HISTORY OF YELLOW FEYER 
IN PROVIDENCE, 
IN TEARS 1797—1800—1803—1S05—1820. 
PREPARED BY E. M. SNOW, M. D. 
REPRINTED FROM THE JOURNAL, JUNE, 
1857. 
cians in the town, Drs. A. Throop, Wm. 
Bowen, Levi Wheaton, Benjamin Dyer, 
Henry Faulkner, and Joseph Mason sent a 
letter to the Town Council recommending 
that all the inhabitants be removed from the 
infected district without delay, and that all 
the sick be sent to the hospital, and stating 
that they considered it dangerous to them- 
selves and their families to attend the sick 
in that district. 
This does not seem to have been done 
very effectually, and not until the 18th of 
September was a fence ordered to be placed 
across South Main street from the south 
side of Powers lane, and another across 
South Main street at the foot of Transit 
street. From the 16th to the 26th of Sep- 
tember there were 29 new eases and 21 
deaths. The last case and the last death 
was on the 3d of October, and during the 
whole time from August 15th to October 3d, 
a period of 49 days, there were 85 cases 
and 52 deaths. The duration of the disease 
was precisely the same as in the year 1797, 
it having commenced and ended three days 
earlier than in that year. 
The disease was more severe and caused 
more excitement than in 1797. Vessels from 
Providence were subjected to quarantine in 
New York, Philadelphia and Boston. On 
the 29th of September a letter was received 
by the Town Council from Philadelphia, of- 
fering assistance to the sufferers in money 
or necessaries. The Town Council of Pro- 
vidence replied that owing to the powers of 
the Council in providing for the poor, there 
had been very little distress from want of 
provisions; but that many families having 
been deprived of employment for some time 
were in need of assistance. Soon after a 
check for S2CKX) was received from Philadel- 
phia, which was distributed to the needy. 
The correspondence between Providence and 
Philadelphia is extremely interesting and 
creditable to both cities. 
The summer of this year (1800) was exces- 
sively hot and dry. Under date of August 
28th, the “Providence Gazette” says: “The 
parched earth was last evening refreshed by 
some fine showers.—Lans Deo.” 
The origin of the fever this year was not 
so clearly known as in 1797. No direct con- 
nection could be traced between any vessel, 
and the first cases. The Town Council in a 
letter to the authorities of Newport, state as 
follows: 
“With respect to the origin of the disease, 
whether imported from abroad, or derived 
from causes.of a local nature, is not yet sat- 
isfactorily ascertained, and about which a 
great diversity of sentiment prevails. It is 
represented by some as coming from the 
United States ship General Greene lately ar- 
rived in year harbor, which it is said had the 
contagion on board, and that it originated 
here from some of the crew of that ship who 
put up in the quarter where the disorder 
made the first appearance, and in the neigh- 
borhood of which it is still confined.” 
Whatever was the origin there was no 
doubt then, and there is none now, that the 
filthy docks in that neigborhood were the 
local causes which are always necessary for 
the existence of an epidemic of thisjcharacter. 
After the year 1800, a strict quarantine 
was enforced in Providence every summer, 
and every summer vessels arrived whie i 
had cases of the fever on board. There 
were, however, no cases of the disease 
among the inhabitants of the town, except a 
very few in 1803, and more in 1805. 
The history of the yellow fever in Provi- 
dence in 1805, is remarkable as exhibiting 
the effect of prompt, efficient, and energetic 
sanitary measures. - This will be given here- 
after. 
The yellow fever appeared in Providence 
for the third time in 1803. The town records 
mention the frequent arrival of vessels with 
the fever on board, but say nothing about 
any cases in town. There were only five 
deaths from the disease this year, the last 
of which, Mr. and Mrs, John Viall, died on 
the 2d and 4th of October. No allusion is 
made to the disease in Providence in the 
Gazette of that year, though full accounts 
are given of the fever in New York, where 
it prevailed with great severity. 
papers constantly assured the public that 
the town was healthy. 
The (Gazette of August 28,1820, says—“no 
unusual or alarming sickness prevails.” 
