 12th, from Antigua,
and on her arrival, Mr. Church, one of her owners,
says that he threw overboard twenty dollars worth
of sailors' clothes, and the reason he assigned  for  it
was, that the countenances  of the people did not
Jook well, and  he thought the air of the vessel was
not good, and that part of the infection came from
her.

  " The brig Juno also arrived, 12th July, from Ha-
vana, and had one or two people sick on the pas-
sage home.

  " All these vessels,  without performing quaran-
tine or being cleansed,  immediately on their arrival,
unloaded at the several wharves of the sickly district,
a little before the sickness began, as before stated.

  " Having thus related the circumstances respects
ing the origin  of the sickness,  as far as they have
come to my  knowledge, I am now to reply to that
part of your request respecting its nature.

   " When the  fever first made its appearance, con-
sidering the number attacked, and in so small  a
compass, in  the vicinity of the wharves and vessels,
and very near to where the  yellow fever had twice
before appeared in an epidemic form, it highly ex-
cited our fears, and when added to these circum-
stances, we found them labouring under the follow-
ing symptoms—rigours—violent pains in  the head 
144
and eyes, back and limb?—prostration of strengths-
sickness  at stomach, with great distress,  which was
a constant .and universal symptom with them af—
vvith fever, &c. we were almost confirmed in the be-
lief of Yell w  Fever;  but  as their eyes had not that
suffusion so common to that fever, and the more >e-
cided and unequivocal symptoms kept eft for kui or
five days, and  considering the earhness of  the sea>bn,
we still hoped that we might  be mistaken, and did
not make a report to the  council, officially,  tiil tne
fifth day, Wi.en the symptoms assumed such an as-
pect, as ieit no doubt  fits real nature; t> r now one
patient v^ as attacked with the ^lack or eofiee-colour-
ed vomit; another had a Jivid  c untenaiice, with pe-
techias ; a third turned yellow ; a fourth had black vo-
mit and  was yellow; a fifth  had black  vomit and
stools; and a sixth black vomit and st Is, and  pro-
fuse haemorrhage from the  m uth,- stomach, &c. and
all of them great sickness at the stomach.

  " Six persons died  about the  fifth and sixth day
from the attack.  These symptoms, connected! with
the suddenness of the deaths,  &c. will clearly point
out to  any person competent to judge of the case,
that it was unequivocally the  1 ellow or Malignant
Fever.

  " I will now take* a retrospective view of the fore-
going statement,  and diaw the conclusion that ap»
pears to me, naturally and  fairly to result from it.

  " It  then appears that the t wn of Providence has
enjoyed  a great degree of health tor several years
past, and been exempt from those epidemics supposed
the precursors  of Yellov\ Fever. That about the 20th
of July, seventeen or eighteen persons were attacked
with Yellow Fever, in a small district,  till this time
remarkably health}—That this district was very clean
and free from any obvious cause of sickness about the 
145
houses, stores, docks or wharves;  but that three dif-
ferent vessels, from three different ports of the West-
Indies, had arrived at, and unloaded on, the wharves
of this district, without performing quarantine or being
cleansed;  that one had lost two men with Yellaw
Fever, at St. Croix; another was suspected to be in-
fected, by the owner;  and that  the third  had had
sickness on the homeward bound  passage:  that the
inhabitants of this district and the vessels were remov-
ed on the 26th of July, and that the fever ceased;
-that  about the middle of August, many of the  inha-
bitants returned to their habitations in this district;
that they have been there about a fortnight, and no
sickness had  recurred, notwithstanding no alteration
has been made in the condition of this district, except
six loads of sand put into one dock,  merely because
two privies were over it, but which were not, in any
manner, remarkably filthy; that many of the sick
had been on board of the suspected vessels; and  final-
ly, that they had been much affected by the extreme
offensiveness of the bilge-water of these vessels.

  " From the foregoing premises,  I think we may
fairly infer, that the fever was the Yellow or Malig-
nant Fever, and that it had its origin, or stood, some-
how or other, connected with one or all three of the
vessels above-mentioned.  This is, at least, my opi-
nion, decidedly; and not only of the fever of this  year,
but in each epidemic Yellow Fever in this town, I
think I have the most unequivocal evidence of its im-
portation ; and even in almost every sporadic case, I
have been able to trace a connection with a source
of foreign origin,  either at the time, or perhaps, by
knowledge of it obtained a long time after.

  " Two such instances have come to my knowledge
lately.

  " Now, notwithstanding my belief that theconta1-
                       T 
146
glon is imported, I think it proper to observe, that I
also believe, that it  requires some peculiar, appro-
priate, and to me, inexplicable condition in our at-
mosphere, to render it capable of propagation, either
as a medium, through which the  contagion may be
spread, or by combining with it, and thus rendering
it active.  It is like  tinder fitted to receive a spark
cf fire, and as far as this appropriate state of air ex-
tends, when saturated or contaminated with the fo-
reign or contagious principle, so far is it capable of
communicating  the disease  to those who inhale it,
and are predisposed to it: and I am led to this con-
clusion from the following circumstances.  The dis-
ease, I believe, generally appears first as an epidemic,
or in  its propagating state, near to, or about wharves
and docks, and extends its influence gradually and
progressively, so that if a patient  ever so bad, and
even  dies with it, is carried  into the country, or, in
the beginning of the epidemic, into a distant  part of
the town or city, remote from the water, he does not
convey the disorder, even  to those in frequent  con-
tact with him; at least, this has been  the case with
us, and 1 believe is generally admitted as fact in other
places.

   " Now, if this fever possessed the common charac-
ter of other contagious diseases, it would like them,
in all situations, and in all seasons, be more or less
capable of propagating its kind under these different
circumstances.

   " What this condition of the atmosphere is, that
by assimulating with the contagion, or serving as a
medium to it, which renders it so  destructive to the
human race, I cannot pretend to say, or even con-
jecture : but that it is not the'object of our senses, I
am fully convinced, from long and much observation.
The inference, however, from  this  hypothesis is obvi-
ous,  if we cannot comprehend the condition of our 
147
atmosphere, which renders  the  disease capable of
propagation, then we should be the more careful to
prevent the foreign principle from being brought into
contact with the domestic one.  This, however, is a
task truly peculiar, considering the thousand different
ways by running articles from vessels, by clothes sent
from them, by persons visiting them secretly, kc. &c.
by which it may be conveyed.

  " Before I quit this subject, I must beg leave to
call the attention of the Board of Health to one cir-
cumstance attending Yellow  Fever; a circumstance of
the utmost importance in investigating its nature, and
so obvious, that one would think, that the meanest
capacity wouldcomprehend it, and which, at the same
time, is overlooked by many eminent and ingenious
men.  It is this : that the first frost, or what is called
black frost, destroys the real Yellow Fever radically,
although it may, at this time, have extended its influ-
ence ever so far; whereas the Bilious and other fevers
of.our country,  which are said to  be only grades of
the  Yellow  Fever, are often extended into,  and
through the  winter and spring.  Now it  appears to
me absurd to suppose, that a cause which is capable
to destroy the highest grade  of a fever, should be una-
ble to produce the same effect upon the  lower de-
grees of it; but as we every  year see, that frost radi-
cally destroys the Yellow Fever at once, while our
other  fevers'contmue through the winter, in many
cases, the inference is plain and irresistible, that there
is a specific difference between them, although there
may  be some symptoms in common to them all.

   " With respect  to a  retrospective view of former
 years, 1 must beg leave to refer the Board of Health
 to some documents I am about to send  on to Dr.
 Hosack upon this subject, and which 1 shall request
 him to give them the perusal of, if they should deem
 them of sufficient consequence. 
148
   «< You will please to tender my respects to the
Board of Health.
                  I have the honour to be,
                    With much respect,
                      Your obedient servant,
                         PARDON BOWEN.
   Providence, August 28th, 1805."

                       " September 10th, 1805.

     « Sir,
   " I have been under the necessity to withhold my
communication until this time, as I was informed that
one of the circumstances mentioned therein, was riot
correct, and the persons capable of giving correct in-
formation were  abs at.  I have this moment seen
one of them, and am now able to say, that instead
.of the brig Juno's having one or two persons sick on
the homeward bound passage, she had only one man
sick or unwell several days in the Havanna, but was
able to  do his duty home.  This vessel was also at
New-Providence during her voyage.

   " No person is or has been sick in  the district,
where our  fever prevailed, and the inhabitants are
all returned, with but a few exceptions.
                Yours with esteem, &e.
                       PARDON BOWEN."

   The next opinion, which we have concerning the
origin of yellow fever is contained in a letter from Dr.
John Stewart, of Grenada, to Dr. David Hosack,
of this city.  In order to understand this, it may be
proper to observe, that Dr. Hosack about the mid-
dle of November last, published  a statement  of his
official conduct with the Board  of  Health; but as
his letters to that body have been already published
in the preceding part of this work,  it will be  unne-
cessary here to  repeat them.   It will, therefore, on- 
149
ly be needful to give the  other parts of  that gentle*
man s statement.

      To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.
" Sir,

    " As every thing relating to Yellow Fever seems
to have become so very unpleasant to manv of your
readers, it is with regret that I feel myself compelled
to occupy a column of your paper on that  subject;
but to pass over in  silence, the misrepresentations,
which have been circulated relative to  my professi-
onal conduct during the late epidemic, would not
only be injustice to myself, but inconsistent with that
respect, which I consider due to public opinion.  As
soon, therefore, as I could procure the necessary do-
cuments from  the Secretary of the Board of Health,
I prepared the  following concise,  but I trust satis-
factory  statement, for  the inspection of my fellow?
citizens.

   " Of the various charges circulated against me the
first is, that I denied the existence of the yellow-fe-
ver after it had appeared in different parts of our ci-
ty, in consequence of which many persons were induc-
ed to remain longer than they otherwise would have
done, and some of whom actually fell victims to their
misplaced  confidence.    The following documents
will, I trust, shew that, this nezv sort of calumny (for
till this year I have been pointed at by the same per-
sons as an alarmist) is totally  unfounded.  It is ne-
cessary  previously to remind the reader that the
Board of Health published their first  Report  of the
existence of the epidemic on Friday the b'th Septem*
ber.  On the 5th of  August I addressed a  letter to
the Board, of which the following is an extract :

.  " On Tuesday morning, July SO, about 9 o'clock,
Dr. Riddle3 for the first time, requested me to visit 
150
with him Mr. Dougherty, in Water street, a clerk in
the employ cf Messrs. Moore and Storey,  which  I
did immediately."

  " The Doctor informed me that this patient had
been sick since the preceding Wednesday, the 24th
inst" !

  " Upon retiring (after having examined the state
of the patient and heard the Doctor's history of the
case) I did not hesitate to express my  belief of the
nature of the disease."

  " As the patient was near his dissolution I imme*
diately made a report to the Mayor of the case."

