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  c.  I
REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE on  HEALTH and DRAINAGE,
ON THE ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF YELLOW FEVER IN
        CHARLESTON IN THE AUTUMN OF 1856.
   The Committee on Health and Drainage to whom  was
referred the following Resolution, passed by Council at their
meeting on the 16th September, viz.:
  " Resolved, That the Committee on Health and Drainage,  to
whom was referred the Report of the Port Physician, in reply to a
resolution of Council, calling for information in  relation to the
operations of the Quarantine regulations, be instructed to report to
Council, at their earliest convenience,, all.the facts that they may
be able to collect relative" to the prigin ahdNdiffusion of yellow fever
in Charleston, during the present season."
   Beg leave respectfully to report that they have carefully
considered the subject intrusted to  them, and now offer the
results of their investigations.
  In entering upon the important duty of investigating " the
facts" " relative to the origin and diffusion of yellow fever in
Charleston during the present season," the  Committee have
thought themselves restricted by ihe terms of the Resolution
to two points—first, to " the facts" of the case ; secondly, to
to the " present season."
  It will, therefore, be their duty to leave out of sight, as far
as this can possibly be done, all mere theoretical views.  It
will,  from time to  time, be necessary to refer to such infer-
ences as  may  be deducible from ihe facts,  in order that ibe
facts  may be made to assume their  proper places in the pic-
ture—may have their fair and just degree of importance as-
signed to them, but it will not be necessary,  nor in conso-
nance with the instructions conveyed in the resolution, for 
2
  the Committee to set before Council any pre-conceived views
  of their own, or any that may  not be fairly deducible from
  the facts they may present.
    Nor will it be proper for them to extend their researches
  further back than the present season, except fbrthesakeof
  such comparison as may enable them to confirm or refute
  thp inferences which may appear deducible from the history
  of the season the events of which they  are called upon to
  chronicle.
    With a view to carry out these'objects, the Committee
  will 1st, inquire into all the facts connected with the Qua-
  rantine operations—the arrival of vessels  at the Quarantine
  ground—the delay they were subjected to there—the treat-
  ment to which they and  their cargoes were submitted—the
  intercourse bad with the Quarantine ground and the vessels
  and cargoes there by the different wharves—the  operations
  of the lightering business, and the personal intercourse be-
  tween the City and the Quarantine ground by means of pas-
  sengers, crews and visitors to the vessels ; 2nd, into  he
  connexion whicn  may exist between the  occurrence of the
 earlier cases of yellow fever and the obiects considered in
 the first inquiry; 3rd,  into  the local circumstances  about
 us which may seem to  have a  connexion with the fever •
 and 4th,  into the imperceptible, yet not  inappreciable, in-
 fluences of the atmospheric condition about us, to which we
 are fairly entitled  to attribute such epidemic tendencies  as
 cannot be accounted for on the exclusive suppositions of in-
 troduction or local origin.

   The first vessel brought to at  Quurantine was the  bark
 Cherokee, on the 2nd May, after  a passage of twelve daVs
 from New Orleans. Her crew, consisting Sf nine men,S
 all well  and,  after the vessel had been inspected, she was

 whaTf  OrhT^ 7thC Cit/' and She hau,ed »to Brown"
 wharf.  Other vessels, to the number of  27, continued to
 arrive, and undergo the same treatment, till June Is"  and

cial TSTlr6 R-7'  ^^ At0°k their Places at Clme"-'
SkN^te^^ ACC°mm°dati°n> Central ^
  So far no sickness had occurred  in any of the vessels  with

Ch\XePWnrf °nf "^^Sma11 P°X °" boardIh^nr
^rtlt^Ir ^ WhiGh WaS  h™^ ^0 at 
3
vessels reaching the Quarantine  ground from Ports where
fever was known to pre\ail,  were required to remain there
till their cargoes (if they had  any) could be discharged, and
until the  vessel could be completely disinfected.   Some of
these vessels never came to the city at all, but were reload-
ed at the Quarantine ground, and proceeded to sea.
  Up to the 27th of June, there was still no sickness, except
one more case of small pox in a vessel (the H. Buck), which
arrived on the 17th from Boston.  On  the 27th,  the bark
Balear arrived, after a passage of seven days, from Havana,
in ballast, with a crew of 17 men, one of whom was sick
with fever.  Three others of the crew were taken sick at the
Quarantine ground, on board the vessel, two of whom were
sent to the Lazaretto, where they died, and one died before
he could be removed.  This vessel never came to the city
but proceeded to sea from Quarantine.
  On the 8th of July, the Active arrived from Havana, in
ballast,  after a passage  of five  days,  with  eleven men on
board, all of whom were well.  On the 10th, one  man was
aken to  the Lazaretto, and on the 14th, another, both with
ever, and both of  whom died.   The vessel never came to
he City.
  On the 13th of July the steamship Isabel, with an assort-
ed cargo, arrived in two and a half days from Havana, with
a crew of 40  men,  and with 49 passengers.  She had two
sick on board, but their diseases did not prove to be serious.
She did not. come to the  City.
  On the 13th, the bark Industria, arrived, in five  days,
from Havana, with a cargo of wine and lead, and  a crew of
20 men.   On the 14th, a passenger was sent from  her to the
the Lazaretto, where he died on the 17th ; and on the 16th,
three men were sent, all of whom recovered. On  the 23rd,
two others were sent down, both of whom died, one on the
same day and one on the 26th.   This vessel went to sea
without ever having come up to the City.
  On the 27th, John Abbot was sent to" the  Lazaretto from
the City.  He had been employed on board the St. Andrew,
which vessel  had arrived at the Quarantine on the 8th July,
after a passage of six days, from Havana,  with  a crew of
seven men, all of whom were well, and continued so,  till
the vessel sailed, which she did without having  come up
to the city.  She had, however, during her stay in Havana,
where the disease  was prevailing,  lost one  or  more of her
men. Abbot  was  taken sick on the 26th July,  and reco-
vered. 
4
   On the 2nd August, the Ketch Brothers arrived from Cien-
 feugas, after a passage of 14 days, with a cargo of sugar
 and molasses and a crew of six men,  two  of whom were
 sick.   They were sent to the Lazaietto on the 4th, and both
 recovered.  The vessel went to sea without having come
 to the City.
   The  bark Mercy Ellen 19  days from Aspinwall, in bal-
 last, with a crew of 10 men,  put  in on the 3rd August  on
 uccount of sickness, the disease being Chagres fever.  On
 the 4th August eight men were sent to the Lazaretto ; one
 died on the 5th and the others recovered.  The vessel went
 to sea without having visited the City.
  On the 6th  August,  Michael Denning was sent from the
 City to the Lazaretto,  and he died on the 8th.   He resided
on East Bay,  near Pinkney street; was  taken ill July 31st,
and sent to the Roper Hospital, where it  was ascertained
that he had been loading the bark  Industria at Quarantine,
the vessel from which  so many sick had gone to the Laza-
retto,  and he was  ordered by the  Mayor to the Lazaretto,
where he died August 7th.
  On the 13th August, the Tern A. Manderson, in baallst ar-
rived in five days, from Key West, with a crew of eight men,
one of whom was sick.   She  was brought to the Quarantine
ground, and the man sent to the Lazaretto on the same day,
where he recovered.  The vessel went to sea from the Qua-
rantine ground.
  On  the 13th August,  the  steamer George's Creek, with
an assorted cargo, arrived from Baltimore, having two men
sick on board.   The vessel was allowed to come up to the
City, as the cases were reported to  the Pilot as broken bone
fever.   But, upon  an  application  being made for permits
tor the men to enter the Marine Hospital, the vessel was
visited by the Mayor and Port Physician,  who ordered her
to the Quarantine ground, and the men to the Lazaretto.
One of these men died of yellow fever, and the other reco-
vered.