The same paper of September 8th, says that 
unfounded reports are in circulation, and to 
correct them “we would state for the infor- 
tion of our country friends that no unusual 
sickness prevails here.” The Patriot of 
Sept. 9th, says that two sudden deaths had 
occurred, but that they were not yellow fe- 
ver, and that there was no case of malignant 
fever in town. The Gazette of Sept. 11th, 
says—“We rejoice in the fact that no ma- 
lignant nor contagious sickness prevails in 
this town;” but unfortunately for the truth 
of the statement, the same paper, “since the 
above was in type” publishes a certificate 
from Drs. W. Bowen, L. Wheaton and P. 
Bowen, dated Sept. 10th, and stating that 
they were then in attendance upon eleven 
cases of the fever 
The Board of Health seem to have been 
equally desirous of concealing the facts, and 
they issued no information to the public un- 
til the 12th of September, when they pub- 
lished the fast that there were several cases 
of suspicious fever in the south part of the 
town. In the meantime, the greater portion 
of the inhabitants removed from the infected 
district, and on the 15th of September a fence 
was ordered to be placed across South Main 
street on the south side of Power street?, and 
another on the north side of Transit street. 
These fences were removed six days after, 
the disease having apparently ceased. The 
inhabitants began to return to the infected 
district, and the same results followed as in 
1805; new cases of the fever occurred, and 
several died. 
The temperature of the month of Septem- 
ber, in Providence, was as follows: 
7 A. M-, 62°5; 2 p. M., 74°; 9 p. m., 63°5. 
The last case of fever was on the 9th of 
October, the whole period of the existence 
of the disease being fifty-four days. 
The town records and newspapers of that 
period give no information from which the 
exact number of eases can be stated. As 
nearly as I can ascertain, there were twenty- 
two deaths from the fever during the whole 
season. 
The efforts to conceal the existence of the 
disease only served, as such efforts always 
do, to aggravate the evils desired to be 
avoided. The most absurd rumors were cir- 
culated in the country towns. Farmers 
coming to Providence were informed in 
Olneyville that the mortality was so great 
that the inhabitants were obliged to spend 
the nights in burying the dead. Other ru- 
mors equally false were prevalent. 
The origin of the disease in 1820 was 
not accurately ascertained. Some persons 
traced it to one vessel, others to an- 
other vessel. All that can be stated with 
certainty is, that vessels arrived from the 
West Indies having had cases of the fever 
on board, the fever broke out in Providence. 
South Water street at this time was not ex- 
tended below where the Fall River Building 
now stands, and the docks below there were 
in much the same condition as twenty years 
previous. 
This year (1820) was the last in which the 
yellow fever has been epidemic or endemic 
in Providence. Fears were entertained for 
several years that it would prevail again, and 
in one year, I am informed, there were two or 
three cases w hich caused considerable, excite- 
ment for a short time. The Board of Health, 
however, immediately published all the facts 
in the case, and this wise course at once se- 
cured the confidence and allayed the fears 
of the public here and in other cities. For 
more than thirty years there was not, so far 
as I can ascertain, a case of the disease in 
Providence. During the last three years 
there have been cases of yellow fever in this 
city; but they were all of persons who came 
directly from places where the fever was pre- 
vailing, and were generally very slight. 
Late in the summer of 1856 there were two 
mild cases in the city, one of which was 
brought in a vessel from Charleston, S. C., 
and the other came from Staten Island. 
This completes the facts in relation to the 
yellow fever in Providence so far as they 
have come to my knowledge. Different per- 
sons will probably draw different conclusions 
from them; but some conclusions seem to be 
so obvious and so important, that 1 may take 
occasion to present them hereafter. 
1*97. 
The first appearance of the yellow fever 
in Providence of which we have any record, 
was on the 13th of August, 1797. The 
schooner Betsey, Capt. Burr, from St. 