  Dr.  Hosack at the end of his letter of the 6th of
September, makes  the following remarks. " I have
to observe, that at the very time when the above cases
were shewn to me, as the only ones that had been
reported, I have since discovered from an inspection
of the minutes of the board, that there had been re-
ported five more, neither of which was shewn to me
by the Secretary.  To the above letter the calumny
attributing to me a denial of the existence of the dis-
ease, is to  be ascribed.  I shall only add, that the
five cases shewn me  as Yellow  Fever, but which  I
denied to be such, all terminated  as will be found by
examining  the records of the board in recoveries.
The other five I did not see."

  The above seems to convey a reflection upon me,
as not  having performed a particular duty enjoined
upon me by the Board.   It is well known, however,
to several of the members, that the circumstances un-
der which I at that time acted, were peculiarly dif-
ficult and  perplexing, several physicians having ex-
pressly declared, that they would deem it an insult,
if any medical gentleman should be introduced to see 
151
a patient of theirs, without their consent.   An im-
partial public will, I am persuaded, be fully satisfied,
that upon an occasion of this nature, it was proper
for  me to endeavour, by every means in my power,
to prevent discord or dissention taking place amongst
professional characters.

  The following part of Dr.  Hosack's statement,
not having appeared, in what I have already publish-
ed relative to that gentleman, a regard to justice ren-
ders it necessary, that it should be republished here.

   " It has been said, that a view to the compensa-
tion offered by the Board of Health, was the motive
of the unworthy conduct with which I have  been
charged.

   " The  following letter from the Mayor, will, X
trust, afford a sufficient reply to this calumny.

                       "  Uth November, 1805.

     " Sir,
   " Agreeably to your request, I have directed the
Secretary of the Board of Health, to furnish you with
copies of your reports, which I presume you have re-
ceived before this time.

   " It is but an act of justice to you to declare, that
previous  to  your acting under the request of the
Board, you explicitly assured  me that you would re-
eeive no compensation.
               I have the honour to be,
                 Your most obedient servant,
                      DE WITT CLINTON.
   Dr.  Hosack."

   " It has been said that I have departed from  the
 ©pinions I had heretofore entertained of the origin 
152
 of the yellow fever, and that as in the present year
 no partieular vessel had been charged with the  in-
 troduction of it, we were compelled to acknowledge
.its domestic origin.  Such too appears to be the ob-
ject and tenor of the  last  very extraordinary letter
 published by the Health-Officer^   In  reply to this
 misrepresentation of my opinion, I have only to  re-
 mark, that if I had before entertained any doubt of
 the origin of this calamity, the circumstances attend-
 ing its appearance in the present season, would alone
 have satisfied me  (as it has some others  who have
 had opportunities of watching its early progress) that
 it is not the product of our own soil or climate, but
■is always introduced from abroad.   The intercourse
.1 might, perhaps,say the unlimited intercourse, which
 has existed between the Quarrantine ground and this
 (ity, by night as well as by day, sufficieutly accounts
for the origin of the pestilence of the last season.

   (C It is unnecessary for me here to go into details;
the clue,to the investigation of  the facts upon this
subject,  is in the possession of the proper authority,
and  I trust it  will be pursued with the attention it
merits, and the importance of the enquiry  demands;
but I will venture to predict, that unless our Legisla-
ture enact a law that will make it necessary to qua-
rantine  the captains of vessels,  the supercargo, the
seamen, the passengers, their bedding, cloathing, Sfc.
as well as the vessels themselves, we shall never  be
secure from danger, and that the now growing com-
merce of our city will be sacrificed  to the repetition
of this terrible calamity.

   "  While I thus recommend a more strict and effi-
cient  Quarantine Law,  to  prevent  the introduction
of contagion from abroad, I hope it will not be thought
that I disregard the attention bestowed by our vigi-
lant police in preserving cleanliness at home.  On
the contrary, it is conceded, that the. Yellow Fever, 
153
like other contagious diseases, is never so readily pro-
pagated  in a pure as in an impure atmosphere; per-
haps I may go further and say, that the Yellow Fever,
more than any other contagious disease  that  we
know of, requires an  impure air, as its conductor.
But that the fit h of our streets, our docks, or new made
grounds, gi ave yards or privies, have ever generated
this species of fever,  I cannot believe.  I should as
readily ascribe the origin of Small-pox, or Measles, or
Plague,  to the dirt of our gutters,  as to trace  the
Yellow Fever to putrid animal or vegetable matter;
and that I  am not alone in this opinion, a vast  body
of testimony might  be adduced, but  I  shall content
myself with the following extract from an interesting
letter, which I received a few days ago from Dr.  John
Stuart, an emiuent physician, from the island of Gre-
nada, who has lately visited  this city.

   " This gentleman has practised medicine 24  years
in that island, resided there in 1793, when the Yel-
low Fever was introduced from Boullam, by the ship
Hankey, and which in the same year, communicated
that disease to Philadelphia.  The celebrity of Dr.
Stuart,  as  an accomplished  scholar  and physician,
entitles his observations to the particular attention of
«ur citizens.
              I am, Sir, with regard, vours,
                        DAVID HOSACK."

                   " Nezv-York, Nov. 12, 1805.

     " Dear Sir,
   "  I have received your favour of this date, desiring
information concerning the  fever which appeared,-
and proved so fatal, in Grenada, in March, 1793.  I
feel much disposed to comply with your request, but
regret that my time will not allow me to do so in a
manner satisfactory to myself; at all events, I hope you
will make allowance for any  inaccuracy I may  com-
                        v 
154
  mit, in referring to a circumstance, which took place
  sodong as 12 years ago, especially as I am possessed
  of no memorandum respecting the disease,  all  my
  papers having  been  destroyed in  the insurrection
  which occurred in that island, in 1795.

    " It may be necessary to premise, that I had been
  engaged in an extensive practice in the quarters of
  St. Andrews and St. Patricks,  for 19 years previous
  to the period referred to.  My place of residence was
  on the east side of the island, and on the confines of
  those two parishes, about 24 miles from St. George,
  the capital, and upwards of four miles from Grenville
  bay, the second harbour in the colony—The  tract of
  country between my abode and the latter, is flat, and
* t he shore low and swampy; it is consequently extreme-
  ly unhealthy in the fall of the year;  I had become, of
  course, well acquainted with Tertian Fever under its
  various forms, of intermittent,  remittent; and conti-
  nued types.  It is, however, worthy of remark, that
  1  do not recollect an instance of an epidemic occur-
  ring among the white inhabitants in any part of the
  island, from January to July or August, previous to
  the year 1793.

    if My first acquaintance with the fever in question
  wa s as follows : In the month of March of that year
  I  went one day on board the ship Adventure, then
  lying in Grenville harbour, to visit the carpenter, at
  that time under my charge for a gun shot wound in
  his hand.  While there, captain Remington arrived
  from St. George's by sea ;  he  had come round in a
  drogher, and had had heavy squalls, with rain, in his
  passage to windward.  He then complained of  be-
  ing feverish, and seemed low spirited, he had heat
  of skin, his pulse full and under one hundred, head-
  ache, pain in his back and limbs, and over his whole
  body: these symptoms I imputed to cold caught in
  his passage  up, and accordingly took eight  ounces 
155
of blood from him, which unexpectedly neither ex-
hibited the bussy coat, nor the coagulum any degree
of contraction, nor consequent separation of serum.
He took an emetic of Ipecacuanha in the evening,
and a dose of Glauber Salts the following morning.
During  three days I continued to visit him, his pulse
did not exceed one hundred, nor was the heat of his
skin considerable ; he took  occasionally small doses
of AntimoniaTWine, with the addition of Laudanum
at bed time, and made free use  of tepid drinks....
At the end of that time,  I  was under the necessity
of putting him in charge of a neighbouring practi-i
tioner, having a call to the  other side of the island.
On leaving bim,  I certainly did not entertain any
idea of his being in danger; I was, however, forcibly
struck with, and could not  well account for an un-
common degree of despondency of mind, that.was
then present, and it was not possible to remove the
impression that rv was to die j nor was I the less
surprised,  on  going to Grenville a few days there-
after to be told of his death, and more  especially to
hear of that event having been preceded by haemorr-
hage from his nose, stomach, mouth  and  urinary
bladder.   On this occasion, while in  conversation,
with some gentlemen on the fate of this unfortunate
man, I could not help noticing the malignity of the
case,* and the  difference in the train of symptoms
from what I had ever witnessed to take place in the
worst case of our endemic*fever.   But a few min-
utes had elapsed, when a gentleman arrived from St.
George's; I had no sooner mentioned capt.  R's.
death to him, and my surprise thereat, when he ins-
tantly replied  it was known to him,  for that capt.
R. had eat and slept on board the ship Hankey, dur-
ing several days that he  was in  town.  This was
 the  first  notice I had of such a vessel being in the
colony, and I therefpre  anxiously requested he
would explain himself: this he did, by saying that the
Hankev,  capt. Cox, had arrived some time before 
156
i
after carrying a numberof settlers from England to
the coast ofAfrica,where she had remained for some
months, and that during her stay the greater part of
those unfortunate people had been carried off by fe-
ver, and concluded bysaying, that there was,at that
time,a cursed infection lurking on board of her. That
the mate of the ship Baillies had died, or was dying,
and several other seamen were very ill when he left
town.   The melancholy scene that afterwards fol-
owed at St. George's in '93....'94, is well and amply
described by my respectable friend Dr. Chishohn,
in his well known work, on West-India diseases.

   " As to the character of this fever,my experience
has fully satisfied me that it was specifically distinct
from every form of  the Indigenous Bilious Remit-
tent, which I had ever observed.   Because it appear-
ed at a season of the year which I had always found
healthy,, during a period of nineteen years I  had
resided in the colony.   Because it  did not particu-
larly appear in those situations where bilious re-
mittent fever usually prevailed during the unhealthy
season of the year.  Because there was an evident
difference in the character and type of the two dis-
eases ;  there was a greater despondency of mind in
this fever, the eyes were more muddy and inflamed,
there was commonly a deep seated pain in the  eye-
sockets, the  motion of the eye-balls was attended
with uneasiness ;  the pain in the back and limbs
wras greater than in bilious fever; the vomiting was
not of so violent and straining a nature,  nor  was
there such  evacuations  of bilious matter.    The
black vomit*  generally occurred at an early period j
the yellowness was of a dingy hue, not of the'real
icteric tinge accompanying cases  of  bilious fever.
The delirium was in many instances of a peculiar
nature, and much resembling a state of intoxication;

   * Which I consider as one of the characterististies of this disease. 
i
                       157

haemorrhage  was more  frequent,  particularly by
urine, and from the stomach and intestines.  Pati-
ents, on  several occasions, made exertions not long
before death, that I never witnessed in bilious fever.
I have known a patient to get up, dress himself, and
walk' about his chamber,  a very short time before
his,death.  Medical practitioners, before being well
acquainted with the deceitful nature,of the disease,
not unfrequently  declared their patients out of dan-
ger, when the fatal issue took place an hour or two
after  their departure.   Because I never knew this
fever terminate within a few weeks in intermittent,
as tertian, remittent or bilious fever commonly does.
Because  the, degree of  weakness produced by the
fever is greater, and the recovery of flesh and strength
more gradual and slow in this than, bilious fever.....
Because  I did not find the same mode of treatment
successful in both cases of fever ; for the early, bold
and free use of bark, which I have found very gen-
erally to. answer  in bilious fever,. seemed to aggra-
vate this fever, and to hasten the fatal  issue.

