The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic That Shaped Our Nation Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Molly Caldwell Crosby
throughout the city played. Every building or residence with a ballroom hosted a party, but the grand masked ball took place at the theater on Jefferson Avenue.
It was to attend Rex’s ball that one needed the coveted, gilded invitation, hand delivered by servants. The men attended in lavish costumes or Confederate uniforms, while the women wore gowns of silver brocade and rich velvets; ornate fans of ostrich feathers, organza and rice paper fluttered in their hands. The invitation marked not only entry to the ball but also access to the innermost circles of Memphis society. Here, owners of those Victorian mansions on Adams gathered, where the Overtons, Toofs, Trezevants, Snowdens and many other oft-mentioned names would celebrate the fortune of their city.
Of course there were problems; the town was $4 million in debt. There was not enough money to remove garbage and refuse from the streets. There were cotton crops to be planted and gambling debts to be paid. But for these two days, both ends of the economic spectrum donned masks and overlooked their discontent. Blacks and whites, immigrants and southern elite, businessmen and boatmen could only see the brilliant parade before them, the electrifying colors, the baskets of champagne, the intoxicating sense of well-being.
Throughout the city, the pageantry continued into the gray hours of morning when the stars faded in the approaching violet light. Far off in the distance, well beyond the waters of the Mississippi River, across the steel-colored Atlantic, a ship had set sail. On board, hundreds of mosquito eggs lay ready to hatch.
CHAPTER 2
Bright Canary Yellow
The Emily B. Souder steamed her way out of Havana headed toward New Orleans. She was what was known as a screw steamer with a cylinder engine and canvas sails taut against three oak masts. Built of hardwood and iron fastenings in 1864, she regularly sailed from New York to the Caribbean and up to New Orleans. The Souder was docked in the Havana harbor in the spring of 1878.
Havana was alive with ship traffic. Merchant ships from Boston, New York, Charleston, New Orleans and Brazil rocked in the slice of sea between El Morro Castillo and the seawall of Havana. A few of those ships had even arrived from West Africa. Though transatlantic slave traffic had finally been outlawed, ships carrying ivory, copper, palm oil and salt continued to make the journey. The Emily B. Souder was picking up a supply of sugar from a Havana wharf, but that was not the only cargo she left Havana with.
It was spring, and in West Africa, the wet season was under way. As the rivers and coastal areas were inundated with falling rain, mosquitoes proliferated. The mosquito found a perfect environment on board the oceangoing steamers: shelter, fresh rainwater, rotting fruit and an ample supply of warm bodies. The males, focused mainly on food and sex, fed off of the fruit and sought out their female shipmates. The impregnated females fed on the blood of human passengers in order to lay eggs. This transatlantic romance could repeat itself as many as three times during the journey.
In the water-dappled hollows of empty casks, the striped female mosquito deposited her eggs. Each time rain filled up the casks during the six-week sail across the Atlantic, the eggs hatched. When they did so, a virus born in the wilds of West African forests coursed through the new generation of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Aedes aegypti, the striped house mosquito, looks like any other mosquito to the naked eye. Its elegant, gossamer wings flicker above a black body bright with white scratch marks. A silver lyre mark decorates its back. Its long, wiry legs are crooked high above, giving it the chilling appearance of impending attack. It is, however, heartier than many of its relatives. The striped house mosquito thrives indoors, feeding at any time of the day, and the females, who bite, outnumber the males five to one. The mosquito also has a peculiar adaptability
It was to attend Rex’s ball that one needed the coveted, gilded invitation, hand delivered by servants. The men attended in lavish costumes or Confederate uniforms, while the women wore gowns of silver brocade and rich velvets; ornate fans of ostrich feathers, organza and rice paper fluttered in their hands. The invitation marked not only entry to the ball but also access to the innermost circles of Memphis society. Here, owners of those Victorian mansions on Adams gathered, where the Overtons, Toofs, Trezevants, Snowdens and many other oft-mentioned names would celebrate the fortune of their city.
Of course there were problems; the town was $4 million in debt. There was not enough money to remove garbage and refuse from the streets. There were cotton crops to be planted and gambling debts to be paid. But for these two days, both ends of the economic spectrum donned masks and overlooked their discontent. Blacks and whites, immigrants and southern elite, businessmen and boatmen could only see the brilliant parade before them, the electrifying colors, the baskets of champagne, the intoxicating sense of well-being.
Throughout the city, the pageantry continued into the gray hours of morning when the stars faded in the approaching violet light. Far off in the distance, well beyond the waters of the Mississippi River, across the steel-colored Atlantic, a ship had set sail. On board, hundreds of mosquito eggs lay ready to hatch.
CHAPTER 2
Bright Canary Yellow
The Emily B. Souder steamed her way out of Havana headed toward New Orleans. She was what was known as a screw steamer with a cylinder engine and canvas sails taut against three oak masts. Built of hardwood and iron fastenings in 1864, she regularly sailed from New York to the Caribbean and up to New Orleans. The Souder was docked in the Havana harbor in the spring of 1878.
Havana was alive with ship traffic. Merchant ships from Boston, New York, Charleston, New Orleans and Brazil rocked in the slice of sea between El Morro Castillo and the seawall of Havana. A few of those ships had even arrived from West Africa. Though transatlantic slave traffic had finally been outlawed, ships carrying ivory, copper, palm oil and salt continued to make the journey. The Emily B. Souder was picking up a supply of sugar from a Havana wharf, but that was not the only cargo she left Havana with.
It was spring, and in West Africa, the wet season was under way. As the rivers and coastal areas were inundated with falling rain, mosquitoes proliferated. The mosquito found a perfect environment on board the oceangoing steamers: shelter, fresh rainwater, rotting fruit and an ample supply of warm bodies. The males, focused mainly on food and sex, fed off of the fruit and sought out their female shipmates. The impregnated females fed on the blood of human passengers in order to lay eggs. This transatlantic romance could repeat itself as many as three times during the journey.
In the water-dappled hollows of empty casks, the striped female mosquito deposited her eggs. Each time rain filled up the casks during the six-week sail across the Atlantic, the eggs hatched. When they did so, a virus born in the wilds of West African forests coursed through the new generation of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Aedes aegypti, the striped house mosquito, looks like any other mosquito to the naked eye. Its elegant, gossamer wings flicker above a black body bright with white scratch marks. A silver lyre mark decorates its back. Its long, wiry legs are crooked high above, giving it the chilling appearance of impending attack. It is, however, heartier than many of its relatives. The striped house mosquito thrives indoors, feeding at any time of the day, and the females, who bite, outnumber the males five to one. The mosquito also has a peculiar adaptability
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