Nicholas Mole, m the island of Hayti, ar- 
rived on the 10th of August, and anchored 
on the south side of what is now the ferry 
dock, where she remained for two weeks or 
more. She had lost two men on the pass- 
age, with the fever, but this fact was kept 
secret. As she was coming up the river 
she was boarded by Nicholas Winsor, of 
Seekonk, who, with a boat load of vege- 
tables was on his way to Providence market. 
He went on board the schooner and his boat 
was taken in tow to the city. On his re- 
turn home he was taken sick, and died in 
four or five days. His disease was called 
bilious fever, and no suspicions were enter- 
tained, at the time, of its origin. 
This vessel was loaded with coffee, and 
was in a filthy condition. She remained at 
the wharf until the 25tli of August, when 
she was removed to Starve Goat Island, and 
the cargo was landed there. 
The crew of the schooner were discharged 
on their arrival, and some of their clothing, 
with the bedding of the vessel, was sent to 
the “Long House” to be washed. This 
house was situated at the present junction 
of Wickenden and South Main streets, 
reaching westerly from the present line of 
Wickenden street to the south end of Car- 
rington’s block. On the south side of the 
house was a lane leading from Wickenden 
street to the water, a portion of which still 
exists at the south end of Carrington’s 
block. The house was about eighty 
feet long, -and was occupied by ten or 
twelve families of ship carpenters, caulkers 
and washerwomen. The clothing was car- 
ried to this house on the 11th or 12tb of 
August, and on the lfitli several persons 
were taken sick with the fever, three of 
whom, Robert Fuller, Mrs. Mitchell, and 
Mrs. Goss, died on the 18th. These were 
the first deaths from this disease, in Provi- 
dence, and there were no cases of the disease 
south of this house, during the year 1797. 
On the 20tli of August, William Tilling- 
hast and Mrs. James Arnold died. Mr. Till- 
in ghast eat his breakfast with his family in 
the morning, and, though sick, was walking 
about his room at noon, and died before 
night. He lived in the house, still standing, 
and owned at present by his grand-children, 
at No. 299 (present number) South Main 
street. 
Mrs. Arnold lived in the house still in 
existence, at the northeast corner of James 
and South Main streets. On the 22d of 
August her husband, James Arnold, and her 
son Joseph died in the same house, and on 
the 3d of September a domestic in the fami- 
ly, Jeruslia Townsend, also died. This 
house stood alone, and in the rear extending 
to Benefit street, was a grove of locust 
trees. The prevailing winds at that season 
of the year, from the southwest, would be 
from the vessel and docks to this house. 
James Arnold was possessed of a large 
property, which, if he died first, would 
descend to his only child, Joseph. The son 
had made his will’disposing of the property; 
but the son died five minutes before his 
father, and the property went to other 
heirs. 
Much excitement prevailed in the town 
from fear of contagion, The bodies of 
those who died were ordered to be wrap- 
ped in tarred sheets, and by order of the 
Town Council, tar and brismstone were 
burned upon the w harves and streets of the 
infected district. 
No case of fever originated, during this 
year, north of Williams street; but it was 
wholly confined to the small section be- 
tween Williams street and the present 
junction of Wickenden and South Main 
streets. 
The last death occurred on the 6th of 
October, and the wrhole number of deaths 
from August 18th to October 6th, a period 
of forty-nine days, was thirty-six. The 
number of cases of the fever cannot now be 
ascertained. 
During the same period, the fever pre- 
vailed in Bristol, and sixteen persons died. 
It was supposed to originate in Bristol from 
the ship Washington, which arrived at that 
port from Savanuah, via New York, on the 
15th of August. It was the opinion, how- 
ever, of intelligent men, even at that day, 
that the fever could not have prevailed as it 
did in Bristol or Providence, had there not 
existed local causes calculated to give rise 
to it. 
These causes in Providence were un- 
doubtedly the docks wrhich existed in the 
location wThere the fever prevailed. South 
Water street was not then in existence, 
and the docks extended, many of them, 
nearly to South Main street. They were 
filled with filth, portions of which were ex- 
posed at low water; the wharves were most- 
ly built of wood much of which was de- 
cayed, and their condition was such as has 
been found precisely calculated to give rise 
to fever in other places. 