   "That this fever was contagious,Iconcluded from
the manner in which it broke out and spread.  It first
appeared in two  or three vessels that had a commu-
nication with the Hankey,  and from those  sources
it gradually extended itself to other vessels in the
harbour, but not to all; for, where attention was
paid  to prohibit communication with infected ships,
such vessels escaped.   After some time it got on
shore, both into town and in the garrison.   There
is also reason to think that it was carried from thence
to the adjoining  islands, as it  appeared  at most of
 those to windward, within  two months of its break-
 ing out  at Grenada; and  some  time  thereafter, it
 shewed  itself at Jamaica, and ultimately I believe in
September at Philadelphia.

   " Its  contagious nature also  appeared from many 
158
 instances of men in 1793 and 1794, going to St.
 George's on business, and being attacked a few
 days after their return to the country with this fever,
 to several of whom it proved fatal;  but I must ob-
 serve that I met with no instance in the country of
 the disease beingcommunicated to others, either visi-
 tors or attendants.   It is indeed true that every at-
 tention was paid to keep the chambers of the sick
 well aired;  their linen frequently shifted, and when
 a fataljssue took place, every article of wearing ap-
 parel and bedding  was commonly destroyed.

   " From knowing several instances of young men
 who got wounded in 1795 and 1796, having  been
 sent for convenience and proper attendance to town,
 and during  their cure were attacked by this cruel
 disease,  and on some  occasions  fell  a sacrifice
 thereto.

   " From instances occurring, of people  expressing
 a consciousness of the time,  when they received the
 contagion, while visiting acquaintances labouring un-
 der the disease.

  " From a thorough belief in the minds of all the
 medical gentlemen  in Grenada,  who witnessed the
 disease, that it was so;  let it be observed,  however,"
 that one of the most respectable practitioners in St!
 George's, and a particular acquaintance of my own,
 would not allow, at frst, that it was contagious.
 And lastly, from a  full conviction that I,  as  well as
 some other medical gentlemen, contracted the dis-
 ease in our attendance on the sick.

  " Respecting  the propagation of this fever, I am
decidedly of opinion, that it was occasioned by visit-
ing infected apartments, or by the near approach to;
or contact with  people labouring under it.  There
is every probability also, that the  infection  was 
159
brought to Grenada by the Hankey;* but what its
nature was, whether it originated on board in conse-
quence of the number of sick crowded together, while
labouring under the endemic of a warm climate, and
that in a sultry, moist atmosphere, is a question I do
not take upon myself to answer.

  " That vegetable and animal matter, in a state of
putrefaction, does produce disease, is not to be de-
nied ; but  that vegetable/natter only in a state of
corruption, is on many occasions harmless, is evident,
from the oifensive heaps of cotton-seed, and the pulpy
covering of the coffee berry, which are daily  to be
met with in Demarara, without being considered as
a cause  of fever; nor should this  circumstance be
omitted, that when fever does prevail, it is at a sea-
sou, when those causes do not act powerfully.
                       Yours, &c.
                            JOHN  STUART.
  Dr. David Hosack."
    < •

  The next opinion which I  shall  adduce, with' re-
spect to  the origin  of Yellow Fever in this country,
is that of the celebrated French traveller, C. F. Vol-
ney, in Iris very interesting work, entitled, " A  View
of the Climate and Soil of the United States of Ame-
rica."   In page 297,  of the London edition, printed
in 1804, he begins thus :

           OF  THE'YELLOW FEVER.

  " The disease,  too well known by the name of Yel-
low Fever, grows more and more common in the
United States,  and I shall speak of it, at some length,
on  account of  the importance of the subject.  Be-
sides, as I  was  originally intended for the practice of

  * it is important to  note here, that when the Hankey returned to
Great-Britain, she was  immediately ordered by the Board of Health t*
l»e burnt, which was cbr\eaccoidirigly. 
160
physic, the studies of my younger days enabled me
to reason upon this disorder with professional men,
and discuss the various opinions entertained concern-
ing it, though with the diffidence becoming one who
has only had a glimpse of the extensive career.   Had
I not been thus far qualified, 1 should have refrained
fr  m meddling with the subject; for to talk of pliysic
without having studied the art, is like discoursing of
astronomy, mechanics, or military skill, without any
preliminary information."

   From the above introduction, it will appear pretty     y
evident, that  Mr.Volney was well qualified to make
remarks upon the nature of the diseases, which were
most  prevalent, in those countries, through which he
travelled,but as want of room compels me to leave out
his account of the different stages of the yellow fe-
ver, the diiferent modes  of cure,  &c.  I shall con-
tent myselfj at present,  by giving his opinion con-     /
cerning  the origin of this cruel disorder.   After men-
tioning  a schism amongst physicians, which he Says,
had been  particularly notorious, he  goes  on  thus,
" Some  have  pretended, that it (the Yellow Fever)
was always imported from abroad, particularly from
the West-Indies; and that it was  not, and  could
not, in any case, be the native produce of the United
States.   In proof of their opinion, they have advan-
ced the  non-existence or extreme rarity of epidemics
before the peace of 1783; and they have ascribed
their frequency since that period to their more active
and more direct commercial intercoursce  with the
West-India islands  and the Spanish main.   They
have even  charged  certain vessels, by  name, with
having imported the contagion, the existence of which
they have supposed in a degree  little inferior to the
Plague."

   *c Other physicians,on the contrary,have maintain-
ed, that from its very nature  the yellow fever might 
161
arise in the United States, as often  as its disposing
and occasional causes of time and place occ*rred to-
gether ; and, in the first place, tracing to their source,
the pretended facts of importation, they have demon-
strated by the most  positive testimonies,  not only
that the vessels accused of having brought with them
the disease, or its germes, did no such thing, but  that
it did not appear on board of them, till after they had
moored at the quays, and in the vicinity of the places,
which were noted at New-York and Philadelphia, as
the foci of the evil;  with this additional peculiarity,
that it had even  seized those of the crews first, who
had had  the most immediate contact  vvith the infec-
tious  place ;*  then,  collecting  all the circumstances
of the disease,  with regard  to place, season, and the
constitutions of the sick, they have demonstrated,

   "  1st. That it attacked populous cities, in  prefer-
ence to villages and country situations.

   " 2dly.  That,  in  populous cities,  as New-York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, it affected constantly
and almost exclusively, the low parts, full of filth and
stagnant water;  streets not ventilated,  not  paved,
and dirty; and particularly the quays and  their vici-
nity, covered  with nastiness to an inconceivable de-
gree ; where every day, at low water, the shores are
  * Thus the whole city of Philadelphia was persuaded, that the epi-
demic of 1793, came from the island of Grenada, to which they said it
had been brought from Bulam, on the coast of Africa, by the ship Han-
key.  An English physician, who happened to be at that inland, gave
great weight to the authenticity of this second part of the story in a
pamphlet he wrote ; yet three yeais after, Mr. Noah Webster and Dr.
E.  H. Smith published, at New-York, a journal of the whole  voyage
of the Hankey, drawn up by one of the most respectable eye-witnesses,
 which contains such a great body of proof, and bears so obvious a stamp
of candour and veracity, that the reader is convinced, as well as Mr.
 Webster and Dr. SmiJh,ofDr. Chisholm's having been completely de-
 ceived.  In like manner, Dr. Richard Bayley proves, in his excellent re-
 port to the Governor of New-York, that the accusations brought against
the vessels Antoinette and Patty, were vulgar rumours, completely des-
titute of foundation, &c. See the New-York Medical Repository, 2tl
 edition, vol. I. page 4>59 and 121.
                            X 
165
exposed to  an ardent sun.  At New-York, for  in-
stance,  Dr. R. Bayley has calculated, that to fill up
the dock, between the Whitehall and Exchange-slip,
twenty-four loads of every kind of filth, including even
carcases of horses, dogs, &c. were used  in one year.;
whence it followed, that in July, the stench was so
powerful in the neighbourhood, as to excite nausea
and vomiting, the precursors of the epidemic,  espe-
cially in the evenings.

   " Sdly. That with regard to the course of the sea-
son, it appeared  only in July, August  and Septem-
ber ; that is at the period when the obstinate and in-      x
tense heats of 24° or 25° Reaumur, (86° or 88°  F.)
excite an evident fermentation in these  heaps of ani-
mal and vegetable matter, and disengage from  them
miasmata,  which every thing indicates-to be the de-
stroyers of health.  These physicians have remarked,
that the epidemic redoubled its fury, if the weather
were dan»p,orthe wind south-east,or even north-east:
that it was diminished by the cold and dryness of the
north-west wind, and even by the copious rains of
the •south-west;  that, in the difference of years, the
fever selected those, in which the heats of summer
were  accompanied with most dryness  and calm in
the air; no doubt, because then the  accumulated
miasmata exercised a more powerful action on the
lungs, and, by their means, on the whole circulation.

   " Lastly. They have demonstrated, that in the
choice of subjects, it attacks in preference, the badly
fed and dirty  inhabitants  of the suburbs and  quar-
ters abounding in filth and marshes; workmen ex-
posed to the heat of fire, as smiths and jewellers, and
those  who were addicted  to  spirituous liquors, ob-
serving, that frequently the Yellow Fever has imme-
diately succeeded a fit of drunkenness; that it attacks
also more particularly,  people of full, sanguine,  ro-
bust habits,  adults of warm constitutions^ foreigners 
                        163                     l

 from northern climates, blacks, and men debilitated
 by libertinism: that it spares foreigners from hot coun-
 tries, people temperate in drinking, and more parti-
 cularly in eating; and those who are in easy circum-
 stances, cleanly in their persons, living more on ve-
 getable than animal food, and residing in paved, airy
 streets, and high situations.

