Annual report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service of the United States (Volume 1896) online

SERIAL



Columbia Stotoersitp

COLLEGE OF

PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

LIBRARY




0-






<&



CD
2*



Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from
Columbia University Libraries



http://www.archive.org/details/annualreportofsu1896unit



College ci Physicians and Sut&oas
UbtAtY.

Treasury Department-''"' Marine-Hospital Service.

ANNUAL REPORT



SUPERVISING SURGEON-GENERAL



OF THB



MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES



FOR THE



FISCAL YEAE 1896.



WASHINGTON:

/ GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1896.



Treasury Department. Marine-Hospital Service,



ANNUAL REPORT



SUPERVISING SURGEON-GENERAL



MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE OE THE UNITED STATES



FOR THE



FISCAL" YEAE 1896.



WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1896.



Treasury Department,

Document No. 1909.

Office of U. S. Marine- Hospital Service.



OPERATIONS

OF THE

UNITED STATES MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE.

18 9 6.



CONTENTS



Page.

Report to the Secretary .. 13 -1047

Medical Corps :

Boards convened for examination of applicants 13

Appointments and promotions . . . 13

Resignations .. _ . . 13

Casualties 14

Death of Surg. C. S. D. Fessenden 14

Officers on waiting orders on account of physical disability. 14

Measures for the relief of legal representatives of Asst. Surg. John W.

Branham 15

Officers detailed to attend medical and public health associations 16

Report of Surgeon Bailhache on the meeting of the American Public

Health Association, Buffalo . 16

Report of Surgeon Stoner on the meeting of the American Medical

Association, Atlanta 18

Practice of medicine in Ohio by Government officers. 19

Cumulative leave 19

Legislation requested. 20

Aid to other branches of the Government service:

Life-Saving Service 20

Inspection service of steam vessels 20

Revenue-Cutter Service 20

Immigration Service 21

Shelter for deck crews on Western rivers ... 22

Reports of officers showing necessity 23

Legislation pending I 27

Scurvy among seamen . 27

Reports of cases 27

Legal proceedings — negative results 28

Recommendation 29

Schedule of rations for seamen 29

Report of board upon 30

Congressional action . 33

Vivisection 34

Letter opposing the bill relating thereto 34

Marine hospitals and relief stations:

Summary of patients treated 35

Stations discontinued . . ... . . 35

Systematic inspection of marine hospitals and relief stations (blank

forms) 35

Statement by stations of repairs made and needed . 41

Necessity for a marine hospital at the port of New York. 54

Contracts for care of seamen — Department circular .... 55



8 CONTENTS.

Circular letters relating to administrative details: Page.

Names of persons employed to be immediately reported 62

Monthly and annual reports of inspection of immigrants 63

Transfer of patients from contract stations to marine hospitals 63

Transfer of patients from stations of the third class to marine hospitals. 63

Concerning property returns. 64

Concerning necropsy reports 6+

Nomenclature of diseases, revised edition 65

Calling for list of hospital attendants and their duties. 65

Emergency purchases - 65

Revised regulations concerning uniforms 66

Purveying division, report of 66

Financial statement - . 71

Reduction of expenditures from Marine Hospital fund . . 74

Reports of fatal cases, with necropsies 75-185

Contributed articles:

Medical and surgical —

Surgeon Austin. Cases in hospital practice. 190

Passed Assistant Surgeon Wasdin—

Overgrowth of connective tissue 195

Gynaecology in the service 197

Radical operation — cure of inguinal hernia 203

Passed Assistant Surgeon Carrington. A case of appendicitis 207

Passed Assistant Surgeon Woodward. Resume of surgery for two

years at Cleveland 209

Passed Assistant Surgeon Vaughan. Selected cases — year's surgical

work 213

Passed Assistant Surgeon J. C. Perry. Statistical study— perfora-
tion of intestines 231

Passed Assistant Surgeon Rosenau. Smallpox peculiarities— Camp

Jenner epidemic 234

Assistant Surgeon Eager. Case of leprosy 245

Assistant Surgeon Decker. Bubo and its treatment. . . 247

Assistant Surgeon Oakley —

Femoral aneurism - - 254

Fracture of left patella . ... 255

Abscess of bursa of right elbow 256

Gangrene of right leg 257

Thomas E. Heenan, United States consul, Odessa, Russia. Prophy-
lactic inoculations of hydrophobia at Odessa. . 260

Historical sketches of several marine hospitals-
Detroit. By Surgeon Hutton 264

Boston. By Surgeon Austin 267

San Francisco. By Surgeon Godfrey. - 277

Vineyard Haven. By Passed Assistant Surgeon Carmichael 280

Evansville. By Passed Assistant Surgeon Carrington 286

Louisville. By Passed Assistant Surgeon Mcintosh _ 289

Cleveland. By Passed Assistant Surgeon Woodward 291

Statistics United States Marine-Hospital Service 297-362

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.