There were no cases of fever on the oppo- 
site side of the river, and the disease did 
not spread in any instance from the cases 
which were removed from the infected dis- 
tricts to other parts of the town. At that 
time, it should be recollected, there were no 
docks existing as at present on the opposite 
shore, and besides, the prevailing southwest 
wiuds had the effect to keep the disease from 
the west side of the river. 
I am unable to find any particulars of the 
temperature and weather at that period, ex- 
cept the general fact that from 1796 to 1800 
the winters were very cold and long, the 
springs very cold and wet, and the sum- 
mers excessively hot and dry. One writer 
says of the winter of 1797-98: “The winter 
was excessively cold and long, file spring 
was rainy; never have I seen so long and 
severe a rainy season at the breaking up of 
winter. The summer was ushered in at 
once, and was as remarkably hot and drv as 
me pj-cecoiiig wiuier auu spring were cold 
and rainy. About the middle of June were 
several days almost insupportable, and uni- 
versally spoken of by our oldest men as the 
hottest ever known.” 
Such was the general character of the sea- 
sons from 1796 to 1800, during which time 
the yellow fever prevailed extensively and 
severely in most of the northern cities. It 
did not prevail in Providence again until 
the year 1800, and afterwards in 1803, 1805 
and 1820. I propose to give hereafter an 
account of the disease in those years. It is 
impossible to obtain any particulars of the 
disease from the public papers or from the 
records of that period. Nothing is given in 
relation to the number of cases, the sup- 
posed origin, the location of the disease, or 
the state of the weather. Indeed, not a 
single particular is given which can be of 
any value in ascertaining the causes or char- 
acter of the disease. For many of the par- 
ticulars given in this article I am indebted 
to John H. Ormsbee, Esq., who lived at the 
time in the infected district, and had the 
disease severely himself. 
1805. 
The fourth appearance of the fever iu 
Providence was iu July, 1805. On the 3d 
of this month the brig Planter arrived from 
St. Croix, having lost some men with fever 
on the passage. On the 12th, the brig Juno 
arrived from Matanzas under similar cir- 
cumstances. They were permitted to come 
to the wharves after a brief detention at 
quarantine. The weather was excessively 
hot and dry. The fever broke out about the 
the 20th of July, in the same locality as in 
previous years. The first cases were at the 
foot of James street, foot of Williams street, 
foot of Power street, &c., some of them 
being in the same houses in which persons 
had died in 1797 and in 1800. 
On the 25th of July the Town Council met 
and adopted vigorous measures. A commit- 
tee was appointed to examine the vessels in 
that locality, to ascertain the cause of the 
malignant fever which prevailed. An order 
was "passed requiring all the inhabitants 
“south of Power’s Lane, and north of the 
south still-house,” which stood where the 
present building of the Providence Tool 
Company stands, to remove from their 
houses within three days. This order was 
faithfully obeyed, and on the 29th of July a 
watch was appointed to protect the property 
in the deserted houses. As in previous 
years, the only cases were in the in- 
fected district, or among those who 
had frequented that locality, and in 
consequence of the prompt action of the 
Town Council in removing the inhabitants, 
the fever ceased immediately, no new' cases 
occurring after the 2d of August. A change 
of the weather, from excessive heat and 
drought to cooling showers, perhaps aided in 
the result. Very great alarm existed at the 
commencement, it being some weeks earlier 
than the fever had begun in previous years. 
The rejoicing at this cessation of the disease 
was very great. In all, there were twelve 
cases and six deaths. On the 9th of August 
the Town Council announced that there had 
been no new cases, and that the town was 
never more healthy at that season than at 
that time. This healthy condition continued 
until the last of September. Encourag 'd by 
the absence of disease, the inhabitants of 
the infected district had all returned to the r 
homes by the 20th of September. The cop- 
sea uence of their imprudence was. tb' * 
se\ en cases of the fever occurred durm, 
the last ten days of September, of which 
four were fatal. These were mostly on 
Wickenden street, between South Main and 
Benefit streets. The cold weather at this 
time put a stop to the disease. 