   *' Farther, following the malady even to the places
 pointed out as the cradle and focus of its origin, they
 hare demonstrated,  that  even in  the  West-Indies,
 in the islands of Grenada,  Martinico,  St. Domingo
 and Jamaica, the  Yellow  Fever arose only  where
 the same circumstances  were combined* that  ir
 shews itself only in  certain places, and particular
 years, exactly similar to the cases mentioned in the
 United States;  that  places, where there is neither
 marsh nor filth, as St  Kitt's, St. Vincent's, Tobago,
 and Barbadoes, are constantly  healthy; that, if the
 fever has appeared  at St. George's,  in Grenada, and
 at Fort Royal, in Martinico, it was at the careen-
 age, near noisome marshes, and at a time when a
 superabundance of vessels, and the  extreme dryness
 of the season, had contributed to the developement
 of ferments; that if its appearance in  the cities of
 New-York,  Baltimore and Philadelphia, had been
 owing only to importation, it must have been brought
 to them habitually, from  Norfolk  and Charleston,
 with which they had an  extensive intercourse, and
 where the combination of all the causes above-men-
 tioned, rendered it almost endemic every summer.

  ".The facts, on which these conclusic-nsare founded,
are dispersed through different tracts, published from
 1795 and 1798, the time when I left  the  United
 States.*
  * See the report of the physicians of Philadelphia  to the Go-
vernor  of Pennsylvania; that  of Dr. Richard Bayley  to the Go- 
164
  <c It is impossible to read them attentively, and not
be struck with the constant  harmony and  corres-
pondence, that every where exist between the pri-
mary and secondary causes, mediate or immediate,
the concomitant circumstances and the effects, either
isolated or combined into a series.   Every where we
find the fever originating and increasing in the com-
pound ratio of the heat ot the atmosphere, of its con-
tinued dryness or temporary humidity,  of its calm-
ness,  of the  vicinity  and  extent  of  marshes,  and
especially of the accumulated heaps of animal  mat-
ter, forming a focus of putrefaction, and deleterious
effluvia.   We even see the fevers  are more  or less
violent according to the intensity of all these causes: if
there be only excess of heat, without masses of pu-
trefaction, and without marshes, they are simply of
the inflammatory kind, that is scarlatina and bilious
fever, without any complication of malignity; if there
be muddy marshes,unimpregnated with animal matter
the miasmata occasion  putrid sore throats,  the se-
vere bilious  vomitings called  cholera morbus,  and
destructive dysenteries :  if to these be added accu-
mulations of putrefying animal matter, the disorder
becomes complicated with symptoms, that always
denote the nervous system to be affected by a kind
of  poison: when the evil is at its maximum, all the
other degrees have a tendency to assimilate with it;
whence it follows, that fevers may be graduated and
measured by the degrees of the thermometer,  and
intensity of putrid miasmata; and that in the course
of  the same  summer and  autumn, we may follow
vernor of New-York ;  the Inquiry into the Cause of the Prevalence of
the Yellow Fever in New-York, by Dr. Valentine Seaman ; Dr. Rush's
Medical Inquiries and Observations :  a letter from Dr. G. Davidson,
,on the appearance of the Yellow Fever at Martinico in 179S:  Origin
of the Pestilential Fever that prevailed  in the Island of Grenada in
1793 and 1794 by Dr. E. H. Smith ;  an Inaugural Dissertation on the
Bilious Fever and Dysentery that prevailed in Sheffield, in Massachu-
setts, by Dr. W. Buel; and lastly the very interesting Collection of
.Letters on the Fevers of various places, published by Noah Webster. 
 their progress and affinity from simple synocha, to
 the plague, which is but the last degree in the scale,
 and the maximum of these causes united.  In such
 a state of things it is evident, that every country
 where heat and centres of putrefaction are united to
 a sufficient degree, will  be capable of engendering
 all these diseases.  I had already imagined, that I
 had observed in Egypt and Syria, a heat of 24° of
 Reaumur, (86 F.) to be the point at which a febrile
 disposition  and commotion of  a destructive kind,
 denoted by the term of malignant fever  took place
 in the  blood ; and it was with surprise and plea-
 sure I saw the same opinion had been suggested to
 Dr. G. Davidson at Martinico, by similar facts, and
 that he thought with me, that setting out from this
 degree, equal to 86° of Farenheit, the characters of
 malignity and contagion are exalted as the heat rises,
 till at length  they form the plague.

   " Through the means of the writings and facts I
 have quoted, these principles have acquired such  a
 degree of evidence in  the United States, that a very
 great majority of the physicians of New-York, Bos-
 ton, Baltimore, Norfolk and Charleston, have joined
 in declaring, that the  yellow fever might, and actu-
 ally did arise in the United States.  The college of
 Philadelphia alone has persisted in affirming its im-
 portation, and this opinion, which has in its favour
 the advantage  of  precedence  in the  minds of the
 common people,  will long have partizans in every
 class, from several very poUnt motives : as

   " 1st.  Because  it flatters national  vanity,  and
 many persons want only a pretext, to   authorise
 their own.

   " 2d. Because it favours the interest of jobbers in
the sale of lands, and the emigration of foreigners to
a country which 'enjoys the privilege of not engen- 
166
dering fever.  It is true that if it be so apt to receive
it by rnnoculation, the case is almost  as  bad ; but
the partizans of its importation  cannot take a joke,
and I have found  many Americans, who were  seri-
ously put out of temper by contradiction on this sub-
ject.

  " 3d. Because  those physicians who first  estab-
lished this belief, are so engaged by self-love or  sup-
posed conviction, that they have almost prohibited
to themselves the least modification of it; and be-
cause they have made the government  take mea-
sures so decisive,  and  so burdensome to commerce,
that if they were  now found  to have been adopted
without reason, the authors  would infallibly occur
ill-will.  Yet I consider  those  offices of health  or
lazarettos in the ports of the United States, as a  wise
institution, particularly in the  American trade up the
Mediterranean, and in the Levant.

  " 4thly and lastly,  because the contagious and
almost pestilential character, which is joined  with
the prejudice of importation, very happily excuses
the want of success of those, whose  patients  very
*eldom recover.

  *' While I adopt the opinion  of those physicians
who consider ttye yellow fever as an indigenous pro-
duct of the United States,lam  far from inculpating
the intention of those,who support the opposite side
of the question; but I consider the doctrine of im-
portation  as dangerous and imprudent, both on ac-
count  of  the dogmatic and  intolerant  tone it has
assumed so far  as to attack domestic liberty and se-
curity, and to compromise the government; and be-
cause, in urging extravagant external measures, it
has rendered men indifferent to internal steps of far
greater necessity, that flow directly from the oppo-
site opinion. 
167
  " As to  the que^ion of its contagious character,,
I can neither admit the absolute negative mentioned
by some physicians,  nor the general  and constant
case supposed by several others.   The latter is con-
troverted by  too  many  incontestable facts; and the
former, that is, the negative, seems to me inconsistent
with  the very origin  of the disorder; for if marsh
miasmata and putrid matter possess the property of
exciting it, surely a fortiori,  the miasmata of an in-
fected human body must have this quality, their affi-
nity with the living fluids being much  greater.  Ac-
cordingly, it was remarked ia Philadelphia in 1797»
that  several families, in returning from the country
to their  houses in town, in which some persons had
been sick or died, without taking care to purify it
from infection, were immediately seized with the dis-
order, notwithstanding  the weather was cold, and it
had disappeared.  At  Norfolk, it was still  a more
general  remark,  that they who had  removed from
the  city, were more exposed  to catch the disorder,
than they who remained constantly in  its atmos-
phere; and this case corresponds with that of stran-
gers, particularly from the  north,  who were  ob-
served  at Philadelphia, New-York, &c. to be parti-
cularly liable to attack.

   " The men of theory  endeavour to explain this
 singularity by  saying,  that strangers are more sus-
ceptible of the fever in  consequence of a superabun-
 dance of oxygen  being infused into the blood, by the
 purer air of Europe or the country.  But not to men-
 tio n that this superabundance of oxygen is merely
 hypothetical, the ideas we have of oxygen gas, essen-
 tially conducive to health, are so cohtrary to it, that
 we have a right  to demand stronger  proofs ; and to
 assert* as they do, that oxygen  is more abundant ia
 low situations than high, is a new supposition in che-
 mistry,  so much the  less  admirable,  as the most
 learned chemists in Europe consider the  contrary as 
168
proved.  It is not oxygen,  that their experiments
have shewn them to be disengaged from marshes and
putrid matters, but carbon,  hydrogen and azot: it
even appears, that the combination of the first two
of these gasses, has the specific property of generat-
ing intermitting and remitting fevers, and that these
do not become putrid, but by the addition of azot ta
the compound.

  " Farther study, no doubt, will unfold  the action
ef all these morbific gasses ;  at present the best indi-
cations of cure appear to lie :  1st. to counteract the
inflammation, which is the first stage of the disorder,
by deluents and  refrigerants  ;  perhaps baths of such
a temperature as to excite a slight shivering* would
be among the most efficacious employed on the first
suspicion of the disorder  and continued for eight or
ten hours.   I leave it to the  masters of the art to de-
cide on very cold baths even  near the freezing point,
from which some American  physicians assert, they
have obtained good effects : it is certain, that  in cases
ef phrenzy, they have sometimes effected astonishing
eures; but the period of their application has a deci-
sive influence, since their effect in the inflammatory
stage is very different from what it would be in the
succeeding.  The remedies employed  against aphixy
too may be of use, since deleterious  gasses appear
to act  a part in the disease.   The essential object is,
to prevent  inflammation from increasing to such  a
degree, as to decompose the fluids; for in this case,
nothing can prevent the disorder from running thro'
all its three stages.   Accordingly, the first few hours
are decisive,  and require all the celerity possible:
and in them, taking away blood in small quantities,
may be of great utility.   An all powerful preserva-
  * Of iq« or 15» (55° or 60° F.) according to the feelings of the
patieut. 
169
tive is  the most rigid  abstinence,*  with aqueous
drinks, as soon as a sensation of heaviness is felt, with
lassitude and loss of appetite -,  and it must be conti-
nued strictly two or three days, till the calls of hun-
ger return, and  both mind and  body resume their
wonted alacrity.

  " With regard to general preservatives applicable
to the cities of the United  States, these depend on
the central government, and consist,

  " 1st. In regulating the strictness of quarantine,
as well authenticated cases of  disorders  imported in
ships  may require.   Vessels from the Mediterranean
demand most attention.

  " 2d. In prohibiting  the abuse of the pretended
right  of property,  and of the  liberty of individuals,
who,  in the vicinity, nay even in the heart of  great
cities, fill up low  grounds with filth and even carrion.
The Americans boast of their cleanliness ; but I  can
assert, that the quays of New-York and Philadelphia,
with certain  parts  of the suburbs, exceed, in public
and private nastiness, any thing I ever beheld in Tur-
key, where the air  has the advantage of  salubrious
dryness,

  " 3d. In establishing regulations of police, hither-
to unadopted  or neglected,  for the  paving of  the
streets, suburbs, and even the hearts of cities.  It  has
been  observed in Europe,  that the great epidemics
of Paris, Lyons,  London,  and other very populous
cities, have ceased since the establishment  of a gene-
ral and regular pavement.