friZn!ue i?th- Au?rSt' .two men were sent to tbe Lazaretto
from the Marine Hospital.  These men  were  sent to the
Ho.p, al from  the schooner George A. Tittle ; one  died on
the  ,0th August with yellow fever, and the other recover-

river If T "' 3t  l\G t,me, °f their scizure' were in Ashley
nrevioTi  iTf    6™el uWaS *°adinS lumber" She  had  come
wh  TuZ n*No«h*m P°rt« and  had been at Central
h w  ' foZ She,'Tled r°Und t0 Ashle? river'  As soon as
it was discovered that cases of yellow fever were occurring
 
5
on board,  she was sent to the  Quarantine by order of the
Mayor.
  It may  be here remarked, that at this time, there seemed
to be a cessation in the occurrence of cases in the city, and
the plan was adopted by the Mayor and Board of Health,
of sending all who were taken sick in vessels to the  Laza-
retto, instead of allowing them to go to the Hospital, in the
hope of thus arresting the spread of the disease.   The plan
was, however, abandoned,  as  soon as  it was found i hat
other cases were occurring in the  city,  and  were going to
the Roper Hospital.
  On the  17th  August, a man was taken to the Lazaretto
from the brig Venus ; he died on the 19th.  The Venns was
from Boston,  and was in Ashley river loading lumber at the
time this man was taken ; she had hauled round from Pal-
metto wharf.
  On the  26th, a man  was  carried down to the Lazaretto
from the ship Royal  Victoria, where he died on  the 29th.
This ship was  also in Ashley River, loading spars, having
gone round from Union wharf.
  On the 26th, a man was sent to  the Lazaretto, from the
cutter Wm. Aiken, where he died on the 4th September.
At this time the Wm. Aiken was in the employment of the
City, by the courtesy of the Collector of the Port,  sanction-
ed,  afterwards, by the Sacretary  of  the Treasury  of the
United States, as a guard boat, for the purpose of  aiding
the proper officers in carrying out the Quarantine laws. The
vessel was usually moored on the edge of the Quarantine
ground, and her boats made excursions during the night for
the purpose of intercepting clandestine communication. The
men were also in the daily habit of visiting the city for busi-
ness or other purposes.  There was no other case of sickness
on board this vessel,  nor on the pilot boat Marion, employed
by  the Mayor on the saras service.
  On the  2nd  September, four other men were taken to the
Lazaretto from the Royal Victoria;  one of them had yellow
fever, and one Catarrhal fever,  and these both  recovered,
while the other two were not sick,  but only sent there as a
safe retreat from the  danger of remaining on board the ves-
sel  from wuich so many cases of sickness had been  taken.
The well  men were provided for in a house distinct from the
Hospital,  and quite out of the way of any danger.
  To this date the Report of the Port Physician  brings us.
Before turning  to the state of things within the City, it may
be well to recapitulate some of the statements of the Report. 
6
'f
    The total number of arrivals from May 2d to September
  6th, was J 05.  Of these 41  were allowed to come to the
  City after  they had  been inspected by the Port Physician,
«84 were allowed  to  come  to the City after the cargo (if
  any) and vessel had  been disinfected ; 41 were compelled
  to undergo the disinfecting process at Quarantine, and to
  leave without ever having come up to the City, while, in the
  case of four it was not stated what course was pursued. Of
  those which were not allowed to visit the City, many took
  cargoes through the intervention of lighters, and some, it is
  believed, proceeded to sea without any load.  The Ports
  from which the vessels came were Havana 29, Matanzas 9,
  St. Jago  6, Trinidad 3, Cienfuego3 6,  Sagua la Grande 2,
  Porto Rico 10, Nassau 3, Barbadoes  1, Harbor  Island 2,
  Maracaibo  1,  Campeachy 1,  Key West 1,  Rio Janeiro 1,
  Gibraltar 1, Barcelona  4,  New Orleans 9, Aspenwall 2,
  Ivica 1, Boston 2, Mobile 1, Baltimore  6, sent from the City
  2, and not mentioned 1.
   Of the cases treated at the Lazaretto 23 are stated to have
 been yellow fever; 11 of these were in vessels from Havana,
 2 in a vessel from Cienfuegos, 1 in a vessel from  Key West,
 2 in a vessel from Baltimore, 1 in a vessel from Boston, 2 in
 a vessel from Liverpool, 1 in a vessel plying about the Qua-
 rantine.  Those in the vessels  from Boston  and Liverpool
 were taken  in Ashley river and sent down.
   The Committee will now turn to the consideration of mat-
 ters within the City ;  and first,  they  will give a full and
 complete  statement of the imercourse which the different
 wharves have had with the  vessels, the  cargoes and  the
 lighters concerned in the Quarantine.
   This information, the  Committee will here remark,  has
 been obtained by personal application to the  wharfingers of
 each wharf separately, and for the courteous  and ready
 manner in which they were received and facilitated in their
 researches by those gentlemen, they here publicly express
 their grateful acknowledgments.
   1st. Bennetts Wharf.—No vessel or cargo has heen brought
  o this wharf, or any communication had with the Quaran-
 tine ground by boats; but two vessels have been loaded, and
 one partially loaded at  Quarantine, with lumber, by lieht-
 the wh  1Cr  C£ruled the lumber down and the" returned to
 and 24th 0f J^* VGSSelS Were loaded 0n the 1Slh'  20th>
   2d. binders'  PVharf.-R^ had no communication.
   *1. Savannah Steam Packet ^Aar/.-While the steamer 
7
Isabel was at  Quarantine, where she arrived on the 12th
July, a boat from her came once or twice to this wharf, but
after that, was refused admission.
  4th. Palmetto Wharf.—A lighter, which had landed sugar
on Union wharf, the next wharf South of this, on the 10th
September came to this wharf where she lay up.
  5th.  Union Wharf.—On the 22nd June, a cargo of sugar
was brought in a lighter from the bark Lunette, at Quaran-
tine, and in a few days after the bark herself came up and
discharged her ballast.   On the 2nd July, the bark Transito
came to this  wharf without cargo.   Early in August the
cargo of the Industria, consisting of lead and wine, was
landed at this  wharf in lighters.   The Industria  arrived at
Quarantine on the  13th July, in  five days,  from Havana,
with two men ill of yellow fever and cases continued to oc-
cur on board till the 23d.
  6th. North Dry Dock Wharf—September 10th, a lighter
with a cargo  ol sugar from the bark Telegraph came to
this  wharf and the sugar was stored in part  at this wharf
and in part on Central Wharf.  The lighter which brought
up this cargo  is  the same that went to Palmetto wharf, as
above stated.
  7th. South Dry DocJc Wharf.—Early in August, thelndus-
tria, the infected vessel alluded to when speaking of Union
wharf,  was loaded from this wharf by lighters.
  8th. Central Wharf—July 17th, the bark Minerva arrived
at Quarantine and came to this wharf a few days  after,
where she remained but 12 hours, when she was sent back
to Quarantine.  She was in ballast  and was discharged by
lighters.   On  the same day the  Polacre Ermencinda ar-
rived at Quarantine ;  on the 15th, came up  to this wharf,
discharged her  cargo  of sugar,  loaded  with cotton and
cleared on the 19th.
   Two cargoes of sugar and molasses were landed at this
wharf, one on the 22d, and the other on the 25th July.
  All other vessels consigned to  this wharf from infected
Ports were in ballast  only.   They  were all discharged by
lighters ;  the  vessels themselves  remained  all the time at
the Quarantine ground.  No account was kept at the wharf
 office of the dates of these discharges.
   9th. Accommodation Wharf—June 16th, brig Einrioh came
 from Quarantine ground in  ballast and went away with-