Cholera:

Annual history of, and table - 365-369

Epidemic in Egypt 369

Rags prohibited - 369



CONTENTS. 9

Cholera — Continued. Page.

Responsibility of Governments having territorial j urisdiction 369

Contribution: "Cholera Through Suez," and "The breeding Place of

the Disease." By Dr. J. F.Love ... 369-371

Report on the last pilgrimage in the Hedjas _ . 371-374

Report on the cholera epidemic at Honolulu in 1895 374-376

Yellow fever:

Table showing prevalence of . 377-380

History of, in Rio de Janeiro, since 1849 380

Report on causes of continuance of, in Rio de Janeiro 381-385

Ravages among immigrants in Brazil 385

The menace of Habana 386

Official protest concerning sanitary condition of Habana 387

Resolutions by American Public Health Association concerning

yellow-fever ports 391

No improvement in sanitary condition of Habana 392

In Cuba falsely reported as ' ' pernicious fever " 393

Investigation of the cause of yellow fever 393

Contributed article upon prevalence of yellow fever among Cubans, by

Dr. Castellanos 394-400

Smallpox:

History of smallpox in the United States, November 1, 1895, to Novem-
ber 1, 1896, with table 401-404

Interstate quarantine measures by the Bureau in Arkansas 404-409

Report on smallpox epidemic in Key West, establishment of camp by

Marine-Hospital Bureau 409-412

Report on vaccination of river boatmen at New Orleans and Mobile. . 412-414
Contributed article: Report on origin and cost of smallpox in certain

towns and cities, by Surgeon Murray. 414-418

Plague:

Reports on Bubonic plague in China 419-421

National quarantine administration (foreign):

Sanitary inspectors 422

Sanitary inspection at the port of Habana — report of Sanitary Inspector

Burgess 422-425

Special precautions with regard to baggage from Habana . . 425

The inspection report upon the inspection service at Habana ...... 427

Imperfect consular bills of health 428

Prohibition of rags from Alexandria, Egypt 430

Precautionary measures at Naples with regard to vessels from Egyptian

ports 430

Unnecessary disinfection of feathers by United States consuls 431

Consular reports on cholera and methods employed in carrying out
quarantine laws and regulations of the United States at Havre,

France, and Yokohama and Kobe, Japan 432-450

Contributed article: History of the establishment and growth of the

quarantine system in Japan by Sanitary Inspector Eldridge 450-454

National quarantine administration (domestic):

Fines imposed 455

Ame?adments to quarantine regulations, and quarantine circulars 455

Circular of May 1, 1896, notification of interior health authorities

concerning immigrants 455

Circular of May 2, 1896, addition to the supplemental.bill of health. 455
Confidential letter, June 3, 1896, code words for yellow fever and
cholera 456



10 CONTENTS.

National quarantine administration (domestic) — Continued. Page.

Circular letter — ' ' Relapsing fever " — August 27, 1896. 456

Blank form to be used in inspection of United States quarantine stations . 456

Publication of weekly reports from State and local quarantine stations- 459

Correspondence concerning boarding of vessels by unauthorized persons. 460

Correspondence relating to trespass on quarantine anchorage 463

Correspondence relating to forcible detention of persons in quarantine.

(Opinion of the Solicitor of the Treasury) _ 464

Quarantine order affecting certain national quarantine stations, con-
cerning vessels from suspected ports 465

Inspection at Reedy Island quarantine of fruit steamers 466

Measures to prevent introduction of yellow fever into Key West through

Cuban refugees 469

Proof of immunity to yellow fever 470

Disinfection of baggage of all Chinese immigrants, at ports on the Pacific. 471

Canadian cooperation in the matter of disinfection of Chinese luggage. . 472
Contributed articles upon quarantine administration —

