head, during the day; and, in the hottest night, will sleep with his
head enveloped in a filthy blanket, to keep the musquitoes from
annoying him; and yet is exempt from yellow fever, while it is
raging around him.
Rio Janeiro has a population of 100,000 whites, and 200,000
aeks and mixed bloods. The former are mostly Portuguese; and
is difficult to explain their exemption from yellow fever, in the
epidemic of 1849-50 (which has continued its march northwards
and so ravaged the seaports and other towns of the United. Stated
since)—-I say it is difficult to explain the exemption, on any other
ground than that of race. Not more than 3 or 4 p^r cent of the
( ¿ ¡ S X ) S d“ d; w“ le p" ce"t of 118
it has been repeatedly asserted, that yellow fever never appeared
wheth P!tV>,0US y ° date; tut |§ is exceedingly questionable
ther it has not occurred there in a mild form, hut with so little
mortality as not to create alarm. Yellow fever does unquestionably
^ M » deS^ e I B l SOme ^ ag°>in the B B
MohUe in 1 8 4 ?Umf a 1 1 1 B the epidemie H P r e v a ile d in
m o r e tL m more than V21 per“ c ent, ofa tBhosei a“tta cnk0etd B. AB refeSrenc ep rotob atbhley
a c c o S ^ to tt aM B B I Commissio< ’ f f l show that,
Rio f t f / +T CU1Tent testlm°ny of the leading physicians of
, e fevers of that city had assumed an extraordinary type for
several years previouMy to the epidemic of 1849-50; and that many
of the cases differed in no way from yellow fever: even black vomit
S S S E H I iS therefore, that the-popj
acdimation S B this disease, for
that the d a r k V Our observation has satisfied us,
that the dark-skinned Spaniards,. Portuguese, and other south Europeans,
as well as the Jews, are more easily and thoroughly acclimated
against yellow fever, than the fairer races.»
remittentb? n 7 t e iily h j 1 1 1 m'iter8> | intermittent,
aass fthtfef ifrirsstt ttwwno- ffo rms are e’n Mdem biUc,t agtr aRdieoS, t°hfe t hesec saapme eo fd itsheea sine;h aabnid-
W iW r n s m m i R h » i « » » „ a t e a §
by acclimation through those marsh fevers. I will not however
2 f f i! °ne Wh° COnt6nds for tPe identity of marsh
and yellow fevers, m our present day: if their »«»-identity be not
now proven, it is vain to attempt to establish the non-identity of
anytwo d is e a s e s . That v e ry e p id em ic c o n tin u e d i ts m am h d m in g
valuable I n fo r ltL 'lÎ o T t Ko - o S * ^ ^ H Ü * » |
five years, from Rio to New York; and ravaged hundreds of places
where remittent fevers were more common and more violent than in
Rio. To say nothing of countries further south, all the region from
New Orleans to Norfolk is dotted with malarial towns, in which
yellow fever has prevailed with terrible fatality.
The following extract is from one of the most competent authorities,
on this subject, in the United States :
“ The immunity of the African race from yellow fever is a problem unsolved ; but of the
highest import in physiology and etiology. Whether this immunity be owing to color, or
to an unknown transmissible and indestructible modification of the constitution, originally
derived from the climate of Africa, or from anatomical conformation or physiological law,
peculiar to the race, is not easy to determine. It does not appear that yellow fever prevails
under an African sun; although the epidemic of New Orleans, in 1853, came well nigh
getting the name ‘African yellow fever,’ ‘African plague:’ it was for weeks so called.
Although non-creolized negroes are not exempt from yellow fever, yet they suffer little
from it, and rarely die. On the other hand, they are the most liable to suffer from cholera”
[and typhoid fever.—J. C. N.] “ As an example of the susceptibility of this'race, take
the year 1841 : among 1800 deaths from yellow fever, there were but three deaths among
the blacks, two having been children; or 1 in 600, or 1 in 14,000 of.the whole population.” «
The Doctor goes on to show “that the same immunity from death,
in this disease, is enjoyed by the black race throughout the yellow-
fever zone.”
The investigations of Dr. Dowler (and there is no one more competent
to examine a historical point of this kind) lead him to the
conclusion, that yellow fever is not an African disease. If this be
true, it,is a very strong argument in favor of specific distinctness of
the negro race. We have abundant evidence, in the United States,
that no exposure to high temperature or marsh effluvia can protect
an individual against the cause of yellow fever. The white races
who have been exposed to a tropical sun, and lost much of their
primitive plethora and vigor, are, as a general rule, less violently
attacked by yellow fever; but the negro gains his fullest vigor under
a tropical sun, and is everywhere exempt from this disease.33
31 B e n n e t Dow e e b , M. D., “ Tableau of the Tellow Fever of 1853, with topographical,
chronological, and historical sketches of the Epidémies of New Orleans, since their origin in
1796.”
32 The works of M. le Dr. Boudin—now Médecin en chef de l’Hôpital Militaire du Ronle,
Paris, so well known as a distinguished army physician, at home, in Greece, and in Algeria,
are the first, so far as we know, in any language, that approach this question of races, in
relation to climate, with a truly philosophical spirit. He kindly sent us, several years ago,
the following essays, the titles of which will show the range of his investigations: “ .Études
de Géologie Médicales, &c.”—“ Études de Pathologie Comparée, &c.”—“ Étudos de Géographie
Médicales, &e.”—“ Lettres sur l’Algérie”—“ Statistique de la population et de la
colonisation en Algérie”—“ Statistique de la mortalité des Armées.”
We have, in our essay, made frequent use of these volumes, from notes we had taken
while reading them ; and should have made more direct reference to them, if we had had