 out taking any load.   June 26th, brig Maria came up from
 Quarantine, discharged ballast and loaded cotton.  July 1st
Lola came up from Quarantine, discharged ballast,  and 
8
 loaded cotton.   July 10th, brig Jaconita did the same as
 the Lola.  August 6th, a cargo of sugar  and  molasses was
 lightered up from the schooner Effort, at Quarantine.  The
 lighters employed in this business usually returned to the
 wharf after their trips to Quarantine.
  10. Brown's Wharf—June 1st,  Ketch Brothers came to
 the wharf from  Quarantine with  a cargo of  sugar, which
 wasdischorged,  and stowed on the wharf. June 3rd, schoo-
 ner Aid, with molasses, arrived at Quarantine;  her cargo
 was lightered up two or three days after.  June 9th, Uncle
 Sam came to the  wharf from  Quarantine, where she ar-
 rived on the 7th, with an assorted cargo. It was discharged
 here.
  June 9th, the cargo of the  Adela was lightered  to this
 wharf.  It consisted of fruit and molasses.  July 2nd,  the
 Zephyr came from  Quarantine, where she had arrived on
 the 27th June.  She landed ballast on this  wharf.  July
 15th, the St.  Andrews lightered up her cargo from Quaran-
 tine; it consisted of sugar.  On board of this  vessel, it will
 be remembered, John Abbot was working whose case was
 considered  as yellow fever and he  sent to the  Lazaretto
 on the  27th July ; the vessel, though free  from fever during
 the whole time  she was here, was said to have lost one or
 more men by yellow fever before leaving Havana.
  July 15th, the bark Miaco lightered up an assorted cargo ;
 and the same was done with the cargoes of the Ketch Bro-
 thers on the  2nd August, the  brig Somers 14th, schooner
 Hey ward 16th,  and schooners Zephyr  and Aid September
 12th.                                          *
  As this wharf had by far the most intercourse  with the ves-
 sels and cargoes arriving from infected  Ports,  it may not be
unimportant  to the objects of our inquiry to state  that there
was not a case of fever among the employees  of the wharf.
  11th. North Atlantic  Wharf—No  vessels  came to this
wharf,  and the  only communication had with Quarantine
was the lightering down of a load of cotton on the 11th July,
when nothing was brought back by the return of the lighter,
and one load, of cotton also, in the steamer General Clinch,
on the 22d July,  and another in the same steamer on the 14th
 August, when a cargo of sugar was brought back  in  return
from a  vessel at  Quarantine.
  12th. South Atlantic Wharf—May 8th, the Neuvo Rame-
 ncito discharged ballast at this wharf.  May 21st, schooner
 Zephyr discharged a cargo of sugar.  May 27th, Paquette
 de bt. Jago discharged a cargo of sugar, which was stowed 
9
here.   June 28th, bark Lunette  came to this wharf from
Quarantine; her cargo of sugar had been lightered to Union
wharf, and she herself, on leaving Quarantine, first went
there  and discharged her ballast,  August  19th, the Deseo
came up from Quarantine; she had arrived there in 22 days
from Campeachy in  distress, with a crew of 15 men, all
well.   She discharged her cargo of logwood,  and went to a
ship yard for repairs,  after effecting whichshe returned, took
in her logwood again, and went to sea,
   13th. Boyce's Wharf.—Has had no intercourse.
   14th.—Adger's Wharf.—Some fruit was  landed  on this
wharf from a vessel at Quarantine, some  time  in August,
and some clothing from  the steamer Isabel  at a date  not
distinctly remembered,  but probably on the trip before the
last, (July  12th,) or the last (July 27th.)
   15th.  Vanderhorsfs  Wharf—There has been no  inter-
course except  by  lighters.   July 18th,  and August  1st,
rice was sent down, and the lighter returned.  August 14th,
rice was sent to the Governor Dudley,  then at  Quaran-
tine,  and fruit brought up.   August  18th, and September
 10th, 12th and 15th, rice was sent down, and the lighter re-
turned.
   16th.  Commercial Wharf—June 17th, August 12th, 16th,
21st, September 13lh, 15th, 17th, 20th, and 29th, rice was
lightered down, and  the lighter probably returned.  Small
boats have come to this wharf at various  times with hands
returning from  working in the vessels at Quarantine.
   17th.  Southern What/.—June  14th, July  19th, August
 19th,  and  21st, rice  was sent in lighters,  and the lighters
 may  or may not have returned  to the wharf.  Boats going
 to and returning from, Quarantine, made free use of  this
 wharf, as they also  did atCommercial wharf as just stated.
   The Committee will now examine these arrivals, with re-
 ference to dates, as a convenient way of showing what con-
nexion, if any, may  exist between the vessels and the fever.
   May 8th, the Neuova Ramencita from Matanzasdischarged
ballast on Atlantic Wharf; she had been stopped at Quaran-
tine,  and then allowed to come up on the same day. On 21st,
the schooner Zephyr discharged a cargo of sugar on the same
wharf. On 27th, the Paquelte de St. Jago discharged a cargo
of su^ar on the same wharf,  where it was also stored.  On
June°lst,  the  Ketch Brothers,  from  Cienfuegos, came to
 Brown's wharf, with a cargo of sugar and molasses;  she
had been  stopped at Quarantine  on arriving, and then al-
lowed to come to the City  the  same day.  Her cargo was
                        2 
10
 stored on the wharf.   June 6th, the schooner Aid, from
 Havana, had her cargo of molasses lightered up to Brown's
 wharf,  from Quarantine, where she had arrived on the 3rd,
 and about the 8th or 9th she came up herself.   June 9th,
 the Uncle Sam came to Brown's wharf, from Quarantine,
 with  an  assorted  cargo  of molasses, bacon, &c.;  she had
 been  brought to at Quarantine on the 7th, having come
 from  New Orleans.  The cargo was discharged here.  The
 same day, June 9th, the cargo of brig Adela,  consisting of
 fruit  and molasses, from Havana, was lightened  up from
 Quarantine  to Brown's  wharf; the vessel had arrived at
 Quarantine on  the  8th.  On 14th June, rice was sent to
 Quarantine in a lighter from  Southern wharf.   June  16th,
 the brig Enrique came to  Accommodation  wharf  from
 Quarantine, in ballast, and went away without taking any
 load ; she had  arrived at Quarantine the day before from
 Barcelona.  June 17th, rice was lightered down to Quaran-
 tine,  and the lighter returned, at Commercial wharf.   June
 22nd, a cargo of sugar was  brought in a lighter from the
 bark  Lunette, at  Quarantine, where she had  arrived on
 the 17th  from Cienfeugos, and  in a few days the bark her-
 self came up  and discharged  her ballast on Union wharf.
 June  26th,  the bark Maria  came up to  Accommodation
 wharf from Quarantine, where she had arrived on the 22nd
 from Cienfeugos ;  she discharged ballast and loaded cotton.
 June  28th,  the bark Lunette  came to Atlantic wharf; she
 had already  discharged her  cargo and ballast  at Union
 wharf, as mentioned above.   July 1st, the Lola came up
 from Quarantine to Accommodation wharf, discharged bal-
 last and  loaded cotton.   July 2d,  brig Transito came to
 Union wharf, without a cargo, and  on the  same day the
 Zephyi came to Brown's wharf, from Quarantine, where
 she had arrived on 27th June from St. Jago de Cuba, in bal-
 last, and landed it on this wharf,   July 3rd, the brig Vin-
 cedor  came to Union  wharf without a cargo ; she  reached
 Quarantine on the 25th June in 52 days from Barcelona,
 and was reported to  have on board a cargo of wine  and
 £munS,5  Y,  ' be°ame of thec^go is not stated.  July 10th,
 wh   I, JTa CaT l° ?emral Wharf from Quarantine
 where she had arrived on the  7th from St. Jago de Cuba, in
 sen'h ''^"n"81^ lhe!^  °nl? 12 hours,  and was then
 sent back to Quarantine.   On the same day, July 10th the