  " 4th.  In preventing  any stagnant water,  accu-
  * See an excellent  paper on the  Effects of Abstinence at the ap-
proach of Acute Diseases, by Edward Miller, M. D.  New-York Me-
dical Repository, 2d edition, vol. I. page 187.
                         Y 
170
 mutation of putrid matters;  in removing from the
 heart of cities, extensive burying-grounds, the pesti-
 lential use of which is generally retained with super-
 stitious respect.   Philadelphia*  has four vast ceme-
 teries in the .handsomest quarter of the city, of the
 smell of which, I was very sensible in the summer,
 and  it has not one walk planted with salutary ver-
 dure.


   " 5th.  In  obliging  the  cities to wall  and pave
 their  privies, which, in their prevent state, commu-
 nicate so directly,  through a  sandy  soil,  with the
 wells, equally left destitute of walls, that on the melt-
 ing of the snow in winter, and during the droughts
 of summer, the water in both may be seen to assume
 the same level.   It is  so true, that the water drank
 in the lower parts of the city, (Philadelphia) receives
 filtrations from the cemeteries and privies,  that in
 Front-street, I found the water in my  decanters be-
 come ropy,  if kept three days in the month of May,
 and at length acquire a cadaverous stench.


   " Lastly, the government, while it directs  the at-

  * If in the city, of Philadelphia, there be four vast cemeteries- in the
 handsomest quarter  of the city, there are of cemeteries of one sort or
another in the thick settled part of the city of New-York not less than
 eighteen.  In a letter which was written to me, November24th, 1798,
 by Dr. Samuel  L. Mitchill, who i?, at present,  one of our representa-
tives in the senate of the United States, and which was afterwards pub-
lished in-my " account of the Malignant Fever" of that year, he makes
this observation. " It deserves to be mentioned, that human carcases,
buried and accumulated for a long series of years, have poisoned the air
in many parts of Christendom, and that by the concurrence of both mu-
nicipal and spiritual authority, the practice of interring in cities and
churchyards has  been  absolutely  prohibited in many parts of Italy,
on account of the horrid mischiefs  occasioned thereby.  Although the
 evil has not grown to sucli an alarming height amongst ourselves at this
•lay, yet it is certainly worthy of consideration whether it would not be
better at once for christians to discard the superstition, which leads to
this practice, an* imitate the Jews and Mahometans  fn conveying their
carrion entirely out of town, and burying it in places remote from the
habitations of the living.  A regard for the preservation of posterity, as
well as our own present and personal security, imposes on us the adop-
tion of some decisive measures upon this head." 
171
tention of  the  inhabitants of the United States to
these objects of domestic concern,  should  promote
their being  properly instructed, with, respect to one
of the most essential and most radical causes of all
their diseases;  I mean their djetic regimen, whjcb,
in consequence of their origin, they have derived from
the English and Germans.   I will venture to say,
that if a prize were proposed for the scheme of a regi-
men most calculated to injure the stomach, the teeth,
and the health in general, no better could be invent-
ed than thatof the Americans.  In the morning, at
breakfast, they  deluge  their stomachs with a quart
of hot water, impregnated with tea or so slightly with
coffee, that it is merely coloured water; and they
swallow, almost without chewing,  hot bread half
baked,  toast soaked in butter, cheese of the fattest
kind, slices of salt or hung beef, ham, &c. all which
are nearly insoluble.  At dinner, they have boiled
pastes, under the name of puddings, and the fattest
are  esteemed the most  delicious;  all their sauces,
even for roast beef, are melted butter; their turnips
and potatoes swim in hog's lard, butter or fat; under
the name of pie or pumpkin, their pastry is nothing
but a greasy paste, never sufficiently baked ; to di-
gest these vicious substances,  they  take tea almost
instantly after dinner, making it so strong, that it is
absolutely bitter to the taste; in which state it affects
the nerves  so powerfully, that even the English find
it brings on a more obstinate restlessness than coffee.
Supper again introduces  salt meats or  oysters; as
Chateleux  says, the whole day passes in heaping in-
digestions on one  another;  and to give tone to the
poor relaxed and wearied stomach, they drink Ma-
deira, rum, French brandy, gin, or malt spirits, which
complete the ruin of the nervous system."

   After some further observations respecting the diet
of the Americans, much to the same purport with
the  preceding, our author goes on thu»:  <f It is so 
172
true, that their regimen is one of the grand predis-
posing  causes of disease, 'and of the Yellow Fever,
that, in the height of the epidemics, a single cas*e ne-
ver appeared within the confines of the prison at Phi-
ladelphia;* and this evidently because the system  of
diet there, is  regulated by a scale of temperature,
affording no opportunity for overloading the stomach,
and consequently,  for a depravation of the fluids.
The abuse of  spirituous liquors,  in particular,  is to-
tally banished from this admirable establishment."

  * It is remarkable, that during the different seasons, in which the
city of New-York  has been afflicted with Pestilential Fever, the Alms
House, Debtors' Apartment, Bridewell and State Prison have almost
been totally exempt from that calamity; and that when any solitary
case of such fever has occurred in either of these buildings, it does not
appear even in a single instance, that the disease has been communica-
ted from one to another.  Note of the Editor. 
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE SITUATION OF THE CONVICTS IN THE STATE-PRISON,
  WITH RESPECT TO HEALTH, DURING THE LAST SUMMER.

   UPON this subject, it is impossible  for me to ad-
vance  any thing more satisfactory than the following
official report of the physicians of that institution to
the Board of Inspectors.

     <e Gentlemen,

   " The undersigned,  to whom was referred the re-
quest  of the Board of Inspectors of the State-Prison,
to be informed of the causes of the great expence of
the Hospital Department in that Institution, during
the present year, and of all such other things relative
to the health of the convicts, as it may be important
to communicate, beg leave to report:

   fC That it appears from inspecting the  books of the
^prison, that from the  19th of May, to  the 25th of
November, 391 persons were admitted into the Hos-
pital,  whjch is  a greater number than has  been for-
merly admitted, in the course of a year.   The num-
ber of patients  will therefore explain the correspond-
ing increase of the expences of the Hospital.

   " In order to account satisfactorily for the remark-
able augmentation of the number of the sick, it will
be necessary to recollect the peculiarly  morbid con-
stitution of the atmosphere, which  prevailed during
the late summer and autumn, not only  in the city of
New-York,  but in a great number  of other parts of
the state.

   " The effects of this condition  of the  atmosphere,
 were clearly manifested, not only in the appearance 
1?4
of an unusually great number of cases of fever, which
from the beginning of July till the middle of October,
amounted to forty-three, but likewise in the great
number of cases of dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera and
colic, all of which have a near relation, and frequently
arise from different modifications of the same cause.

   " There is proof also of the remarkably unhealthy
state of the atmosphere, in the singular disposition to
diseases, sometimes  light and  transient,  as well as
more severe, which existed throughout the months of
July, August, September and October.

   " And whoever calls to mind the remarkable Heat
and drought of July and August, will have little he-
sitation in considering it as a remarkable season, and
little difficulty in understanding how such a condition
of atmosphere should be likely to convert into poison,
all  the filth  and putrifying matters which  may be
collected in and about an institution, which, from the
increased number ©f convicts, has become so popu-
lous and crowded.

  «' This view of the subject is also confirmed by the
occurrence of two cases of the malignant disease po-
pularly  called the Yellozo Fever, in the month of
August.

  " The first case, that of Frederick Crater,  com-
menced at Bridewell on the 10th of  August, with
symptoms of bilipus colic, which frequently  precede
the characteristic appearances of Yellow Fever, and
he died on the fourttTday of his disease, with decided
marks of malignancy, and  among the rest, with the
appearances of black vomit.

  " The second case, to which we refer/was that of
William Webb; who was  seized  with fever on the
12th of August, the day before the  admission  of 
175
Crater,  and who exhibited during his illness in the
marked  affection of his stomach,, the  discolouration
of his  skin,  and in several other appearances,  indu-
bitable evidence of labouring under Yellow Fever.*


   " It is true, that some hesitation  and unwillingness
were shewn at the time to pronounce decisively  on
the first case ; thib arose  from the early occurrence
of the case,  and an extreme disinclination to disturb
the public tranquillity, by any suggestions of the ex-
istence of malignant fever. The events,however, which
soon afterwards disclosed themselves in the city, left no
room  for doubt of the nature  of these cases in  the
mind of any reasonable person.


   " It deserved to be remarked, that  the circum-
stances of the cases preclude all suspicion of their hav-
ing infected one another, or  of the  disease having
arisen  from any foreign qr contagious source.


   " And it is interesting to observe, that the testimo-
ny in favour of the home-bred origin of our pestilen-

  * At theiime Webb was sick, there were five or six others, who were
ill of Typhus Fever.  These were all taken to the gallery of the chapel,
in which situation they enjoyed an air so pure, that it could not beejc-
ceeded in many places of the island; and in order that all fear of infec-
tion or contagion, from the case of Webb, might be removed from  the
minds of the convicts, he was placed in a small wooden building erected
for the purpose, at a distance as far as practicable, from the prison ; but
within the walls.  He was visited, during  his illness, by many  physi-
cians; by most of whom, his case was pronounced to be Yellow Fever,
whilst the others seemed to hesitate, with respect to the name,  which
should be given to the disease.  All, however, agreed that his case was
so very dangerous, as to leave very little, if any, hopes of his recovery.
But owing to the unceasing attention of his physicians, he, at last, got
better
  In adverting to the above circumstances,  I should do injustice  to my
own feelings, as well as to the cause of truth, if I did not record  to the
honour of the Board of Inspectors and medical gentlemen of the State-
Prison, that I was in no place, during the epidemic of the last or fonrer
years, where 1 found the sick treated with more tenderness, care and
humanity, than in this institution; to which I may, likewise, add, that
as soon as they began to be in a state of convalescence, every necessary
which it was supposed, could be conducive  to their recovery, was libe-
rally allowed to them. Editor. 
176
tial disease receives no small degree of confirmation
from the occurrence of these cases in  a situation so
entirely inaccesable to imported contagion.

  " After this instance of the appearance of so many
cases of fever in the State Prison, during the course
of one season, and  the malignant and alarming as-
pect of some of them, it  would be improper, on  the
present occasion, to omit recommending to the board
of inspectors, an incessant attention to all the means
of cleanliness and ventilation in  the prison,  and as
much indulgence of the prisoners in the benefit of
exercise and  fresh  air as the nature and objects of
the institution will allow.

  " All which is respectfully submitted by the Board
ofPhvsicians.