We have, in the history of the fever this 
year, a most striking illustration of the effi- 
ciency of prompt and energetic action at the 
beginning of the disease, in checking its pro- 
gress ; and also a no less marked illustration 
of the fact, now so well established, that 
when a district becomes infected nothing- 
but cold weather and frost can remove the 
infection and make it safe for the inhabi- 
tants to return. 
After the cessation of the fever, about the 
first of August, the Town Council, in a letter 
to the authorities of New York, stated that 
the fever was supposed to have originated 
from the brig Planter, from St. Croix; the 
packet Friendship, from Charleston, and the 
brig Juno, from Matanzas. No particular 
circumstances are given which led to this 
belief. On its second appearance in Septem- 
ber it was clearly of local origin. At this 
time, the last of September, the weather was 
again dry and hot, and the papers speak of 
a pestilential fever as prevailing in some 
parts of the country almost as fatal as the 
yellow fever in the cities. 
The condition of the infected district at 
this time was very much the same as in 1797 
and 1800, except that a fire in January, 
1801, had destroyed the buildings on both 
sides of South Main street, from Planet 
street nearly to Williams street. This fire 
destroyed thirty-six buildings and about 
$300,000 worth of property. Some of the 
houses destroyed were those in which there 
had been cases of the fever. We are in- 
debted to this fire for the widening of South 
Main streeLgin that locality. The docks, 
however remained unchanged, and after the 
appearance of the fever, in 1805, their con- 
dition began to excite the serious attention 
of the people. An “Address to the inhabi- 
tants of the southerly part of this town 
on the epidemic fever,” written by Col. H. 
Sabin, in March, 1806, thus describes the 
condition of the infected district: 
“It is notorious to every person who is 
conversant about the docks at the south 
end, that the ebb tide sets towards these 
docks, and lodges the floating substances 
wbich it brings down along the wharves 
from the upper part of the bay. The slips 
between the wharves by this means are so 
far filled up, that they are left bare for 
many hours every tide, and as the docks are 
made the receptacles of every kind of filth, 
the mud in the heat of summer is put into a 
state of fermentation, and millions of blub- 
bers arise, heaving up their noxious air from 
this mass of vegetable and animal putrefac- 
tion.” 
“Many of the cellars under the stores in 
this quarter being found unsafe depositories 
for property are suffered to decay, and are 
filled with mud and filth, which in the heat 
of summer foi m hot beds of impurity, gen- 
erating much impure and unwholesome 
air.” 
“There are a number of large wells in this 
quarter, originally designed for filling water 
for vessels, and not being used for many 
years they have become stagnant and putrid 
and are receptacles of dead toads and rats, 
and in the heat of summer send forth their 
pestilential vapors.” 
The writer also mentions as nuisances the 
foul ballast and offensive bilge water from 
vessels, the vats of the unoccupied distille- 
ries, offensive privies, and the practice of 
throwing dead animals, damaged fish and 
other filth into the docks. 
It does not appear from the town records 
that any special action was taken in the 
matter. The epidemic condition of the at- 
mosphere seems to have ceased about this 
time, and th e fever did not prevail in Provi- 
dence again until the year 1820. 
nimary anti ConclnHiouni 
A brief summary of the facts presented in 
relation to the yellow fever in Providence, 
and a few of the conclusions to which they 
lead, may not be unprofitable. 
The whole number of deaths from the fe- 
ver in this town during the five periods in 
which it has prevailed has been as follows: 
In 1797, 36; in 1800, 52; in 1803, 5; in 1805, 
10; in 1820, 22; total, 125. When we con- 
sider that tins is the whole number of deaths 
from the disease during sixty years, it less- 
ens its importance as a destroyer of human 
life in this city. I think it would be difficult 
for any one to give any sufficient reason 
why a disease, to which we are so little lia- 
ble here, should excite so much attention 
and alarm, while diseases which destroy 
more lives in Providence every year than 
the yellow fever does in fifty years, are 
very little noticed. 