rittr^hT^n^PS^01^ Whe'e  "hehadar-
 oT wharf   Tin  u   mdid  m baIlaSt' t0 Accommoda-
tion wharf.  July  11th, one load of cotton was lightened 
11
 down  from North Atlantic  wharf to  the Quarantine,  and
 nothing brought back.   July  12th, a  boat came from the
 Isabel once or twice during her stay at Quarantine, on this
 trip, to the Savannah  Steamer  Packet  wharf,  but she was
 soon ordered off, and on one occasion, probably this same
 trip of the Isabel, some  clothing  was brought from her up
 to Adger's wharf.   There was also a cargo  of fruit landed
 on this wharf by a lighter from Quarantine about this time.
 July 15th, the Polacre Ermencinda  came to Central wharf
 from Quarantine  where she had arrived on the 15th ; she
 discharged her cargo of sugar,  was loaded with cotton, and
 cleared on the  19th.  On the same day, the St. Andrews,
 from Quarantine where she arrived on the 8th, lightered up
 her cargo  of sugar to Brown's wharf.   On the  same day,
 the bark Miaco lightered up an assorted cargo ; she had ar-
 rived at Quarantine  from New Orleans on  the  9th.  July
 18th,  a load of lumber was  lightered  down to Quarantine
 from Bennett's mill, and on the same day rice was lighter-
 ed down from Vanderhorst's wharf.  July 19th, rice was
 lightered  down  from  Southern wharf.   July  20th, lumber
 was lightered down  from Bennett's wharf.   July  22d,  a
 cargo  of  sugar  and molasses  was  lightered up to Central
 wharf, and on the same day  a load of cotton was sent down
 from North Atlantic wharf in the steamer General Clinch.
 July 24th, lumber was sent down from Bennett's  wharf.
 July 25th, a cargo of sugar and molasses was lightered up
 from Quarantine to Central wharf. August 1st, rice was
 lightered down from Vanderhorst's wharf. August 2nd, the
 Ketch Brothers lightered up her cargo of sugar and molasses
 from Quarantine where she had arrived the same day from
 Cienfuegos, having two  sick men on board.  Early  in Au-
gust, the cargo of the bark Industria, consisting of wine and
lead, was  lightened up to Union wharf.  This vessel reached
 Quarantine June 13th from Havana, and it will be remem-
 bered continued to have cases  of yellow fever on board till
 the 23d.   About the same time, the Industria was loaded by
 lighters from South Dry Dock, two wharves South of Union.
 August 6th, a cargo of sugar and molasses was lightered up
 to Accommodation wharf from the schooner Effort at Qua-
 rantine, where she arrived  on the 31 st July from  Sagua
 la Grande.  August 12th, rice  was  sent down from Com-
mercial Wharf.  August 14th,  an assorted cargo was light-
ered up from the brig  Somers  to Brown's wharf. On the
same day, the  steamer General Clinch brought a cargo of
sugar from a vessel  at Quarantine to North Atlantic wharf. 
12
 On the same day also rice was sent to the steamer Governor
 Dudley at Quarantine from Vanderhorst's wharf, and fruit
 brought back.   August 16th, an assorted cargo was light-
 ered  up from  the  schooner Heyward to Brown's  wharf.
 On the same  day,  rice was sent down  from  Commercial
 wharf. August 18th, rice was sent down from Vanderhorst's
 wharf.  August  19th, the Deseo  discharged  her cargo of
 logwood at South Atlantic wharf;  went to a ship yard for
 repair, and then returned and took it  in again;  she arrived
 at Quarantine  in  22 days  from Campeachy in distress.
 August 21st, rice was sent down from Commercial wharf,
 and also from Southern wharf.  September 10th, a cargo of
 sugar from the bark Telegraph, which vessel  had arrived at
 Quarantine on the 6th  from Maracaibo, was  brought to
 Union wharf in a lighter where  it was stored in  part while
 a part went to Central wharf. The lighter went to Palmetto
 wharf, the next wharf to the North.   September 10th, rice
 was sent down from Vanderhorst's wharf. September 12th,
 assorted cargoes were lightered up from the schooners Aid
 and Zephyr to Brown's wharf.   September 12th, rice was
 sent down from Vanderhorst's wharf  September 13th, rice
 was sent down  from Commercial wharf.  September 15th,
 rice was sent down from Vanderhorst's and  Commercial
 wharves, and on the 17th, 20th and 29th from  Commercial
 wharf.
  It has been mentioned that throughout the season  boats
 having intercourse  with  Quarantine  came to  Commercial
 and Southern wharves, and the Captains of the  quarantined
vessels often came in their boats  to Central wharf.
  The next point to which the attenrion of the Committee
 has been turned is that comprised under the second head of
 their division, viz.:
  2nd. The connexion which may exist between the occur-
rence  of the earlier cases of yellow fever and the objects
considered in the first part of the inquiry.  In order to inves-
tigate  this connex.on,  it will now be necessary  to see when
and where these early cases occurred.
  The first case spoken of as suspicious was one occurring
 under the care ot  Dr  Happold,  in  Woolf  street, on  thf
 ah June   It will not be possible for the Committee to ana-
 hze the cases with a view to determine whether  thev were
 genuine yellow fever or not.   Such a proceeding would ex-