The care of floating property, by P. A. Surg. A. H. Glennan 474

A precis of quarantine practice at national quarantine stations, by

P. A. Surg. H. D. Geddings 479-523

Reports from the national quarantine stations —

Camp Low 524

Delaware Breakwater 524

Description of naphtha launch Spray 527

Reedy Island 528

Cape Charles 530

Southport 533

South Atlantic . . 535

Brunswick 539

Tortugas 541

Gulf 543

San Diego 543

San Francisco 546

Description of steam launch Bacillus 552

Port Townsend 553

Description of naphtha launch Cascade. 555

Descriptive list of vessels of the Marine-Hospital Service attached

to the United States quarantine stations 556

Necessity of a quarantine station at the mouth of the Columbia

River 557

Report of inspection of all national, State, and local quarantine stations
and ports of entry, in accordance with the act of Congress and the
regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury — arranged in geographic

order 558-933

Relations with State and local quarantine authorities:

Portlan d, Me 934

Baltimore, Md 936

Relations with the quarantine authorities of Florida 938

New Florida regulation concerning boarding, interfering with right

of inspection of Marine-Hospital Service 938

Steam disinfecting chamber demanded for Key West 939

Quarantine service at Apalachicola 941

Pensacola quarantine. 944

Support to State health officer - 947



CONTENTS.



11



Relations with State and local quarantine authorities— Continued. Page.
Relations with State board of health of Mississippi— correspondence
between governor and Secretary of the Treasury, in re Ship Island

and Cat Island. Cat Island quarantine an obstruction to commerce. 948

Relations with the State board of health of Louisiana 954

Relations with the board of health of San Francisco - 955

Relations with the board of health of Puget Sound 958

Report upon the necessity of a strictly national quarantine service 959-964

Division of sanitary reports and statistics:

Public health reports - 965

Weekly reports from local quarantine stations - 966

Mortality statistics, tables of, calendar year 1895 966-992

Inquiry relating to State and municipal laws and regulations concern-
ing tuberculosis - â„¢3

Report of the hygienic laboratory:

Diphtheria antitoxin " 4

Prevalence of diphtheria and croup in the United States in 1895 999

Prophylaxis and treatment of diphtheria 1002



Pneumonia .



1004



Vaccinia and smallpox 1°04

Enteric fever 100 ?

Report on the water supply of Washington, D. C 1005

Remarks on the water supply of cities, and of Washington in particular. 1008

Malarial fevers ^^

Formaldehyd gas as a disinfectant 10H

Disinfection of railway coaches - 1012

A practical method of disinfecting bank notes 1013

The antivivisection bill - - 101*

Instructions given to representatives of boards of health 1017

Scheme of a course in bacteriologic technique 1017

Necessity of a separate building for the use of the laboratory 1019

Inquiry regarding the water supply and disposal of sewage and garbage in

cities and towns 10~0

Circular letter and blank form 1020, 1021

Investigation of the pollution of water supplies 1022

Report on bill showing the necessity of said investigation 1022

Bacteriologic study of the water supply of San Francisco, by Passed Assist-
ant Surgeon Rosenau - - 1024-1034

On the proposed arid-region sanitarium for tuberculous patients of the

Marine-Hospital Service â–  1034

Health service of the United States:

Description of, furnished in response to inquiries from the minister of



Belgium .



1036
The Marine-Hospital Service in its relations to public health in the United

States 1043

Report of the committee on the department of public health, American

Medical Association 1042

Extract from proceedings of the eleventh annual meeting of the National

Conference of State Boards of Health, Chicago, June 10-12, 1896 1044

Contents and illustrations 1046.1047



REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.



Treasury Department,
Office Supervising Surgeon-General, M. H. S.,

November 1, 1896.
Hon. J. G. Carlisle,

Secretary of the Treasury.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Marine-
Hospital Service of the United States for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1896, being the twenty-fifth annual report of the Service and the
ninety-eighth year of its existence.

In addition to the statistical information pertaining to the fiscal
year, the operations of the Service to the present date, being near the
close of the quarantine season, are included.

medical corps.

Two boards have been convened for the examination of applicants
for admission into the Medical Corps. The number of applicants for
permission to appear before these boards was 61. Thirty-six pre-
sented themselves, 3 of whom passed successful examinations.

APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS.

. During the fiscal year 2 successful candidates were appointed to
the grade of assistant surgeon and 1 assistant surgeon was promoted
after examination to the grade of passed assistant surgeon.

RESIGNATIONS.

One passed assistant surgeon and 2 assistant surgeons resigned
during the fiscal year.



14 MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE.



CASUALTIES.