              RICHARD L. WALKER,
              NICHOLAS I. QUACKENBOS.
  New-York, December 4, 1805.
The Inspectors of the >
•  State Prison"  > 
CHAPTER VII.
     DESULTORY OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

   IN  adverting to the different tables,  which have
 been published, in the preceding part of this work,
 and in reflecting upon various occurrences which took
 place  during  the prevalence of the late epidemic,
 several observations present themselves to the mind,
 winch, it is thought,  may be deemed interesting to
 the public in general, particularly as they are not ad-
 vanced for the purpose of supporting any one theory,
 but merely with a view to state facts, from which the
 intelligent reader can, at leisure, draw his own con-
 clusions.

   In the first place, the record of deaths kept at the
 Marine Hospital, and published in page 111 of this
 pamphlet, will shew, that six persons, viz.  Christo-
 pher Hibbron, James Dougherty, Isabella Adams,
 Mrs. Pfifer, Andrew Stayley,  and Daniel Young,
 who were sent from this city to the  Marine Hospi-
 tal, died of Malignant Fever, previous to any person
 being sent thither  from any of the shipping.  Two
 other persons, viz. William  Aylesbury,  and James
 Kirkwood, had, likewise, been sent down, ill of the
 s?*r   Ksease, previous to the SOth  day of August,
 wflcu Joshua Haines, of  the snow Mehitabel, who
 was the first seaman infected with the fever this sea-
 son, was  lodged in the hospital, leaving an interval
 of forty-three days, between the time that Hibbron
 was sent down, viz. on the 18th of July, and the re-
 moval of Haines, on the 29th of August.   Aylesbury
 and Kirkwood recovered.

   2d.  Mr. James  Dougherty, who was  removed
from No. 128 Water-street, to the Marine Hospital,
on the 30th of July, on which day, he likewise died,
                       z 
178
was reported by all the physiciaus who saw him, to
labour under the most decided symptoms of Yellow
Fever.  He was, at least, visited by six physicians:
his two female cousins were constant in their atten-
tion towards him, during his illness.   Messrs. Moore
and$tory, as also the servants of the house, frequent-
ly saw him, nor did several of his friends forsake him.
My brother as well as myself, were, likewise, present
at the time of his removal, and  assisted in carrying
him down stairs.  It is  remarkable, however, that
no one ci those who had intercourse with him, cer-
tainly not less than twenty in  number, .exclusive of
the boatmen, who carried  him down to  th« island,
received the least infection or contagion.

   3d. John Pelsue, who died at the house of his mo-
ther, No. 4 Church-street, on the 5th of September,
is supposed by some, to'have caught his sickness at the
place where he worked, viz. at the office of the Daily
Advertiser,lower end of Pine-street, while his mother
imagines, that it proceeded from a cold which he had
caught, in going down into a cistern, a few days pre-.
vious to his indisposition.   But whatever might, have
occasioned his disease, physicians who espouse the
theory'of importation, as well as these who believe in
the doc-rule of local origin,  were equally positive in
asserting that it  was Yellow  Fever.   He too was vi-
sited by many physicians and  others.  , His mother
and sister were incessant in their  attendance towards
him, and a member pf my family sat up with him the
last night of his life.   Certainly not less than twenty
persons had free and repeated  intercourse with him,.
during his illness; no one of whom was attacked by
Malignant Fever, during the season.

   4th. I think there can be no doubt, that the case
oflsabefla Adams, a black woman, who was moved
to the Marine Hospital,  from the corner of Green-
wich and Chamber-streets,  on  the 7th of August, 
179
was decidedly  Yellozv Fever.  The circumstances
respecting this woman's case, so far as they have have
come to my knowledge, are as follow:  On  the even-
ing of the 6th of August, between the hours of nine and
ten, a gentleman called at my house,  with informa-
tion, that hcj as well as his neighbours, were'greatly.
alarmed, with respect to a black woman, who had
been sick for several days, without medical as^stance,
and who was generally believed to labour under Ma-
lignant Fever.   I immediately went to the cellar in
which she lay, and as, after the most critical exami-
nation, of which I was capable, I  was apprehensive,
that the fears of my informant were well founded, I
forthwith communicated my suspicions to  the  Resi-
dent Physician, who,.notwithstanding the lateness of
the hour, accompanied me to the  place, and gave
directions for her removal to the Marine Hospital, at
as early an hour, as should be practicable.  To com-
ply with this order, Mr. Delamater, together with
myself, went to the house next morning at day-break,
where we found  the poor creature, oppressed with
black vomit, and otherwise  so extremely low, as to
render the propriety of sending  her off, somewhat
questionable.  When, however, we observed the cool-
ness of the morning, the serenity of the sky, and that
the wind and tide were both favourable, we were
persuaded, that  if no benefit should accrue from the
passage, it was impossible that she could sustain any
injury.   From these considerations, therefore, as well
as  to remove the fears of the neighbourhood, she was
sent to the Marine Hospital, where she died, within
a few hours after her arrival, under, as I have  ince
been informed,  by  the Health-Officer,  the most
marked and unequivocal symptoms of Yellozo Fever
At least one dozen of persons visited thi* woman,
previous to  her removal; none of whom, if we except
one,* was taken sick of the disorder.  It ought to be

  * A few days after this woman's removal,  Mr. Delamater wa3 taken
sick of fever; but tint he caught the disease of her, is certair.ly very
 problematical. 
180
 observed, however, that in this, as well as in'every
 other instance of the eame nature, every measure of
 fumigation anal cleanliness, which  experience had
 suggested, was uniformly resorted to.

   5th. Of the numerous persons employed at the
 Marine  Hospital, whether as physicians,  nurses,
 washer-women, boatmen, and attendants of every
 description, no person was taken sick of fever, during
 the whole season; nor did any cf those numerous
 persons,  who, at different times, went down to Sta-
 ten-Island as  passengers, in the same boat with the
 sick, sustain the least inconvenience.   All the pilots,
 likewise, who were employed in bringing up the dif-
 ferent  vessels,  continued to enjoy an uninterrupted
 state of good health.

   6th. Such  sick persons as were sent down to the
 Marine Hospital, were, in general, transported from
 the Whitehall-dock, where it frequently happened,
 that they were obliged to remain some time previous
 to the sailing of the boat.  No person in  that vici-
 nity, however, was afflicted  with fever, till the  19th
 of September, whem a man was attacked with it, who
 resided at, the corner of Whitehall and Front-street.
 He soou  afterwards recovered.

   7th. The City Inspector, who daily visited the sick
 at Bellevue, and spent considerable  time  amongst
 them, enjoyed an uninterrupted state of good health,
 during the whole season.   The physicians, nurses,
washer-women, and attendants of every description^
were all,  in the like manner, exempt from disease;
 and this is the more remarkable, as there was nothing
more common  with the nurses, that when  fatigued,
tp rest on the same beds with those who were in the
fast stage of the disorder.   The hearsemen, likewise,
who were employed in the dangerous business of re-
moving the afflicted and interring the dead, were ne- 
181
ver infected with the disease, either during the last
season, or any other season of Pestilential Fever. To
this may be added, that my  brother, as well as my-
self, were constantly amongst  the sick, as was also
Mr. Delamater, immediately after his recovery, yet
we were net infected with the  fever.

   8th. The three clergymen of the  Roman church,
viz. the Reverend Dr. William O'Brien,  the Reve-
rend Dr.  Mathew O'Brien,  and the Reverend Mr.
Hurley,  were  incessant in  administering spiritual
consolation to the sick of their congregatidu, nor did
they, in the discharge of this duty, avoid the most fiU
thy celja:*, or most infected places, yet none of them
was, in tqe least, hiiected with fever, during the sea*
son.

   9th. Of the physicians, who occasionally visited
those who were sick of the epidemic, there could not,
at the most moderate computation, be less than sjxty,
no one of whom, so far as I know, died, or was even
ill of  Malignant Fever.   Medical gentlemen, how-
ever,  did n'>t fareAgo  well, during the dreadful pesti-
lence of  1798, when no less than 16 were swept off
in discharging the duties of their profession, viz. Drs,
Andrews, Brooks,  D. Chickering,  Dingley, Peter
Faugeres, John B. Hicks, John B. Jones, Meleher
Caldwell,yLamt>, Millegan, J. B, Scandella, Elihu
H. Smith,"Teller, Tredvyejl,  Varick and Young.

   10th.  The number of persons who were occasion-
ally employed  as  nurses, certainly exceeded sixty.
These, however, were not so fortunate as the physi-
cians; four of them having fallen victims to the dis-
ease,  viz. Sally Bates, Mary Dunn,  Mrs. Sells, and
Mrs. Lloyd,    ft is to be observed, however, with re-
spect to these four, that the apartments in which the
sick persons lay,, whom they had last attended, were
low,  confined and ill ventilated.   One other nurse 
182
was taken sick; but after a stay at Bellevue, for a few
weeks, she recovered.

  11th. Upon the first  commencement of the dis-
ease,  and even during its continuance, a number of
sick persons were removed from the infected parts of
the city to the suburbs, and different parts on the
western side of the town.   But it is not recollected,
that any evil resulted from such removal, not even in
a solitary instance.

  12th. Agreeably to the observations which I have
made respecting  the Malignant Fever, during the
last, as well as the three preceding epidemics, it ap-
pears that no age or  sex is exempt from its ravages,
since  instances can  be adduced, of children at the
breast, being  affected with it, as well as persons of
seventy years and upwards.  I believe, however, that
those who have been most conversant with the dis-
ease, will agree in opinion, that persons between the
years of fourteen  and forty,  are more obnoxious to
the disorder, than they of any other age.  To males
it is likewise, more frequently fatal than to females;
and to foreigners, particularly from a cold  climate,
than to natives.

  ISth. Of the 302  persons who are stated to have
died of Malignant Fever, in the city,  at the Marine
Hospital, and at Bellevue, it appears, that

    88 were natives of the United States.
                         Ireland.
                         England.
                         Scotland.
                         Germany.
                         France.
                         Wales.
                         Holland.
67	do	do
21	do	do
17	do	do
10	do	do
7	do	do
7	do	do
1	do	do
218 
185
218 Brought forward.
   1     do     do     Halifax, and
 83 whose places of nativity were not properly
      ascertained.
   302  Total.

    That is,  88 natives.
            1S1 foreigners, and
             83 whose country is unknown.

           302 Total.

  Now, if, of the 83 persons whose native country is
not ascertained, there should be the same proportion
of natives and foreigners, as of those whose country
we know, (and this is, at least, highly probable) the
total amount would be,

                116 natives, and
                186 foreigners.
                502

   15th. Amongst the several nuisances which exist
in  this city, there appears to be none of a more seri-
ous and alarming magnitude,  than the  allowing of
people to lodge in low, damp cellars.   Of a number
of persons who were taken sick in such places, there
is  scarcely a single instance of  any one having reco-
vered,  unless  speedily removed  to the  Marine  or
Bellevue Hospital, or to some other place, where they
could enjoy a pure and salubrious atmosphere.