 e    c" "^ TUdUG !ength'  Th^ wiU me-ly say!
 re erence to this, that its claim to be placed among the yel-
 low fever cases has  been  doubted,  f he  Comlitfee  mly, 
18
however, state that the patient was a fit subject for the dis-
ease, if it had been prevailing at the time, and if it could be
unqualifiedly admitted as such, would hardly be traceable
to even the remotest connexion with the shipping ; it oc-
curred at  least a mile from the  nearest wharf to which the
West India vessels came, and almost a month before the first
case of yellow fever was brought into the harbor.  We  will,
however,  let it pass, simply stating that it is represented by
the attending Physicians, (one of whom was House Phy-
sician of the Roper Hospital in the fearful epidemic of 1854,)
to have exhibited many of the most characteristic symptoms
of the disease, and  to have died  throwing up black vomit,
four days and fifteen hours from the invasion of the fever.
The genuineness of the black vomit has  been doubted by
 some, and so the whole case called into question.
   The second case reported as yellow fever occurred in the
person of a seaman on board the  schooner Exchange, at
 Palmetto wharf, on  the 14th July, more than a month after
the one just alluded to,  and nearly  a mile  distant.   This
 case has  also been called in question.  The fever lasted only
 about thirty hours, after which the patient recovered prompt-
 ly.   But supposing it to have been yellow fever, let us see
 what intercourse there  had been with the West India ves-
 sels.  No vessel had come to  this wharf from Quarantine,
 nor had any cargo been landed or any other  intercourse had
 either personally  or by goods.  At Union  wharf, the next
 wharf below, however, on the 22d June, the cargo of  sugar
 of the bark Lunette was brought up and landed from light-
 ers, and  in a few days the bark  herself came to the wharf
 and  discharged her ballast.  This  vessel had  arrived at Qua-
 rantine in five days from Cienfeugos on the 17th June, which
 port she had left 20 days before, making 25 days from the time
 she left  Cienfeugos to the  time  her cargo was landed on
 Union wharf, and about 30 days to her own arrival  at the
 wharf, to which add 17  days till  ihe day the case of fever on
  Palmetto wharf occurred, and we have 47 days between the
  sailing of the vessel from a suspected port and the breaking
  out of the fever.  The only two other arrivals from Quaran-
  tine were the Transito July 2nd  and the Vincedor July 3rd.
  Add to this that the patient was on board a vessel from a
  healthy  port,  was not on the  wharf at which the suspected
  cargo and  vessel  arrived, and  finally that there had been
  no case  of sickness on board the suspected vessel,  and we
  have the whole facts of the case before  us.
    The third case reported was that of a young man residing 
14
in Kin*, between Wentworth and Hasel streets.  He reco-
vered.0 This part of the City, it  is well known, is far re-
moved from the wharves.           ,.,,.,       Au „
  The fourth case reported was that of the Irishman Abbott
mentioned among those  who were sent to the Lazaretto.
He had worked at Quarantine on board the brig St. An-
drew, which vessel had come from  Havana, and though she
had no fever on board during her stay here, was reported to
have had one or more cases while  in Havana. His case oc-
curred on the 26th, and may be fairly traceable to the infect-
ed vessel;  and had it been the first to occur in the City, or
had the others preceding it been so directly in contact with a
foreign focus of disease, the question  of origin, to many
minds, would have  been settled.   Such, however, was not
the case, and the Committee are,  therefore, constrained to
refrain from doing more than give the facts  as they are
and leave the inferences unformed.
  Three cases of fever occurring on board the bark Baldur
from Bordeaux at Brown's wharf, though pronounced not
to be yellow fever  by the  attending Physician, cannot be
passed by  in silence.  The Committee will state the facts
and let them  go for what they are worth.   It will be recol-
lected that  the  largest part  of the  West India business was
done at that Wharf,  and by reference to the chronological
statement given above, it will be seen that vessels and car-
goes from those ports were going there constantly from June
1st.  The Baldur arrived  from a healthy port and hauled
into Brown's wharf on  22d July.  On 30th, three of her
men were taken with fever, which was pronounced by the
Physician to be break-bone fever, and one of them died on
the fifth day.  No other cases occurred on board the vessel.
If the  disease was  yellow fever,  it must have  originated
at this wharf.   But  we have the testimony of the Physician
that  it was not yellow fever,  and we  know that it  did not
spread further in  the vessel, but terminated there ;  leaving
the inference almost irresistible that the disease, whatever
may have been its type, was not capable of spreading itself
to the well.
  The fifth case (leaving out those of the Baldur) was that
of Denner  or Denning, residing  at 142  East Bay, near
Pinkney street.  He was taken ill on the 31st July and sent
to the Roper Hospital, from whence, on its being ascertain-
ed that he  had been loading the bark Industria at Quaran-
tine, he was  sent to the Lazaretto by the  Mayor, where he
died with black vomit on  the 7th August.  The Industria 
15
it will be remembered was the infected vessel from which
six men had been sent to the  Lazaretto between the  17th
and 26th July.
  The sixth case was that of Joseph Diola, a seaman from
the bark Jasper, which  vessel arrived from New York on
the 21st July,  and lay at Accommodation wharf.  He was
admitted into  the Marine Hospital on the 2nd Angust and
died  on  the 10th. bleeding profusely from  the  gums and
bowels. Vessels, it will be remembered, came to this wharf
from  Quarantine on the  16th and 26th June, and the 1st and
10th July, discharging their cargoes and ballast and loading
again.  It should also b3 borne in mind that this  wharf is
between Central and Brown's wharves at both of which there
was communication with Quarantine, and at the last  the
heaviest business in West India produce of any wharf in  the
City,  was done.  Yet, on the  other hand, it should not be
forgotten that among the numerous  laborers and others em-
ployed about  Brown's wh irf  not a single case of fever oc-
curred ;  showing that if Diola did contract his disease from
the intercourse of the wharf with vessels from infected ports,
others equally subject to the disease and exposed  to it for  a
longer time, failed to suffer.   We must also remember that
it is not impossible that Diola brought his fever from New
York, since we know that cases were occurring in the neigh-
borhood of that City if  not  in the City itself at that  time.
  So  far it will be seen  the cases occurred at points widely
removed from each other; the first (if we omit the case in
Woolf street)  at Palmetto wharf; the second in  King,  be-
tween Hasel  and  Wentworth streets; the  third  in King,
near  Broad street, the patient  having been on board the St.
Andrews; the fourth (again omitting those on  board  the
Baldur) on  East Bay near Pinkney street, the patient having
been  on board the infected vessel the Industria ;  the fifth on
Accommodation wharf.  The patients in these cases cer-
tainly had no  personal communication with each other ;  did
they  take their disease  from the same source?   The case
on Palmetto wharf does not seem traceable to any  inter-
course with Quarantine or the West India  vessels ; and  if
we are to make any use of the Woolf street case, that had
certainly none.  The second case, or that occurring in King
between Wentworth and Hasel, was at least three quarters
of a mile from the wharves and is not known to have been
in any intercourse with them.   The third in  King near
Broad street, worked in the St. Andrew, which vessel came
from Havana  and was reported to have had sickness while 
16
 there, but had none while here, either before or after Abbott's
 case.   The fourth worked in an infected vessel, the Indus-
 tria, and was taken sick in East Bay near Pinckney street, not
 very far from Palmetto wharf, but most probably got his ill-
 ness in the vessel; other cases occurred near this place after-
 wards which by some are attributed to it.   The fifth was
 taken  on Accommodation wharf but may have brought his
 disease from New York.   Though  supposing him tg> have
 got it  at the wharf, he was the  only case there up to this
 time.
   If it cannot be satisfactorily shown that the  cases up to
 this point had a  common  origin,  can we see any  direct ex-
 tension of the disease from any one of them to  those which
 followed ?   Nothing of the kind  can be traced  in reference
 to the  first, second and thiid.  Of the fourth we have just
 spoken. In reference to the fifth  we have to call attention
 to the  fact that whereas it did not become a source of infec-
 tion and spread  the disease  among the remaining members
 of the  ship's crew, yet that an inmate of the Hospital, occu-
 pying  abed in another ward, was taken  with fever on the
 third day after Diolas' admission  and died.   Whether this
 case is to be considered as one propagated  from Diola's or to
 be  accounted for by reference to the local condition of things
 about and around the Hospital  will be more particularly
 considered further on.
  The sixth and seventh (omitting the Woolf street and Bal-
 dur cases) occurred on board the schooner George Harris,
 eight days from  Baltimore, at Central Wharf.    This wharf
 had intercourse with vessels from Quarantine on the 7th, 22nd
 and 25th July and  is the next above Accommodation, being
 the second from  Brown's  wharf.  The vessel arrived on the
 21st July and the men were attacked on the 3d August ;
 one (Pettyjohn)  died, the other recovered.  It should not be
 forgotten, in referring to the intercourse had with Quaran-
 tine that boats with the captains and crews of quarantined
 vessels came up frequently and landed,  the men actually
 making use of the  George Harris  for the  purpose of reach-
 ing the shore   The man  Pettyjohn, from  the Harris, whose
£^?roVed?ta,Lhad f6lt Sreatalar<*  «t this, and was
O^l^^^I! .WaS »° use I" keeping the vessels at
Quarantine if the men were allowed to