Since my last report the corps has lost by death its senior surgeon,
C. S. D. Fessenden. A brief statement of his services is included
in the following announcement:

circular letter announcing the death of surg. c s. d. fessenden.

Treasury Department,
Office of the Supervising Surgeon-General, M. H. S.,

Washington, D. C, July 31, 1896.
To the medical officers of the United States Marine-Hospital Service:

It is with regret that I have to announce to the medical officers of the Service
the death on the 23d instant, from a complication of heart and kidney affections,
of Surg. Charles Stewart Daveis Fessenden. Surgeon Fessenden was the senior
surgeon of the corps, having served since April 4, 1861, a period of more than
thirty -five years. He was born in Portland, Me., February 23, 1828, and was of a
family noted in the annals of his native State and the nation. His father, Gen.
Samuel Fessenden, was for many years a leader at the bar of Maine, and his eldest
brother, William Pitt Fessenden, was the distinguished Senator of that State, and
during the administration of President Lincoln became Secretary of the Treasury.
Two nephews of Surgeon Fessenden rose to the rank of brigadier-general during
the civil war, and others have been prominent in private life, two of them in the
profession of medicine.

Surgeon Fessenden was fitted for college at the Portland Academy, and in 1844
entered Harvard University, where he pursued his studies for one year. Leaving
Harvard, he became a student at Bowdoin College, from whence he was graduated
in 1848.

He studied medicine under Charles W. Thomas, M. D., of Portland, Me., and,
attending medical lectures at the Medical School of Maine and also in New York,
was graduated in 1851 from the Medical School of Maine. From 1853 to 1856 he
was physician in charge of the Portland City Hospital, after which date he became
a private practitioner until his appointment as surgeon in the Marine-Hospital
Service in 1861.

During the period of his membership in the corps he served as commanding offi-
cer at the ports of Portland, Me., New York, N. Y., St. Louis, Mo., Norfolk, Va.,
Louisville, Ky., and Mobile, Ala. During this period he was also a member of
three boards of medical officers convened for the examination of applicants for
the Service and of eight boards convened for the physical examination of candi-
dates for admission to the Revenue-Cutter Service, besides serving on various
special details as inspector.

On account of the failure of his health in the fall of 1895, he was ordered to
appear before a board of medical officers for physical examination, and in accord-
ance with the report of the board was placed on waiting orders November 22, 1895.

During the few months which intervened between this date and his demise
Surgeon Fessenden resided at Salem, Mass., at which place his death occurred.
Respectfully, yours,

Walter Wyman,
Supervising Surgeon- General, M. H. S.

The passed assistant surgeon reported in the last Annual Report as
being upon waiting orders because of tuberculosis is still unable to
report for duty.



MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE. 15

Of the two assistant surgeons, mentioned in the last report, inca-
pacitated by the same disease, one, after expiration of leave of
absence, was again placed on waiting orders; the other, after being
continuously on waiting orders since April 1, 1894, reported himself
sufficiently improved, and was reassigned to duty July 21, 1896.

MEASURES FOR THE RELIEF OF THE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES OF
ASST. SURG. JOHN W. BRANHAM.

Referring to the comments in my last Annual Report upon the
above-named measure, it is gratifying to be able to announce that
a bill has passed the Senate and has been favorably reported from the
Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, and it is
believed that during the coming session of Congress the bill will be
passed by the House. Following is a copy of the act:

AN ACT for the relief of the legal representatives of John W. Branhana, late an assistant sur-
geon in the United States Marine Hospital Service.

Whereas John W. Branhain, late an assistant surgeon in the United States
Marine-Hospital Service, contracted yellow fever while performing his duty as
assistant surgeon in an infected city, and having died of yellow fever at his post
of duty on the twentieth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-three:
Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Se?iate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is
hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of the money not otherwise appropri-
ated, to the legal representatives of John W. Branham, the sum of four thousand
one hundred and sixty dollars, being the amount of salary and allowances for two
years.

Passed the Senate May 20, 1896.

Attest:

Wm, R. Cox, Secretary.

The report recommending the passage of the above bill, submitted
by Mr. Martin from the Committee on Claims in the Senate, is in part
as follows:

[Fifty-fourth Congress, first session. Report No. 997. To accompany S. 1434.]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1434) for the relief
of the legal representatives of John W. Branham, late an assistant surgeon in the
United States Marine-Hospital Service, respectfully report the same with the
recommendation that it do pass.