The time at which yellow fever commences 
in Providence depends upon the character 
of the season. At one period it began about 
the 20th of July; at the other periods it 
commenced between the 10th and 20th of 
August. Whenever a locality becomes 
infected, the infection is never removed, 
and the disease does not cease, if there are 
any inhabitants remaining, until the appear- 
ance of frost. This has generally been, in 
this town, between the 1st and 10th of Octo- 
ber. 
The origin of the fever in Providence is a 
question which might excite some discus- 
sion. At its first appearance, in 1797, the 
disease was directly and unequivocally 
traced to the foul bedding and clothing of 
an infected vessel. At the other periods 
no such direct connection could be 
traced. At all times, vessels were 
named which it was said brought 
the fever; but the blame was put upon dif- 
ferent vessels by different persons. It was, 
and is still, the opinion of some persons that 
the vessels themselves were the only foci o.' 
infection, and that there was nothing in the 
town itself which could sustain the disease. 
I cannot agree with this opinion. We know 
that all infected vessels were immediately 
removed from the infected district, and yet 
ine fever continued to prevail, and new cases 
arose after they were removed. In 1805, 
when it reappeared the last d SGpteaiuGr, 
after an interval of six weeks, there were 
no infected vessels at the wharves. In 1820 
a lady died with the fever near the corner 
of Transit street, who had not been into the 
street, nor had been exposed to infected ves- 
sels, from its commencement. It is evident 
that the vessels were not the sole points of 
infection. Though the fever might have 
originated from them, it found local causes 
in the town itself, precisely calculated to re- 
ceive, sustain and spread the infection after 
the vessels had been removed. These local 
causes, I have no doubt, were the rotten 
wharves and filthy docks in that locality, a 
description of which has already been given. 
At the time the yellow fever first appeared 
in Providence, a considerable portion of the 
community, including many men of great 
intelligence, believed in an intimate con- 
nection between epidemics and comets, 
earthquakes, storms, whirlwinds, &c. Noah 
Webster, in his History of Pestilential Dis- 
eases, published in 1798, gives a list of fifty 
severe epidemics between the commence- 
ment of the Christian Era and the year 1789, 
all of which, he says, were accompanied by 
“great elemental convulsions,” such as 
earthquakes, comets, storms, &c. He also 
states that severe winters always coincide 
with the approach of comets. 
The locality of the infected district in 
Providence was always remarkably restrict- 
ed, and its limits accurately defined. In 
September, 1806, the portion of Wickenden 
(then South Main) street between Transit 
and Benefit streets was infected; at every 
other period the infection was confined to a 
smallseetion of a single street (South Main), 
never extending above Power nor below 
Transit streets. 
Is yellovj fever contagious? This question 
is still disputed with great earnestness, 
though the majority of medical men, and 
particularly of those who are interested in 
sanitary measures, have decided it in the 
negative. It might be supposed, at first 
thought, that the question could be decided 
in New Orleans, where they have the disease 
every year. But there is less harmony of 
opinion on the question among the profes- 
sion in that city than in other parts of the 
country. It seems to me that New Orleans 
is just the place where the question can 
never be decided, for this reason, that there 
are local causes which render every part of 
the city and surrounding country an infect- 
ed district. Of course, where every person 
is exposed to infection, it will be impossible 
to decide that any particular case arises 
solely from contagion. 
The history of the fever in Providence is 
conclusive against its contagiousness here. 
The following reasons may be mentioned: 
1. During the five periods in which the 
yellow fever prevailed in this town, no case 
ever occurred out of the infected district 
which could not be directly traced to exposure 
in that locality. 
2. Many persons with the fever were 
moved from the infected district to other 
places in town, and persons died with the 
disease in every part of the town; yet, never 
in any instance, did any other portion of the 
town become infected, nor did a single per- 
son take the disease from those who were 
sick out of the infected district. 
Meteorology —There is a remarkable simi- 
larity in the character of the seasons of 
those years in which the fever appeared in 
Providence. The preceding winter was al- 
ways very severe, the spring was late, cold 
and wet, and the summer was very hot and 
dry. This may have been entirely an acci- 
dental coincidence. It is certain that we 
have had many seasons \ recisely similar 
when we have had no yellow fever. 