arrived nf^hT? W?S a TU from ,he shiP Royal Victoria,
arrived on Sth  July  from Liverpool, and  laying in A«hlev
river, having gone therefrom Union wharf ^r,l A*.l
      On tVro~<7,U           ~'MOn Wharf °n the 4lh Au-
gust.  On the 7th, three days  after,  one of the mates was 
17
 taken to the Marine Hospital with fever.   He recovered.
   The history of the cases from  this vessel are highly im-
 portant.  She cannot be suspected of having brought the
 seeds of the disease with her, as she came from Liverpool.
 Did she gather them at Union wharf?   Previous to her go-
 ing there the wharf had had but little intercourse with Qua-
 rantine ; one vessel and cargo having gone there on the 22nd
 June and two empty vessels, one on the  2nd and the other
 on the 3rd July ; she  remained at the wharf from the 8th
 July to the  4th August, during all of which time her crew
 were well.  On that  day she hauled round to Ashley river
 at the west end of Broad street,  and three days after  that
 the case occurred.  Was there any thing in her  new position
 to give rise to the  fever  among the crew ?  This question
 will be considered hereafter.
   The ninth case was that of Nelson, the man in the Marine
 Hospital, who was alluded to while speaking of the fifth
 case.   He had been an  inmate  of the  Hospital  for  four
 months with a fracture of the leg, and had never quitted  it
 except once for a walk, a day or  two before, when  he  had
 passed along Franklin street, as far as Broad street, on the
 5th August.   Three days after the admission of No. 5  into
 the ward on the opposite side of the corridor, he was atacked
 and died on the 10th.  Was this  case contracted from the
 other?  The circumstances are strongly in favor of that in-
 ference, yet it will be prudent not to decide too hastily,  but
 suspend our opinion till the condition of things in that neigh-
 borhood has been examined
   The  tenth  case  was  that of  Mrs.  Molona, in  Weims
 Court, lower end of King street, at least a quarter of a mile
 from the nearest case, that of  Abbot on 26th July.  Mrs.
 Malona was attacked August 5th  and recovered.  She was
 in the habit of visiting the Market.   On the day of the attack
 she had made some purchases on Vendue Range ;  had never
 been on any of the wharves or visited any body who had ;
 her husband worked in the Western part of the City.  This
 case is important,  as it was completely  isolated from  all
 those previously occurring.
   The  eleventh and twelfth cases occurred under similar
 circumstances.  They had been residing  at the corner of
 Elizabeth and Washington streets, about one mile from  the
 wharves at  which the West India  vessels had been coming.
 The man, Matthews, had been working on the  new cusorn
house, next to Central wharf, and had been drinking. Shortly
before  his attack  he had removed to Mazyck street.  Ho
                            3 
18
 was taken  to the Roper Hospital and  recovered  slowly.
 The woman had removed to Laurens street, and she also
 recovered.
   The thirteenth case was that of Mr. Chamberlain residing
 in Society near Meeting street, and doing business in Meet-
 ing  street, opposite the Charleston Hotel.  He had not been
 in contact with any person or place in connexion with the
 fever; having only  once,  ten days before  his  attack, ac-
 companied a friend  to Adger's wharf when the  New York
 steamer was leaving.   He was attacked  on the 7th August
 and died on the 10th.  This case, like  so  many of those
 already detailed, seems to have  had no  kind of connexion
 with any  other.
   The fourteenth case was that of Capt. Crowhurst of the
 Royal Victoria the  history of which  vessel has been given
 above.  He was attacked  August 9th and taken to a house
 on East Bay, near the  Battery, where he slowly  recovered
 from his fever and did not  spread the disease.
   The fifteenth case was  that of Mrs. Kegan in Weim's
 Court, in  the same  yard with Mrs. Molona.  She was at-
 tacked on  the 9th August.
   The sixteenth case occurred in the Jail adjoining the Ma-
 rine  Hospital, in  the person of a  seaman  sent  there as a
 witness on the 4th August.   He came from  the bark Caro-
 lina  from New York, having reached Accommodation wharf
 on the 24th  July.   He was attacked on the 10th August
 and  recovered.   This case  has been  cited  in proof of\he
 extension of the tever from  the Marine Hospital to the Jail
 by contagion.  We will allude to this  againf
   Ihe seventeen) h and eighteenth  cases were from the Royal
 Victoria, sent to the  Marine Hospital August 11th.
nn,bleAninteenlt1hLCaSe ,Was  from the bark  Helois in the Dry
Dock August 11th, at the Marine Hospital. The vessel was

 raTt £ I" ISland an,d a'1  Were Wel1'  Did thi*  ™n con-
tract his disease on  the wharf?  Doubtless he did.  Was

com°eTo\hi'wf Gr °F ' VM1?.18 f!°m ^uara«tine ?  None had
do™by therlh^ lP t0 thlS tUne ;  though at Uni0» wharf
ciose by there had been some intercourse.
   Ihf '
river, bef/re the man7Th      i  "a e,glU  ^ in Ashley
was attach              LaWS(Jn) w^ attacked.  Be
Hospital             Uh AugUSt and sent int° ^e Marine
 
19
  The twenty-first was from the same vessel and  entered
the Marine Hospital on the 12th August.
  The twenty-second and third cases are not fairly to be
taken  into  our  account.  They  occurred on board the
steamer George's Creek on the 8th August during her voy-
age from  Baltimore, and were sent  to the Lazaretto on
the 13th.
  The twenty-fourth and fifth were from the George A. Tit-
tle in  Ashley river.  They were sent to the Marine Hospital
on the 14th  August and then removed to  the Lazaretto on
the 15th.
  The twenty-sixth case  was a slave residing in Legare
street.
  The twenty-seventh was a sailor who was in the Marine
Hospital under treatment for venerial disease.  He entered
the Hospital on  the 2nd  August and was  attacked on the
15th.   There may be some doubt as to whether this man got
his disease in the Hospital or came in with the poison al-
ready in his system.
  The twenty-seventh was that of the nurse of the preced-
ing in the Marine Hospital.   He had been in the Hospital
about three  months.  The date of his attack was about the
20th and he died on the 25th.
  The twenty-eighth was in Queen near Rutledge street.
She was attacked on the 15th.
   The twenty-ninth was in Weim's court, and was attacked
on the 15th.
   The thirtieth  and thirty-first were  on  East Bay  near
Pinkney street.
   The thirty-second and third were in Pinkney street, quite
near the last.  They were attacked on the  17th and 18th
August.   They  were sisters in the same house.
   The thirty-fourth was  in Queen, corner  of Smith street,
next door to No. 28.
   The thirty-fifth and sixth were in Weim's court, attacked
on the 19th and 21st August.
   The thirty-seventh  was in Cromwell's court in Franklin
street, opposite the Marine Hospital.   She  was seen first on
the 21st, having been ill for some days.
   The thirty-eighth case was from the Vendue Range, and
was  admitted into  the Roper  Hospital on the 23d, having
been  sick several days.
   The thirty-ninth  case was from Queen near State street,
admitted into the Roper Hospital on the 23d August.
   The fortieth was an inmate of the Roper Hospital under 
20
 treatment for a sore leg.  He was attacked on  the 24th
 August.
   Other cases were reported about this date in the following
 localities, viz. : in Queen near Meeting ; at the corner of
 Church and St. Michael's alley, corner of Market and Anson;
 State between Queen and Chalmers;  and on East Bay.
   The Committee will examine these cases in reference to
 the localities in which they occurred.  The largest number
 were  from Ashley river and  the  immediate  neighborhood,
 viz.: eight from  the vessels  near the  West end of Broad
 street, three from the Marine Hospital, one  from the Jail,
 two from the corner  of Queen and Smith streets, one from
 Cromwell's court in Franklin street, opposite the  Marine
 Hospital, one  from  the  Roper Hospital, one  in  Legare
 street, five from  Weim's court in King street near South
 Bay ; making twenty-two.  The  next largest number was
 on or near the wharves, viz.; one  from  Palmetto wharf,
 three from near the corner of East  Bay  and Pinckney street,
 one from Accommodation  wharf,  two from Central wharf,
 one from  Dry Dock  wharf, one from Vendue Range, and
 one from Queen near State street; making ten, which added
 to the twenty-two from the neighbourhood  of Ashley river,
 gives ihirty-two;  leaving only  five distributed over the rest
 of the City, if we  omit the Woolf street case and the three
 from the Baldur.  As the disease continued it became more
 generally disseminated, but evidently taking root more deep-
 ly and spreading more extensively in the Eastern than in the
 Western districts of the Citv, while the central portions were
 comparatively exempt. If the Committee should point to one
 particular  section more infested  by the disease  than any
 other, they would unhesitatingly say lhat the Ashley rive'r
 shore-line was that ill-fated district.   The next division thus
 early obtaining  this  unenviable distinction was that along
 the wharves, or the Eastern district of  the City.
   We may now pause to ask the question why has this been
 f  1  9  w, We.aJy reaSOns to offer in explanation of these
 facts?  What influence the West India  vessels may have
 had ,o the misch.ef,  we have  endeavored  fairly to inveslf-
gate by go.ng ever all the known facts,  bearing on the eon-