   As it may be interesting  to know  in how many
houses more than one person was taken sick of the
epidemic, the following list is subjoined, which, it is
believed, will  be found tolerably correct. 
184
Christopher Hibbron,* William Aylesbury,  James
  Kirkwood,* j—~ Laughan and Andrew Stayley,*
  from the rear of No. 92 Maiden-lane.
Mr.  John Hyde,*  Mrs. Hyde,*  Mr. John Hodg-
  kinson,*  and Miss  Billington, Tontine Coftee-
  House.
Paul R. Johnson* and John Taylor,* 46 Cedar-st.
William Browning* and wife*, 90 Water-street.
William* and Mary'Hunter,* 58 Front.
Robinson Hazard* Harriot Robinson,* and Mary
  Covet*, 86 St. James.
Elizabeth Snyder,* Jane M'Donald,* 45 Nassau.
John and Susan Webster, and Horatio Richardson,*
  156 Front.
Nancy Edwards and Rachel Quere, 38 Lumber.
William M'Lean, George Lewis, and Abraham Mon-
  tagnie, 91 James.
John M'Dewit* and wife, Hannah Houston, James
  ivTDewit,* (a child) and Catharine  Beam,  18
  Pearl.
Mr.  Hoyt and wife,* 82 Liberty.
Marian Mills* and James Malice,*"33 Ann.
Mrs. John Pope and sister, 12 Dover.
Daniel, Snythen* and Catharine Jice,* 60 John.
Mrs. Deforest and son,* 13 Beekman-slip.
Philip Mahon and John Hull, 91 Broadway.
Hannah Wilson, James Wooden, and Maria, a black
  woman, 45 Broad-street.
Stephen and Jarvis Powel, 95 Pearl.
William Rider* and William Degraw,* 13 Barclay.
Charles Israel* and Mr. Hull, 5 New-slip.
Andrew* and Mary Murray*  100 William-street.
Lawrance Ennis and Eliza Wheelan,* 4 Dover.
Andrew Ki.rkpat rick, and wife, 6 Augustus.
Jane Murdock* and daughter, 28 Water.
Phoebe and ItyEary Fulkerson, and James Bolen*, 5
  Moore.
* Those marked * thus died of the distemper. 
185
Richard Tabele* and Mrs. Tabele*, corner Nassau
   and Fair.
Mrs. Cray* and George Jeweson, 22 Garden.
Mrs. Sarah Coles* and  Miss E. Snow, 25 Water.
Margaret Baisely* and Deborah Smith* 47, Gold.
Anthony  Dwyre*,  Margaret  Foley*, and James
   Cushing*, 7 Hague.
Susan and Mary Myers, 2 Beaver-lane.
Jane and Margaret Armstrong, Mrs. Moore, and a
   boy 10 years old, 10 Depeyster-street.
James Fifer and Samuel Bell, 359 Pearl.
Two children of Mrs. Tiebout, 358 Pearl, (one died).

   15th. There is reason to fear, that the officious in-
terference of friends with the prescriptions of the phy-
sician, has frequently been  productive of the most
fatal  consequences to the afflicted.  Of several in-
stances of this sort, which might be mentioned,  I
shall content myself with one.  A practitioner, upon
visiting one of his patients, whom he found considera-
bly better, and as he had reason to believe, out of
danger, on leaving the house, gave directions to the
attendants to persevere in the Observance of a cooling
regimen.  A brother of the sick man, however, think-
ing that a more speedy cure could be brought  about
than was likely to be effected by the skill of the doc-
tor, and having heard the practice of sweating highly
recommended in cases of fever,  administered to the
sick man, a drink so hot, that he complained of his
mouth and throat being scalded^ as he swallowed it.
The consequence was, that instead of recovering, as
there were great reason to expect, he died within a
few hours thereafter, of symptoms highly malignant.
In the above,  as  well as in other cases of a similar
nature, I am far from supposing, that  persons thus
disobeying the directions of physicians, were actuated
by improper motives.   To say the least, however,
such conduct is highly injudicious; for what chance
has a practitioner of being useful to his patient, un-
less his prescriptions be attended to, or indeed, why
                      a a 
186
send for one at  all, if we think ourselves wiser thaR
he, and are determined to follow no more of his ad-
vice, than coincides with our own ideas of propriety ?
^And may not  the great proportion of  recoveries,
which took place at Bellevue, of those who  were sent
thither in the early stage of the disorder, be attribut-
ed, at least, as much to the care which was taken,
that every nurse sfiould implicitly follow the prescrip-
tion of the physician, as to the salubrity of the air, or
to any other cause whatever ?

   16th. There is one observation which  appears to
me, to be highly deserving the attention of our fellow
citizens, as, if it should be duly regarded, it may, in
the case of a future epidemic, be the means of saving
a number of lives.  As  soon as a person finds himself
indisposed, in a calamitous season of this kind, he
ought forthwith to procure the assistance of a skilful
physician.  During theflrst fezv hours of the disease,
time is peculiarly precious; as  it can  then  be
generally  subdued with facility.   If, however, it be
permitted  to acquire an ascendancy before medical
aid be called in, (and this, alas! is too often the case)
the physician has the mortification to find his skill of
but little use, and to see his unhappy patient perish
in his hands, without being able, in the least, to con-
tribute towards his relief.   Although  the justice of
this  remark will be denied by no person of reflection,
yet there  is  great reason to believe, that there are
many  who would readily have subscribed to it, now
tenants of the grave, merely because they did not at-
tend to it.  Delay, where expedition is of such im-
mense importance, is certainly highly culpable, par-
ticularly as the corporation of this city have, in every
season of pestilence, humanely made provision that
the poor should be supplied  vvith medical aid gratis.

   17th. The fears of several of the poorer and more
illiterate part of the community, especially foreigners, 
187
 of being removed to Bellevue, was very,remarkable,
 of which I shall mention the following  instance.   I
 had, one morning,  fallen in with a man sick  of the
 disease, in a low cellar, where he Was, in a great mea*
 sure, destitute of every comfort and convenience, and
 I was informed by his physician, that his wife,.who
 had only been a short time in the country, and had
 never seen a case of Malignant Fever, was pursuing
 a mode of treatment diametrically opposite to what
 he  prescribed.   As from every thing that I saw and
 heard, I had reason to fear, that the man, if permit-
 ted to remain where he  was, would die, I was anxi-
 ous that he should be  sent to  Bellevue, where  I
 thought he would have  a considerable chance  of re-
 covery.   With a view to induce him to  consent to
 this measure, I attempted to point out  the advan-
 tages which 1 believed would result from it, and was
 happy to find, that  my  observations had the desired
 effect, as he expressed  himself willing to go.  His
 wife, however, and another female, accosted him with
 tears, in a language which I did not understand, the
 purport of which, as I afterwards learnt,  was to dis-
 suade him from his  intention; but to this  he still ad-
 hered.  To induce  his wife to acquiesce, I informed
 her, that the  Board would be  pleased, that she
 should accompany him ; but this was to no purpose.
 Finding the man,therefore,perfectly reconciled, I re-
 quested that the sick hearse should be sent for him ;
 but still apprehending some reluctance on  the part of
 the woman, I deemed it advisable to accompany the
 drivers, not doubting that I should be able to prevail
 upon her to acquiesce in a measure, which I sincerely
 believed, might be conducive to  her husband's reco-
 very ; but what was my surprize,  upon opening the
 door, to find a large knife presented to my breast ?
 As I had no serious intention of resorting to coercive
 measures, an argument much less cogent would have
 certainly induced me to relinquish my design.  I,
 therefore, left the place with the gloomy presentiment
 of what was to happen. The man died within twen-
ty hours thereafter. 
CHAPTER VIII.
   OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF CURE ADOPTED IN THE
                MALIGNANT FEVER.

   IN a disease, which has been so peculiarly fatal to
 the inhabitants of various places in the United Stales,
 a considerable diversity of opinion, as might natu-
 rally be expected has existed amongst practitioners
 concerning  the most successful mode of cure.   Su-
 donfics, the copious use  of mercury,  and excessive
 bleeding have each  had their respective advocates;
 and  I am persuaded, it may be asserted without fear
 of contradiction, that in certain cases of malignant
 fever, each of these methods has been severally found
 to be productive of the most beneficial consequences.
 To any one, however, who has been much conver-
 sant with the disease, it is evident, that it appears in
 a variety of different forms.   Hence that mode of
 treatment, which, in one instance, might effect a ra-
 dical cure, might in another of the very same disor-
 der,  when under a different grade and modification,
 tend  greatly to aggravate the unfavourable symp-
 toms and terminate in a speedy dissolution.   The
 judicious practitioner, therefore, in prescribing to his
 patients, is  less influenced by the name  of the  dis-
 ease than by the symptoms and circumstances at-
 tending it.  These he will examine with the greatest
 care  and attention,  and after having formed his opi-
 nion  respecting the nature of the case, will resort to
 such remedies as it may seem to require.

   After having introduced these preliminary obser-
 vations, I shall lay before my readers Dr.  Carrie's
letter to  Dr. Hosack, communicating his mode of
 treating the disease, the observations of the learned
 Dr. Chisholm of Grenada, relative to the use of mer-
 cury, and some observations on the utility  of blood 
189
letting in Yellow Fever, from the first  volume of the
second Hexade of the Medical Repository, p. 193.

        From Dr. Currie to Dr. Hosack.
DEAR SIR,
         " Since I wrote to you last, I have inquired
into the practice  of the  physicians, at the yellow
lever hospital this season, and find that  after  em.
ploying mercury in  a few of the first cases, without
success, they entirely abandoned its use, except in a
few particular instances, and then they combined it
with some purgative.

  " They  seldom  employed  blood-letting,  even
where  the symptoms seemed to indicate it, as they
seldom received their patients at a period sufficiently
early to n*ake it advisable.

  " They however, used purgatives freely, and after
their operation, in recent  cases, they had immediate
recourse to the warm bath,  followed  by large  and
frequently repeated doses of acetated pot-ash, which
they preferred to acetated ammonia, and the liberal
use of warm diluting drinks, and particularly of an
infusion of expotorium, which you have so highly re-
commended.

  " When these means produced free  perspiration,
with an alleviation of the febrile heat, and pain of the
head and back, the disease generally came to a speedy
and favourable crisis; but when the symptoms were
aggravated by the bath, (and in some particular cases
they appeared to be aggravated by it,) they spunged
the whole surface  of the trunk and limbs of the pati-
ent, with cold water and vinegar, with the happiest
effect.