A similar bill has, during the present session of Congress, been reported favor-
ably to the House of Representatives by its Committee on Claims (House Report
No. 775). A letter from the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital
Service to the Hon. A. P. Gorman, of date May 18, 1896, was laid before the com-
mittee by Senator Gorman. This communication from the Supervising Surgeon-
General presents facts and reasons deemed worthy of consideration by the Senate
in disposing of this matter, and the same is respectfully submitted as a part of
this report.

The communication from the Surgeon-General above referred to
contains the facts which have been previously printed in the Annual



16 MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE.

Report of this Service for 1894, pages 10-12, with this additional
statement :

I will only add to the above statement that Dr. Branhani left a wife and two
children without means of support; that in the discharge of his duty he was acting
under direct orders, and not as a volunteer, and that his services were rendered in
the interest of the whole country, and not for the protection of his own city or
home. He was an officer of the Marine-Hospital Service, having a commission
from the President of the United States, confirmed by the Senate, in a service
which demands that its followers shall go to any portion of the United States and
face any danger connected with epidemic disease without question.

OFFICERS DETAILED TO ATTEND MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH

ASSOCIATIONS.

Since date of last report the following details have been made :

Surg. George W. Stoner to represent the service at the meeting of
the American Medical Association, held at Atlanta, Ga., May 5, 1896.

Surg. Preston H. Bailhache, P. A. Surg. J. J. Kinyoun, and P. A.
Surg. T. B. Perry, detailed to represent the Service at the meeting of
the American Public Health Association, in Buffalo, September 15.
1896.

P. A. Surg. George T. Vaughan, detailed to represent the Service at
the sixth annual convention of the Association of Military Surgeons
of the United States, held in Philadelphia, May 12-14, 1896.

REPORT OF SURG. P. H. BAILHACHE UPON THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC
HEALTH ASSOCIATION, AT BUFFALO, N. Y.

Port of New York, N. Y., September 28, 1896.

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith my report of the twenty-fourth annual
meeting of the American Public Health Association, which convened at Buffalo,
N. Y., on the loth instant and continued in session until the 19th instant, when it
adjourned to meet in Philadelphia, Pa. , next year, at a date to be fixed by the exec-
utive committee.

The meeting was exceptionally large, and the increasing attendance from Mex-
ico and Canada added much to the interest of the occasion, as an indication that
public health is receiving special attention by our sister Republic and the Domin-
ion of Canada.

Papers upon the following-named subjects were presented, and discussion of the
same was participated in by the members of the association:

" Report of committee on car sanitation; " ' ' Observations on the cleaning of rail-
road passenger cars;" " Possibilities of contagion of venereal diseases in railway
cars; ""Report of the committee on steamship and steamboat sanitation; " "Report
of the committee on animal diseases and animal food ; " " The composition and infec-
tiousness of milk;" "On pure milk;" " Contributions to the study of the pathog-
eny, etiology, and prophylaxis of typhus;" "Report of the committee on nomen-
clature and forms of statistics;" "On need of uniformity in the meaning of the
term ' stillborn; ' " " On dengue; " " On municipal responsibility for healthy school-
houses; " "On woman in preventive medicine; " "Report of the committee on the
disposal of garbage and refuse; " " Disposal of the garbage and waste of the house-
hold;" "A plea for the domestic disposal of garbage;" "Disposal of household
garbage and excrement by cremation;" " Report of committee on transportation



MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE. 17

and disposal of the dead; " "On the quick and the dead; : ' "On measures for the
prevention of blindness; " "On miasmatic fevers in the State of Sonora; " " Sum-
mary of sanitary legislation in the State of Mexico," "Report of committee on
national health legislation;*' "Obiter dicta concerning sanitary organization;"
" Some thoughts relative to national health legislation; *' " On the sanitary admin-
istration of unincorporated districts; " " Report of the international committee on
the prevention of the spread of yellow fever, " " Contribution to the study of yel-
low fever from a medico-geographical point of view: " " Contribution to the study
of yellow fever— epidemic in Cordoba; " "On isolation hospitals;" "Paludismin
the State of Morelos and its prophylaxis by sanitary measures; " " Report of com-
mittee on the pollution of water supplies; " "Report of committee on river con-
servancy boards of supervision ; " " Report of committee on protective inoculations
in infectious diseases;" " The serum diagnosis test for typhoid fever; " "Prophy-
laxis of typhoid fever;" "Practical use of formic aldehyde as a disinfectant ;"