side°of ttW Ciu1^ WS?dS and lhG1diseaSe °n lhe Eas"-
sine  or the City.   We may now  look to the cases on the

e^rre8:^ ^  "" ^ S^ ^ld haVe ^^t
   The Royal Victoria came into  Ashley river on  the 4th
August from Union wharf.   We have already endeavored 
21
to discover whether she became infected  at the wharf
or not.   It was shown that there was no  disease on the
wharf during her stay there, and  that the wharf had but
little  intercourse with the quarantined vessels.   Further
than that we have not been able to go.   Certain it is that
no disease occurred in the ship till she had been three  days
in the river.
  It has  been shown that twenty-two of the thirty-eight
earlier cases came from the district of the City around that
part  of Ashley  river which  is contiguous to the west end
of Broad street, and  it has  been shown  how far the con-
nexion of vessels with this neighborhood  may be supposed
to have been influential in the mischief.  If we admit that
this  connexion may have been the cause,  we are, on the
other hand, compelled to admit that the  relation of cause
and effect has not been entirely established.   If, going a step
further, and perhaps  one step further than circumstances
justify us in going,  we admit that the vessels  may have been
the actuating, the exciting, cause of the disease in this quar-
ter, the '• fons et origo mali;" yet still we want something
more  to enable us to account  satisfactorily  for the  quick and
fast hold which the fever took upon the locality.
  And this brings up for consideration the third head under
which the Committee  proposed  to consider their subject,
viz. :  3rd.  The  local circumstances  about us  which may
seem to have a connexion with the fever.
  Having traced as much in  detail as it was possible to do,
with a due regard  to the indispensable limit of such a paper
as this, the earlier  cases individually ; the Committee must,
during the remainder of the  report, deal more in generali-
ties.  And first  they will remark that certain portions of the
City which were formerly exempt from the scourge of yellow
fever, have,  within the range of  a certain number of years
past, lost their exemption. And this change, they will show,
has invariably followed the obnoxious practice of filling up
low lots  with offal and other  deleterious matters.  They will
show that since the year 1838 these reciprocal changes have
been going on.  That wherever  low  lots,  over which the
salt tide had  been flowing,  have been reclaimed from the
se i water and filled with putrifying and  decaying  matter,
there has the yellow fever element seated  itself, as a hen
upon  her nest, and hatched out broods of cases.   A few in-
stances  must suffice,  and these the  Committee will offer as
examples of the spread  of  the  disease under the circum-
stances indicated, without,  at this time, touching the ques- 
22
 tion of its first origin.  True to their pledge in the beginning,
 they will only give the  facts  which  bear on  their subject,
 and leave all theoretical inferences to be deduced by others.
   In the year staled  above, IS3S, the yellow fever, for the
 first time,  appeared above Calhoun street.  At the corner of
 Elizabeth  and  Ann  streets a  case occurred in a  young
 stranger who had been kept scrupulously  housed for six
 weeks or longer, and she died of the disease in its most ag-
 gravated form.   The low lots bordering the Creek running
 up through that  and some of the neighboring squares were
 then  being filled up  for building  purposes.   A few years
 later the same thing was  undertaken for the  low grounds
 near the East end of Calhoun street, while the street itself
 was filled up with wood  ; the fever tread hard upon the heels
 of impiovement, and Calhoun street up to Meeting has ever
 since been an unhealthy vicinity.  South Bay has always
 been considered  one of the healthy districts of the City yet
 this year we have  traced the yellow fever from the corner
 of East Bay  to  that of King  street; and in  looking for a
 cause for this change, we remember  that White Point gar-
 den along this line has been filled with destructible material
just long enough for the  decaying matters to puff forth their
 death-giving gases.
   Continuing our progress along the shore line of the Ash-
 ley, we find that numerous  cases of yellow  fever have
 occurred this year in Gibbes, Legare, West end  of Tradd,
 New and Savage streets,  and we know that Limehouse and
 Council streets have been  made up, and  many low lots all
 about that neighborhood, reclaimed and filled with destruc-
 tible matter.   Further west, in Franklin street, where the
 Marine. Hospital  and Jail are situated ; in the lower end of
 Queen street  where the  Roper Hospital stands ; in Crom-
 well s  court and all over the adjoining  parts of the City,
 the fever has been, in this and other recent epidemic years,
 rife, whereas in  former times it was unknown  there.   Is it
 necessary for the Committee to  advert to the extensive fill-
ing that has been going on there ?   To calculate how many
 acres have been  snatched  from  the sea and converted into
hot beds of putrefaction and decay ?   To one fact, however,
HnLT  a"udf»and  that is  that  whereas, the Marine
tioTf  A?        ]  h,ave  0CCUPied  their Present  P»*i-
f«pt  Kr  [y years'and whereas durinS a11 that lime y^'iow
fever  has been introduced into the Hospital,  and treated
there whenever-it^existed among the seamen in the shipping,
yet never till 1852 has  the Jail suffered.  Why are these 
23
things  so ?  Without attempting  to  assign the cause, the
Committee will just refer to the local  changes mentioned
above.   Almost under the windows of the Jail, the Marine
and the Roper Hospitals, are to be found reekiug and putri-
fying masses of filth, to which the attention of the Board of
Health has  been repeatedly called this very  season,  and
which they have endeavored to obviate by using their most
extreme  authority in causing these abominations to be cover-
ed over with wholesome filling. Such measures, it is evident
to all and to the Board of Health themselves, are totally in-
efficacious.  The evil is deeper than  the surface and cannot
be remedied by covering the surface over.   It should be
effectually prevented from any further extension by a posi-
tive prohibition against the use of any filling matter except
the purest earth.
   Before passing to other  localities, the  Committee may
pause for one moment to ask who  can say how far the ex-
tension of the  fever in the Hospi'als and Jail may depend
on these local causes of disease?  Do we know enough to
say  positively that contact with other  sick was the cause,
 and that local circumstances  are  not to be counted?   Are
 we to suppose the pari passu march of the decaying accu-
 mulations and the  advancing  disease are only coincidences
 and in no wise cause and effect.   Let any fair reasoner an-
 swer the questions.
   And now leaving this neighborhood, let us make our way
 onwards.   The upper part of Bennett's mill pond, extend-
 in^ in a North-Easterly direction from Radcliffe to Coming
 streets, has been filled up in  the usual way, and the  fever
 has gone into the new made district.   Upon another branch
 of the same pond,  in what is known as  Cannonsborough,
 similar works have been going on, and  we know that Can-
 nonsborough has been converted, simultaneously, from  a re-
 gion of proverbial salubrity to a yellow  fever district.   This
 instance is sufficiently striking to arrest our attention, did we
 not find it necessary to hasten to another even more  so in
 itself, and more appropriate for our purpose, as relating spe-
 cially to the epidemic of this season.  The Committee refer
 to Gadsden's  green.  Here, up  to the  present year, we
 looked for  country fever, or  its modification known  under
 the name of neck fever.   This year, we have had pure yel-
 low fever.  How  did yellow fever go there?  It has been
 contended  that contact with infected persons or places gave
 it origin.  The Committee need not  examine that point
 now   They  will, for argument sake,  yield  it as proved, 
24
 and ask in reply why similar contact in former years did
 not produce similar results?  Why has the disease taken
 root here now and spread ?
   In reply to this they will refer to the  past  and  present
 condition of the neighborhood.   In former years the soil re-
 mained in  the condition  in which nature had made it.  In
 recent years the hand of man has been upon it, and it has
 undergone  the same metamorphosis that has been described
 above.  First,  President street  on the North, and imme-
 diately adjoining, was filled up with offal. Then the Bridge
 causeway on the West was made up in great measure with
 saw-dust, and extensive excavations of the earth were made
 in the  same direction.  Finally,  the entire offal of the City
 was deposited at the West end of Line street in  a North-
 Easterly direction from the  infected district.   This deposit
 consisted of the usual ordure of the City, and also of an un-
 usual number of dead animals. It was so placed that every
 high tide overflowed  and saturated it till* at the ebb of the
 tide, the  soluble  matters of this immense mass of offal with
 the receding waters were daily  spread out over the large
 expanse of low marsh land adjoining the region in question,
 there to be acted on by the ardent sun, and  wafted by the
 prevailing winds in all directions.  Here then we have the
 same condition  of things described as existing  in  so many
 other places in which yellow  fever has newly made its en-
 try.  The residents on this Green were principally laborers
 on the  Savannah Railroad, who were exposed to the causes
 of country fever.  But when they sickened it  was with yel-
low fever.
   The Committee  refrain from  drawing any concluions.
 They wish to deal with facts, and not to weaken these by
warping  them towards any  preconceived theory.   It  is
enough for  them  in this connexion to have called public at-
tention to the  facts that in numerous parts of the city, within
 a few years past, yellow fever has become denizenized, and
that it  has followed  on the reclaiming of low lots with de-
caying matters.   They wish to do  this in order that any
 measures suggested for  the good  of the public  health may
be initiated in full view  of all the requirements.   Having
 shown  how much connexion there was  between the fever in
the City and the vessels from infected ports, they thought it
 their duty also to show its connexion with local causes.
   It may be asked if yellow fever depends upon  these de-
 composing  matters, why  it  does  not occur in those places
 every year.  And we may also ask why, if  it depends on 
25
importation, it does not spread every year that it is intro-
duced into the City.  The reply  to these questions brings
us to the consideration of the last point we intended to touch
upon, viz. :
  4th. The imperceptible yet not inappreciable influences
of the atmospheric condition about  us,  to which we are
fairly entitled  to attribute such epidem'ic tendencies as can-
not be accounted for on the exclusive supposition of intro-
duction or local origin.
   These influences are indeed imperceptible.   They come
about us like the electricity which may abound in, or be ab-
sent from,  the air around us, and give no note of its  pre-
sence or absence.  Or like the wind that " bloweth where
it listeth," whilst  " no man knoweth whence it  cometh or
whither it goeth."   But they are far from being inapprecia-
ble, for, like  the electric explosion that rends the steadfast
earth, or the hurricane blast that sweeps with destructive
and overwhelming power over the face of the ocean and
the land, thev arelknown by their works.
   Epidemic influences are seen in their effects.   We cannot
doubt that they do exist and are real, though they are not
seen or felt, except by their deeds.   All authors recognize
them, though  none have described  them further than  by
their results.   All  endeavor to  make for themselves and
their readers  an idea  of what an epidemic influence is by
 grouping together all  the concomitant circumstances under
which it  may exist, and thus making an entity out of that
 which gives no other  proof, even of its presence,  than what
 may be inferred from its effects.
    Epidemics have been  defined to be "Such diseases as
 occasionally  prevail more or less generally in a community
 at the same time  or  season, and  depend  upon a common
 cause "*  This common cause is the influence, imperceptible
 but not inappreciable, to which we allude.   When brought
 into a community, it gives life to the previously  unvita hzed
 seeds or ova  of disease, or else, bearing  these> within itself,
 they remain  undeveloped until  they  find in the  vitiated at-
 mosphere of neglected localities the fructifying power.  That
 Epidemics act in one  or both of these ways might be sus-
 tained by ample authority.   But the purpose of the  Com-
 mittee now is simply to show that when  this mysterious in-
 fluence is abroad in  the air, it  developes  disease in those
 places where it finds the proper nidus ready formed.  , One
 at least of the elements that go to make up that nidus is the