The class of per sons who have had the fever 
in Providence has always been good. They 
have nearly all lived in comfortable houses, 
not crowded, surrounded with the neces- 
saries of life, and giving the usual attention 
of such persons to cleanliness and order in 
and about their houses. There could be no 
reason why they should have had the fever, 
except the fact that their residence was in 
an infected locality. I should judge that 
the majority of the victims were in the prime 
of life. 
1800. 
The last ten years of the last century, and 
first five or six years of the present century, 
seem to have been marked by a general epi- 
demic influence in the Northern States. 
They comorise what may be called an epi- 
demic cycle or term. During this time the 
yellow fever prevailed more or less exten- 
sively every year in some of our cities, and 
there was a general expectation among the 
people every year that the disease would 
prevail. Numerous circumstances of a pe- 
culiar nature, which were supposed to indi- 
cate an unusual condition of the atmosphere, 
are noticed by the writers of that day. One 
writer mentions that soap suds were decom- 
posed in three hours “and the separation of 
the ingredients was so effectual as to require 
boiling water to detach the tallow from the 
basin. ” Beef in barrels became putrid much 
more frequently than usual, and when pu- 
trid the smell was thought to be much more 
offensive than usual. Meat of all kinds 
spoiled more quickly than in ordinary times, 
and the odor from sewers, and all sources of 
filth is described as much worse than usual. 
These peculiarities were ascribed to the 
presence of "septic” acid in the atmosphere. 
During the same period, epidemics were 
common to the animal kingdom, and one 
writer, in 1798, speaks of epidemics among 
other animals as being as rife as among 
men. The cats were affected and thousands 
died, in 1797, in Philadelphia, New York, 
Boston, Albany and other cities. In Con- 
necticut a distemper destroyed great num- 
bers of neat cattle. In New York State, 
horses and dogs were affected with a dis- 
temper in the head and throat which destroy- 
ed many. In Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire, “foxes were affected with a dis- 
order which rendered them an easy prey to 
hunters,” and, in the same States, the geese 
had a disease which caused them “to seize 
some object with their bills, and keep hold 
of it until they died.” Hydrophobia is men- 
tioned as being remarkably prevalent, and . 
small pox prevailed extensively. I find no 
mention of any disease among hogs at that 
time. 
Yellow fever did not prevail as an epidemic 
in Providence from 1797 to 1800, though Dr. 
Wheaton states, in a medical journal, that 
there were four or five cases in the town in 
1798. He also mentions during the same 
year, thirty or forty cases of low, typhoid 
fever in the north part of the town, “evi- 
dently caused by draining a mill-pond at 
the commencement of the hot aud dry 
weather.” 
In 1798, the yellow fever was particularly 
fatal in many of our cities, and in August a 
strict quarantine was enforced in Providence 
against all vessels from Philadelphia, New 
York, New London, Boston and Portsmouth. 
In Philadelphia, 3645 persons died; in New 
York, 2086; in Boston, 140, and in New 
London there were 246 cases. Philadelphia 
was nearly depopulated, and on the 15th of 
September, 1798, a subscription was for- 
warded from Providence for the sufferers in 
that city. The summers were extremely 
hot. Under date of October 13, 1798, Noah 
Webster speaks of the “great and all-sub- 
duing heat of the last two months.” 
In the summer of the year 1800, the yellow 
fever seems to have been confidently ex- 
pected in Providence, and an order was is- 
sued by the Town Council respecting the re- 
moval of nuisances, on the 12th of May. 
As early as the 22d of June a vessel arrived 
from Jamaica with cases of yellow fever on 
board which were sent to the hospital. Other 
infected vessels arrived in June and July, 
but no case occurred among the inhabitants 
of the town until the 15th of August. The 
first case was a Mrs. Taylor, who lived on 
the west side of Wickenden street, a little 
north of the present location of the Provi- 
dence Tool Company. Mrs. Taylor died on 
the 20th of August. Between the loth and 
23d of August there were nineteen cases and 
six deaths. The present site of the build- 
ings of the Providence Tool Company was 
occupied at that time by three distilleries. 
