Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/46

32 victims. I do not attribute their recovery so much to the remedies administered as to the circumstances in which they were placed; in other words, a good washing to begin with, and an abundance of fresh air.'

"It has puzzled some to understand why it is that typhus fever and many other infectious disorders are more frequent and fatal in cold than in warm weather. This fact is attributed by some to the low temperature; but the true reason undoubtedly is, that in winter the external atmosphere is more completely excluded from our dwellings and hospitals by closing of doors and windows, which in warm weather are open and freely permit the ingress and egress of air. Hence, in winter, the greater necessity of artificial ventilation. The same reasoning applies to passenger-ships in cold or stormy weather, when the hatches are kept closed. Artificial ventilation, necessary at all times, is then more urgently demanded.

"There is another fact connected with ships, as well as with hospitals and dwellings, which has a very important bearing on this subject. The miasma which has been spoken of has the property of attaching itself to clothing, bedding, furniture, and to the walls, ceilings, and floors of apartments. It is absorbed by them, and adheres with, considerable tenacity, whence it is ever ready, unless thoroughly destroyed and removed by cleansing and the use of disinfectants, to issue forth, and to pregnate the atmosphere again with its poisonous influence. Into a room in which a case of typhus fever has once existed, even for a short time, it is unsafe to enter, unless the room and everything in it has been first subjected to a thorough airing and purification. Here, then, is a constant source of danger, which will probably account for many instances of devastation on shipboard by this disease. A vessel in which it has once occurred will have the miasmatic poison clinging to its sides, ceilings, and floors, from which it cannot possibly be eradicated without the most thorough airing, cleansing, and disinfecting, such as, I presume, no vessel engaged in the European passenger trade has ever received. In hospitals and dwellings, with hard-finished walls and painted wood-work, this fact is often demonstrated. In the peculiar structure of a vessel s inner walls, without plaster, paint, or white-