   * Copland. Art: Epedemic. 
26
 faulty Hygienic condition which  we have shown exists in
 parts of our City.  An  example, by way  of illustration,
 will show what we wish to prove in fewer words than we
 can otherwise  do  so.  In the  British and Foreign Medico-
 Chirugical Review for 1854,  at page 15, we read : "One
 wing  of a  Cavalry regiment, just arrived from England,
 and  in  high health, ascended the Ganges from Calcutta
 (where there was no cholera at the time) in boats.  At a
 certain period of the voyage, the troops arrived at a part of
 the country  where cholera prevailed in the villages on the
 banks of the river,  but with  which they did not communi-
 cate.  Here cases of cholera occurred ; they were advised
 to push on rapidly, and after  a few days, when they had
 passed the limits of the existence of the disease on the banks,
 it ceased to  show itselfin the boats.   But what makes the
 case peculiarly  conclusive is, that the other wing of the regi-
 ment followed afterwards by the same mode of conveyance,
 became  afflicted with the disease at the same  point,  and
 lost it again at  the same point.  So  that  the limits of the
 tainted district seemed to be as clearly marked out by the
 voyage of the one detachment as of the other."
  This illustrates  what we mean  by epidemic  influence.
 It is  an influence whnh cannot be  controlled by human
 means, but we may render it in a great measure inoperative
 by taking from it the coincident, and more or less, necessary
 circumstances of foul air and deteriorated atmosphere. This
 we may do by paying more strict attention to Quarantine as
well as to Hygienic measures. And in  conclusion, the Com-
mittee would recommend that proper measures be taken for
such supervision and amendment of both  of these as may
be called tor by the demands of the public health.

                         WILLIAM T. WRAGG,
                         WILLIAM HUME.
                         JAMES M. EASON.
i 
27
List of the Deaths from Yellow Fever in 1856, and the Places
                   where they occurred.
Marine Hospital,
Roper Hospital, .
Jail,.
Orphan's House,
Ship Victoria  .
Society street,   .
Pinckney street,
Franklin street,
Spring Street,
Hard Alley,
Horlbeck's Alley,
East Bay,  .
Anson street,  .
Cromwell's Court,
Magazine  street,
Legare street,
Bull street,
Arch dale street,
State street,
Tradd street,
King street,
Meeting street,
Savage street,.
New street,.
Elliott street,
Queen street,  .
 Bedon's Alley,
Atlantic wharf,
 Line street,
 Cannon street, •
 Cumberland street,
;   Of the 52 deaths in
Vendue Range,
Queen street,
State street,   .
Spring street,
Cromwell's Court,
Bedon's Alley,  .
House of Correction,
              Total,
 12
 52
  3
  1
  1
  2
  6
  1
  9
  1
  1
  5
  2
  2
  1
  1
  1
  6
  6
 12
 12
  5
  1
  2
  1
 13
,  1
   1
,   1
   1
   2
Washington street
Burn's Lane, .
Drake street,
Stall's Alley,  .
Market street,   .
Laurens street, .
Pritchard. street, .
Preside^ street
St  Philip's streets
Wharrstreet,  *. .
Broad street? .  '
Chalmers street,  .
Wentworth street,
Norman's Lane, .
Church street,
Liberty street,.
Berresford street,
Central wharf,
Friend street,
Beaufain street,
Bogard street, -
Wall street,
Linguard street,
Rutledge street,
Coming street,
Vernon street, .
Ship-board,.
Calhoun street,
Guignard street,
State Magazine,
Mazyck street,.
**
1
1
1
1
3
1
3
2
1
1
3
1
2
1
4
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
 1
1
 1
 1
 1
Total, .     •     •         •    • 212
 the Roper Hospital, there were from—
Court House Square,
East >Bay,.
Adger's wharf,
Market street,
Washington street,
Tradd street,.
 i
 i
 i
 2
 1
J*
26 
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