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FIFTEENTH BIEJs^NIAL REPORT 121 their Canal through Columbian territory and they had no more police control of the adjacent country than a railroad contractor would have over the country through which his railroad passed if he were building a railroad in any one of the United States. We would simply know that Sam Smith was on his rolls and w^orking for him on Wednesday and that on Thursday he was absent. Whether Smith had died or gone to work for some one else the contractor would have no means of finding out. This was the case with the French at Panama. "They had a most excellent system of hospitals where the sick were well taken care of; and we have the well-kept records of these hospitals. They show that during the construction period of the old French company, from 1881 to 1889, 5,618 employees died in these hospitals. But the French were, at this time, doing their work by contract and each contractor was charged a dollar per day for each man he had in hospital. It will readily be understood, therefore, that if the French contractors were anything like the ordinary contractor, not a very large proportion of the sick would go to this hospital. We hear of many individual Instances of heavy loss. The first French director, Mr. Dingier, came to the Isthmus with his wife and three children. At the end of the first six months all had died of yellow fever except himself. One of the French engineers, who was still on the Isthmus when we first arrived, stated that he came over with a party of seventeen young Frenchmen. In a month they had all died of yellow fever except himself. The superintendent of the railroad brought to the Isthmus his three sisters; within a month they had all died of yellow fever. The Mother Superior of the sisters nursing in Ancon Hospital told me that she had come out with twenty-four sisters. Within a few years twenty-one had died, the most of yellow fever. Many other instances of this kind could be cited. "From the best Information w^hlch I can get, and which I consider accurate, I believe the French lost 22,189 laborers by death from 1881 to 1889. This would give a rate of something over 240 per thousand per year. I think it due to the French to say that we could not have done a bit better than they, if we had known no more of the cause of these tropical diseases than they did. "The great discoveries in tropical medicine made during the time between the coming of the French to the Isthmus and the coming of ourselves, however, namely that certain species of mosquito transmit both yellow fever and malarial fevers, has enabled us to protect ourselves against these and other tropical diseases. "The French, with an average force of not more than 10,200 men, lost in nine years 22,189 men; we ourselves, with an average force of 33,000 men. In nearly the same length of time have lost less than 4,000. The death rate among the French employees was something more than 240 per thousand; our maximum rate In the early days was 40 per thousand; our rate at present is 7.50 per thousand. Malaria, from a maximum of 821 per thousand taken sick—i. e., that, out of every thousand of our employees in the course of the year, we have 821 taken sick with malaria—we have reduced at present to 187 per thousand. But most important of all, yellow fever has been entirely banished. We have not had a single case since May, 1906, now a lapse of almost six years. The general death-rate has been reduced from a maximum of 49.94 per thousand to a rate, for the year 1910, of 21.18
Object Description
Rating | |
Fixed Title * | NCHH-02: Biennial Report of the North Carolina State Board of Health [1909-1972] |
Document Title | Biennial Report of the North Carolina State Board of Health [1909-1972] |
Subject Name | North Carolina. State Board of Health -- Statistics -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Statistics -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina. |
Description | Publication began with the 13th (1909/1910); ceased with the 44th (1970/1972) |
Creator | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh : The Board, 1911- |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1913-1914 |
Identifier | NCHH-02-015 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 15 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-02/nchh-02-015.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-a; nchh-02 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-02-015 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-02 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb2375275 |
Description
Fixed Title * | Page 121 |
Document Title | Biennial Report of the North Carolina State Board of Health [1909-1972] |
Subject Name | North Carolina. State Board of Health -- Statistics -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Statistics -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina. |
Description | Publication began with the 13th (1909/1910); ceased with the 44th (1970/1972) |
Creator | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh : The Board, 1911- |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1913-1914 |
Identifier | NCHH-02-015-0125 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Page Type | all; report/review |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Filename | biennialreportof15nort_0125.jp2 |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 15 |
Page Number | 121 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Full Text | FIFTEENTH BIEJs^NIAL REPORT 121 their Canal through Columbian territory and they had no more police control of the adjacent country than a railroad contractor would have over the country through which his railroad passed if he were building a railroad in any one of the United States. We would simply know that Sam Smith was on his rolls and w^orking for him on Wednesday and that on Thursday he was absent. Whether Smith had died or gone to work for some one else the contractor would have no means of finding out. This was the case with the French at Panama. "They had a most excellent system of hospitals where the sick were well taken care of; and we have the well-kept records of these hospitals. They show that during the construction period of the old French company, from 1881 to 1889, 5,618 employees died in these hospitals. But the French were, at this time, doing their work by contract and each contractor was charged a dollar per day for each man he had in hospital. It will readily be understood, therefore, that if the French contractors were anything like the ordinary contractor, not a very large proportion of the sick would go to this hospital. We hear of many individual Instances of heavy loss. The first French director, Mr. Dingier, came to the Isthmus with his wife and three children. At the end of the first six months all had died of yellow fever except himself. One of the French engineers, who was still on the Isthmus when we first arrived, stated that he came over with a party of seventeen young Frenchmen. In a month they had all died of yellow fever except himself. The superintendent of the railroad brought to the Isthmus his three sisters; within a month they had all died of yellow fever. The Mother Superior of the sisters nursing in Ancon Hospital told me that she had come out with twenty-four sisters. Within a few years twenty-one had died, the most of yellow fever. Many other instances of this kind could be cited. "From the best Information w^hlch I can get, and which I consider accurate, I believe the French lost 22,189 laborers by death from 1881 to 1889. This would give a rate of something over 240 per thousand per year. I think it due to the French to say that we could not have done a bit better than they, if we had known no more of the cause of these tropical diseases than they did. "The great discoveries in tropical medicine made during the time between the coming of the French to the Isthmus and the coming of ourselves, however, namely that certain species of mosquito transmit both yellow fever and malarial fevers, has enabled us to protect ourselves against these and other tropical diseases. "The French, with an average force of not more than 10,200 men, lost in nine years 22,189 men; we ourselves, with an average force of 33,000 men. In nearly the same length of time have lost less than 4,000. The death rate among the French employees was something more than 240 per thousand; our maximum rate In the early days was 40 per thousand; our rate at present is 7.50 per thousand. Malaria, from a maximum of 821 per thousand taken sick—i. e., that, out of every thousand of our employees in the course of the year, we have 821 taken sick with malaria—we have reduced at present to 187 per thousand. But most important of all, yellow fever has been entirely banished. We have not had a single case since May, 1906, now a lapse of almost six years. The general death-rate has been reduced from a maximum of 49.94 per thousand to a rate, for the year 1910, of 21.18 |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-02/nchh-02-015.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-a; nchh-02 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-02-015 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-02 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb2375275 |
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