One man who worked in the distilleries died, 
and several deaths occurred opposite these 
buildings on the east side of Wickenden 
street. The greatest portion of the cases 
were between Transit and Power streets, and 
this was considered the infected district this 
year, being in the same locality; but a little 
more extensive than in 1797. Cases oc- 
curred, however, in all parts of the city on 
both sides of the river; but every case could 
be traced to exposure in the infected district, 
and in no instance did the fever spread from 
those who were sick out of this district. 
On the second of September, the physi- 
1820. 
After an interval of fifteen years, the yel- 
low fever appeared in Providence for the 
fifth time-in 1820. There were two or three 
cases of sickness in town in 1819, which 
were brought from vessels; and were proba- 
bly yellow fever, though it was denied by 
some persons at the time. The month of 
August, 1820, was excessively hot and dry, 
particularly from the 1st to the 13th. The 
average temperature in Providence for the 
whole month, was as follows: 
7 a. m. 6G°1; 2 p. m. 79°1; 9 p. m. G7°4. 
Rain fell on only four days during the 
month and then in small quantity. One 
writer says of the weather that year: “The 
winter of 1818-20 was unusually severe, and 
the spring was late and wet. The summer 
set in suddenly with great heat and little 
rain. 
Among the vessels which arrived from the 
West Indies in July and August, one or two 
had cases of the fever on board. It should 
be observed with reference to this period, as 
well as previous years, that nearly all the 
vessels which arrived in Providence from 
the West Indies discharged their cargoes 
from the docks between Power street and 
Transit street. 
On the 8th of August, 1820, the town re- 
cords state that the inhabitants of the south 
part of the town were much annoyed by the 
effluvia from several vessel loads of sea- 
weed collected for manure. On the 16th of 
August, Mrs. James Brown was taken sick 
with the fever. This was the first case that 
year, and she died on the 20th of August. 
She lived in the house, still standing, next 
south of the southeast corner of James and 
South Main streets. Other cases occurred 
immediately after in that vicinity, but the 
facts were carefully concealed, and the 
We publish elsewhere in this issue a “His 
tory of the Yellow Fever in Providence,’ 
which will he of interest at this time when 
the subject is exciting so much attention 
The paper was prepared by Dr. E. M. Snow 
Superintendent of Health, and was publish 
ed in the Journal in the month of June 
1857. It is reprinted to-day as written a 
that time, only omitting some portions of 
temporary interest. At that time there wa 
considerable excitement in relation to the 
fever, many persons fearing that it woulc 
again become prevalent in Providence 
These fears were excited by the severe 
epidemic in Norfolk, Va., the previous 
year, and by the fact that several cases 
of the fever had reached here in vessels from 
infected places. These fears, however 
proved to be groundless, and from that time 
to this, there has been no yellow fever in 
Providence, except occasional cases on 
board vessels. It is probable that the real 
causes of the yellow fever in the locality 
where it always prevailed in Providence, 
were the rotten woeden wharves and the 
filthy docks, all of which have been remov- 
ed. At thegpresent time there is very little 
commerce with ports where the yellow fever 
often prevails, and very little, if any, dan- 
ger of an epidemic of the disease here. In- 
deed, it would probably be impossible for it 
to prevail here epidemically, in ordinary 
seasons, however introduced. Still an in- 
fected vessel, with a filthy hold, and a 
cargo adapted to retain infection, if arriv- 
ing before the end of September, would be a 
focus of danger, requiring rigid quarantine 
and sanitary measures. If arriving after 
that date, there could be little danger from 
it, and no possibility that the disease could 
spread if introduced into the city. 
It will be news to many of our readers to 
learn from the history we publish to-day, 
that Providence has ever been in any de- 
gree like Memphis and other places at this 
time, shut out from the rest of the world bv 
a rigid quarantine, and receiving aid from 
other places for its sufferers from yellow 
fever.