  " In the second stage of the disease, when disor-
dered stomach was the predominant symptom, after 
190
due attention to the state  of  the bowels, they em-
ployed the bath of a much higher temperature, than
in the preceding stage, and immediately after its use,
they applied blisters and sinapisms to different parts,
and especially to those most  affected,  directing at
the same time additional  covering,  and such  mild
palatable drinks, as upon trial were found to remain
best on the stomach....When the patient complain*
ed of  a burning sensation in that organ, calcined
magnesia  was administered in large doses, and fre-
quently repeated, and when the bowels were not
sufficiently free, laxative  injections.  But  the hot
bath followed by blisters and  sinapisms, extensively
applied, appeared to produce the most beneficial
tffects.

  " In this disordered state of the stomach, however,
when  these remedies failed, they had recourse to
stimulating injections, particularly  to the spirits of
turpentine, which were exhibited mixed with a suf-
ficient  quantity of warm water,  from half an ounce
to an ounce or more, and repeated at short intervals,
till they occasioned  considerable tenesmus, after
which, the stomach geaerally became so well settled,
as to retain  any medicine  or nutriment that was
thought necessary.  Perhaps the tincture of aloes
would  have been still more effectual, in bringing on
this counteracting symptom, than the turpentine.

  " This practice which  was prosecuted with that
zeal and assiduity, which does honour to the human-
ity of the  physicians,  and conducted with a discri-
mination which  does  credit to their judgment, has
certainly  been much  more successful than that of
former years ; for, although a considerable portion
of the patients wrere admitted in the last stage of the
disease, and consequently in a hopeless condition,
nearly two thirds recovered, whereas in former years
when blood-letting and mercury were almost exclu-
sively  " the order of the day," more than half died. 
191
   " Marks of gangrene were seldom observed in the
stomachs of  those that died, though  preceded by
symptoms which strongly indicated its existence for
some time  before the decease of the patient.   The
black matter usually found in the stomach, had none
of the characters of either blood or bile,  for white
paper dipt  into it,  was neither stained red, purple,
yellow, nor green,  but appeared like it does when
dipt in the  fluid of a gangrene.  Yet from the extra-
vasations of blood, which always appeared on differ-
ent parts of the surface of the stomachs of those  who
had vomited black matter, and the florid and exten-
sive extravasation observed in the stomachs of some
which appeared on the fourth day of the disease, who
had not only thrown up very black but flaky matter,
I am of opinion that the dark coloured flaky particles
which give to the contents of the stomach  the ap-
pearance of coffee-grounds, are  only small portions
of mucus, coloured by the dissolved and black blood
which  oozes into It—It cannot be bile altered in its
colour, in consequence of a morbid  state of the se-
cretory vessels of the liver, because those vessels are
seldom found in a diseased state,  and because the
biile in the gall-bladder, generally retains its natural
qolour, nor can the  matter which resembles coffee-
grounds, be bile changed in its colour and proper-
ties, after its entrance into the  stomach; because
this appearance is often found in the stomachs of per-
sons who have had-no vomiting  at all, and without
some vomiting, or at least some  efforts to vomit, no
bile can gain admission into the stomach.

  " Nor can  this appearance be owing to  portions
of the abraded villous coat of the stomach, because
ulcerations  are seldom  observed,  without which,
or  the  existence of gangrene,  it could not be
abraded."

  The following  is the opinion of the learned and 
m
respectable Dr.  Chisholm, concerning the use of
mercury in this disease.  In his Essay on the Malig-
nant Pestilential fever, introduced into the West-
India Islands,from Boullam, on the coast of Guinea,
as it appeared in 1793, 1794, 1795, and 1796, second
London edition, vol. 1, page 351.

   " I was encouraged" says he,  " to the practice
of using mercury in this disease, by the appearance
I perceived in the  two first bodies I opened.—
"The liver was evidently  the most  diseased part,
and I knew that mercury was specific in all inflam-
mations of that organ; besides, it was, at all events,
better to try a doubtful one, than remedies of no effi-
cacy.  I accordingly  administered calomel, either
combined with nitre,  camphor, and the antimonial
powder, or in the form of a pill.  After many trials
of both,  I preferred the last, chiefly on account of
the nitre and camphor disagreeing with  the sto-
mach.   The  pill was generally composed  of five
grains of calomel,  two of the antimonial powder,
and one  of opium, and repeated four times in the
twelve hours, or eight in the twenty-four*  I con-
fess it was with no small degree of anxiety,Iventured
on this practice, unwarranted by any other author-
ity than dissection and my own observation ; but
its success justified my temerity.   If salivation was
speedily raised, the danger was removed;,  and the
patient  recovered.  But in order  to effect  this, it
was frequently necessary to increase the quantity,
and number of the doses; and in several instances
I pushed it to what I then  considered an almost in-
credible  length, with astonishing  success.  In one
case,  in  particular, in whom signs of recovery did
not appear till the twenty^first day, fully 400 grains
were given  before the salivary glands were affected.

   " I have here stated my practice, and the extent
I  thought myself warranted to carry the mercurial 
193
treatment, during the presence of the  pestilence in
1793.  As it then not unfrequently happened, from
the necessary timidity a practitioner feels whoadopts
a new remedy in the treatment of one of the most
dangerous and destructive maladies the human frame
is subject to, that that remedy was not always push-
ed to the length which  secures its efficacy : so on
the re-appearance of the disease in 1794,1 was de-
termined to give calomel earlier, and in much great-
er quantity than the preceding year.   Accordingly,
instead of preceding the administration of this excel-
lent remedy, with the usual evacuating medicines, I
began with it, and continued withqut the interposi-
tion of any other,  till salivation took place.   The
success attending this practice,  exceeded my most
sanguine expectation ;  so great indeed, was it, that
I did  not lose a single patient in whose case it was
pushed to the  full  extent.  My  practice  will, rio
doubt, by many, be considered as unwarrantably
bold ; but as its wonderful success has been expe-
rienced by several other practitioners, who can bear
testimony to it, I feel not the smallest hesitation in
recommending it with all the fervour which an ear-
nest wish to save the lives of men, and the fullest
conviction of, what, I am almost inclined to say, its
infallibility can give rise to.
   " My  mode of using the calomel aft§r the re-ap-
pearance of the malignant pestilential fever in  1794,
was to give ten grains, either alone, or  wdth an equal
or a double quantity of  jalap, to an adult patient as
soon  as  possible  after I saw him.  This generally
acts as an evacuant in the degree required,  about an
hour  or  two after it is given.   At the end of three
hours I repeated the dose of calomel.  At the end
of three  hours more,the same quantity is given, add-
ing opium or not, as the preceding doses have acted.
In this manner ten grains of calomel were  given
every three hours,  till the salivary glands  became
affected, which generally happened in less than tv.en-
t-four hours from the commencement of the treat 
194
,ment, if it was faithfully conducted.  The effect
 of the medicine given in this manner, may be per-
 ceived after the third dose in general;  the patient
 becoming  calmer, less restless,  less anxious ; his
 skin being softer, and possessed of an agreeable heat;
 the stomach being perfectly retentive, however irri-
 table it might have been before;  and the eyes reco-
 vering their former lustre and sensibility. ^  When at
 length salivation takes place, the patient is left free
 from disease, with a moderate warm moisture on his
 skin;  and very soon after signs of returning health
 pre indicated, by calls for food, &c.   The  recovery
 of strength is proportionally rapid  to that from dis-
 ease ; nor is it at all necessary  to have recourse to
 bark, or any other medicine  whatsoever; a circum-
 stance truly gratifying  both, to the patient and the
 physician, in a disease wherein nature revolts at the
 very  idea of it."

        BLOOD-LETTING IN YELLOW FEVER.
   The following facts  afford the most conclusive
 evidence oftheefficacyofthis remedy in yellow fever,
 when timely and  sufficiently used.  The malignity
 of  the disease on this  occasion, is  proved by  the
 mortality which took place, under the first mode of
 treatment, and the comparative results of blood-let-
 ting exhibits so fair and full a proof of its safety and
 usefulness, that wre cannot avoid considering this
 body of testimony as the most unexceptionable and
 satisfactory, that ever come  under our notice ; it is
 extracted from the Medical and Physical Journal, for
 the month of June last.

 A " successful method of treating. Yellozo Fever at its
   commencement....Communicated  May 25th, 1803,
  by Dr. H aruess, commissio?ier for sick and wound-
  ed seamen.
  " Lieutenant Douglas, of the 25th Reg. relates, 
                              195

       that he embarked on board the Chichester store-ship,
       at Jamaica,  for England,  with one hundred and
       eighty men, seventy four of whom died on the pas-
       sage  previous to their reaching Halifax, in  North
       America, exclusive of the captain, two lieutenants,
       surgeon and surgeon's  mate of the ship.   In  conse-
       quence of the two latter having fallen victims to the
       disease, lieutenant Douglas felt himself driven to the
       necessity of undertaking the treatment of the sick ;
       and from the great fatality attendant  on thecalo-
       mel and purgative plan, pursued by the late surgeon
       and his mate, he (lieutenant'Douglas) was induced
*      to adopt bleeding,  (as recommended by Dr. Jack-
       son, and  as had been suggested in' lieutenant -Doug-
       las' presence, by the surgeon's mate of the 6rhRegi-
       ment, a short time previous to lieutenant  Douglas*
       leaving Jamaica) which proved to be productive of
       the happiest  effects, as will evidently appear from
       the following statement,

          <f Lieutenant Douglas relates that after the care
       of the sick had devolved upon  him,  sixty-two  men
       (thirty-seven of whom were seamen) were attacked
       with  the symptoms of yellow fever,  the whole  of
       whom recovered by bleeding.  Three others wrere
       likewise bled, but he observes,  so late in the disease,
       or not until the symptomsof fever were so fully es-
       tablished, as not to  be within reach of the remedy."

          Lieutenant Douglas remarks, the success in treat-
       ing the  disease  was so evident to  the troops and
       ship's company, that after a short  time, they would
       on being taken ill, apply to be bled ; and lieutenant
       Douglas became so confident of its  good effects, if
       had recourse to at the onset of the disease, as to in-
       duce  him to give particular directions to be called in
       the night, should any one be seized with the leading
       symptoms of the disease ; and in every case (the three
       alluded to excepted) he had  the happiness to see 
196
every symptom give way or diminished, and unfa-
vorable appearances, by one, two or three repeated
bleedings, performed at intervals of a few hours, as
the necessity of the remaining symptoms indicated.

  Lieutenant Douglas not being educated to the
profession, and consequently, ignorant of the doses
of medicine, was induced to have recourse to clys-
ters, when the procuring of evacuations appeared
necessary; on which, with bleeding, as beforemen-
tioned, he rested the whole means of cure.

  A List of Deaths of various diseases which hare
occurred in the city of New-York, in the years 1803,
1804 and 1805, during the months of August, Sep-
tember and October.
  In 1803, 1256,  of whom 606 were of Malignant
Fever.
  In 1804, 783.
  In 1805, 934, of  whom 302 were of Malignant
Fever.
THE END. 
 
 
Med.Ui«k,
  WZ


  1805 

99
16
34