Letter fragment from Walter Reed to Emilie Lawrence Reed, [December 25 or 26], 1900 |
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duty in the Surgeon General's
office. Maj. Hoff has taken
his place. You must be sure
to call on them- They will
be in Washington during
the early part of the New Year.
This afternoon at 5 o'clock,
I went to the Stark's to see
the Christmas-Tree which Mrs
Stark and Mrs. Kean had pre-
pared for the children- In
addition to presents for the chil-
dren, there was a present for
Dr Kean, Dr Stark, Capt. Slo-
cunn, Maj. Dunn, Dr Allen
and myself- What do you
suppose mine was? A
big mosquito, with these lines
attached:
"over the plains of Cuba,
Roams the mosquito wild, |
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No one can catch or tame her,
For she is Nature's child.
With Yellow Jack she fills herself,
And none her pleasure mar,
Till Major Reed does Capture her,
And puts her in a jar!
And now alas! for Culex,
She has our sympath-y,
For since the Major spotted her,
She longs to be a flea"! The reading of these lines
by Mrs. Slocunn "brought
down the house", and I had
to accept Miss Culex with
many blushes- As the punch
was very enjoyable, the oc-
casion was anything but
dull- To-night a big hop is
going on in the Post, but
I don't care to take it in.
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And now I must tell you some-
thing about my latest ex-
periment and how it is turn-
ing out- You already know
that I have had constructed
two houses- Each 14 ft. x 20 ft-
Both tightly sealed inside,
and so screened both as to
windows & by double-doors
that no flying insect can get
either in, if he comes from
the outside; or out, if he
or she is once put within-
Building No. 1 has only one
large room- In this my non-
immune individuals sleep
every night and by day rest
in a tent near by & take
things calmly- Dr Cooke and
2 Hospital Corps men have
just come out of Quarantine
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after spending 20 nights there
[in Building no. 1-] in the midst of very much
soiled yellow fever bedding-
Two other young americans
are now keeping there in
the beds & clothing that our
yellow fever cases have
just vacated- So much
for building No. 1- Building no. 2 stands across
a little valley or depression
about 80 yards from no. 1-
The room 14 x 20 ft. is not
only ceiled but is lined
throughout with cheese cloth,
so as to be very tight- It has
two fixed fine wire-screen
windows and is protected by
double wire-screen doors
so that when one enters,
he first opens a solid
door, & then finds himself
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in a small vestibule- Next
he opens a wire-screen door
swung on spring hinges &
find himself in a second
vestibule- Having closed
this screen s door behind
him, he now opens a second
screen door & finds hims-
elf in the room proper-
This room is divided en-
tirely across by a from
floor to ceiling & from wall
to wall by a wire screen --
so that there is a larger room
15 x 14, " the "mosquito" or "infec-
ted" room, as I call it, and
a smaller room 10 x 14, the
"non-infected room"- This
latter is entered by an
entirely separate door, whereas
the "infected" room can only be
entered by [through] the screen-doors
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before mentioned- Thus: INSERT FIGURE HERE on the 21st at 11,35 a.m. we liberated
15 infected mosquitoes in the larger
room, and at 11.55 a.m. a young
american entered the room &
lay on the bed marked "A" for
30 minutes during which time seve-
ral mosquitoes bit him- I stood
with Dr Carroll & Dr Ames on the other
side of the screen at the place marked
B & saw the insect "light" & begin work
within 5 minutes from the time he
entered- The same afternoon at
4.15 o'clock, he again went in &
was again bitten -- remained 20
minutes- Bed marked "B" is being
occupied by a non-immune who
sleeps within one foot of the
screen, breathing the same air
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as in room with bed "A" --
(infected room)- This young
non-immune is quite well,
but the young fellow who went
in on the 21st, was suddenly
stricken to-day at noon (-just
four days after he entered
& was bitten-) with a sharp
attack of what promises to be
Yellow Fever! The Board of
Experts will see him tomorrow
& make their diagnosis- His
temperature, this evening, is 104°
& all of his symptoms point plainly
to yellow fever. Could any
experiment be more striking?
A common room, divided
by a wire-screen, & having the
same air-infected on one
side and not infected on the
other side of the screen!!
This, lovie, dear, is what I
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call the "argumentum ad
hominem "! Don't worry about
the mosquitoes getting out, for they
are tightly locked in & the key
is in my pocket! About 3
days from now, I shall let a
young spaniard go in, & then
no more! Non-immunes will
continue to sleep on the other
side every night! Don't tell Dr
Nash anything of this, and if you
should meet Gen. Sternberg, don't
tell him either- I haven't told
anybody but to your darling
self- I had a long letter of
congratulation from him [(Gen. Sternberg)] , a
few days ago, but he hates
to give up the idea that the
disease cannot be conveyed
by infected clothing! Well! we
will have to let him down easy,
too! Good-night, you precious,
sweet oomsey dear! Boo! Boo!
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Wednesday morning -- 26th. at this
rate, it won't be long before
the year 189 1900 will have
passed- I can't say that I will
be real sorry to have it go,
since it has kept me away
from my precious Miss Gouty
so very much- I do hope that
I can be with my joys a
little more in 1901- January
should soon slip by and then
it won't be long before I
can start home- I suppose
that dear little daughter has
gone to Helen's house and that
she is enjoying herself very
much- Bless her precious heart,
father must write to her
and acknowledge receipt of
that sweet picture, for it was
such a good one of his dear
sweet baby- I hear the
mail-wagon coming, lovie,
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dear, so that I must hurry
up & close this- Your darling
letters come very regularly
now, & I enjoy them so much-
Take care of your precious
self and don't get too lonely
while little lamb is away
from you- Boo! Boo! With love & kisses & kisses
& love for my dear, sweet
girls, Devotedly,
Papa
, A hug for old Mr D. Johnson,
Love to the ladies. |
