Letter fragment to from Walter Reed to Emilie Lawrence Reed, December 9, 1900 |
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A kiss
for Doogy-
Columbia Barracks,
Quemados, Cuba,
Dec. 9th 1900,
My precious wifie:
It is
with a great deal of pleas-
ure that I hasten to tell
you that we have suc-
ceeded in producing a case
of unmistable yellow fever
by the bite of the mos-
quito- Our first case in the
experimental camp developed
at 11.30 P.M, last night- Com-
menced with a sudden chill
followed by fever- He had
been bitten at 11.30 a.m. Dec. 5th
& hence his attack followed
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just 3 1/2 days offer the bite-
As he had been in our
Camp 15 days before being
inoculated, and had no other
possible exposure, the case is
as clear as the sun at noon-
day, and sustains brilliantly and
conclusively our conclusions-
Thus just 18 days from the
time we began our experi-
mental work, we have suc-
ceeded in demonstrating
this mode of propagation
of the disease, so that the
most doubtful and skep-
tical must yield- Rejoice
with me, sweetheart, as
aside from the antitoxin
of Diptheria & Koch's dis-
covery of the tubercle, [bacillus] it
will be regarded as
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the most important piece
of work, scientifically, during
the 19th century- I do not
exaggerate, and I could shout
for very joy that Heaven has
permitted me to establish
this wonderful way of prop-
agating yellow fever- It
was Finlay's theory, & he
deserves much for having
suggested it, but as he
did nothing to prove it,
it was rejected by all,
including Genl Sternberg.
Now we have put it be-
yond cavil- It's is importance
to Cuba & the United States
cannot be estimated. Maj-
or Kean s says that the dis-
covery is worth more than
the cost of the Spanish
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war including [lives lost] men &
money expended- He is al-
most beside himself with
delight and will tell Genl
Wood when he goes to town
in the morning- Tomorrow
afternoon, we will have
the Havana Board of experts-,
Drs Guiteras, Albertini and
Finlay -- come out and diag-
nose the case- I shan't tell
them how the infection was
acquired until after they
have satisfied themselves
concerning the character
of the Case -- then I will let
them know- I suppose that old
Dr Finlay will be delighted
beyond, as he will see t his
theory, at last, fully vindicated.
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9.30 P.M.- Since writing the
above, our patient has been
doing well- His temp. which
was 102° 1/5 at noon has fallen
to 101° and his very severe
headache and back-ache have
subsided considerably-
Everything points, as far as
it can at this stage, to a
favorable termination,
for which I feel so happy-
Indeed, my precious heart,
you cannot tell what a
relief from suspense
and anxious waiting this
day has been- To know pos-
itively that X.Y. was not
lying, is such a satisfaction-
I think that we will have
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two other cases by the end of
this week- This afternoon
at 4.30 o'clock, Col. Burton
called and took me out
driving, which I enjoyed
so much- We passed through
the grandest avenue of
Royal Palms that I have
ever seen- I so wish that
you could have feasted
your eyes on them- This
evening at 7 o'clock, I took
tea at Mrs. Kean's and so
thoroughly enjoyed a change
of diet from that we have
every day- I don't know what
they thought of my appetite,
for it is simply enormous. |
