To show the great usefulness of this establishment, it is only necessary to state that, during 1844, there were five thousand eight hundred and forty-six patients admitted, seven hundred and thirteen of whom died, and five thousand and fifty-nine were dismissed. Of this number, only one thousand three hundred and sixteen were natives of the United States, and four thousand five hundred and thirty foreigners. This year the yellow fever was not epidemic.
The following table, taken from the New Orleans Medical Journal, shows the number of cases of yellow fever admitted into this hospital from Jan. 1, 1822, to Jan. 1, 1844, with the dates of the first and last cases each year, with the discharges and deaths, constituting a term of twenty-two years.
TABLE.
| Year. | First Case. | Last Case. | Adm'd. | Dis'g'd. | Died. |
| 1822 | Sept. 3. | Dec. 31. | 349 | 98 | 239 |
| 1823 | Sept. 11. | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1824 | Aug. 4. | Nov. 13. | 167 | 59 | 108 |
| 1825 | June 23. | Dec. 19. | 94 | 40 | 59 |
| 1826 | May 18. | Nov. 18. | 26 | 19 | 5 |
| 1827 | July 17. | Dec. 5. | 372 | 263 | 109 |
| 1828 | June 19. | Dec. 10. | 290 | 160 | 130 |
| 1829 | May 23. | Nov. 29. | 435 | 220 | 215 |
| 1830 | July 24. | Nov. 29. | 256 | 139 | 117 |
| 1831 | June 9. | Oct. 7. | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 1832 | Aug. 15. | Oct. 25. | 26 | 8 | 18 |
| 1833 | July 17. | Nov. 17. | 422 | 212 | 210 |
| 1834 | Aug. 28. | Nov. 22. | 150 | 55 | 95 |
| 1835 | Aug. 24. | Nov. 27. | 505 | 221 | 284 |
| 1836 | Aug. 24. | Oct. 25. | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 1837 | July 13. | Nov. 28. | 998 | 556 | 442 |
| 1838 | Aug. 25. | Nov. 1. | 22 | 5 | 17 |
| 1839 | July 23. | Nov. 17. | 1086 | 634 | 452 |
| 1840 | July 9. | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1841 | Aug. 2. | Dec. 8. | 1113 | 520 | 594 |
| 1842 | Aug. 4. | Nov. 26. | 410 | 214 | 211 |
| 1843 | July 10. | Dec. 31. | 1053 | 609 | 487 |
| Total Number, | 7787 | 4034 | 3803 | ||
| A discrepancy of | 50 | 4034 | |||
| 7837 | 7837 |
"This discrepancy between the number of admittances, discharges, and deaths," say the editors, "arises from the fact that a good many cases of yellow fever occur, after the patients are admitted into the hospital for other diseases—and some remain to be treated for other diseases, long after having been cured of yellow fever; and, it may be, that some cases are not noted upon the hospital books at all." The proportion of deaths is accounted for by the exposed state of the patient before admission. In private practice they do not average one death to ten.
The absence of quarantine regulations in New Orleans, is often remarked by strangers. Acts of legislation have been passed at different times, establishing laws for the protection of the city, which proved of but little service, owing, it is generally admitted, to their not being carried out as it is now known they should have been to test their efficacy, consequently they soon fell into disuse.
Much able, and it would seem unanswerable argument has been employed, to prove that this scourge of tropical climates is not contagious; yet, Dr. Carpenter, an eminent and learned member of the medical profession of this city, with great research, has tracked it through all its secret channels of communication, by which at different periods it has been introduced.
The recent able essay of Dr. Hort, read before the Physico-Medical Society of this city, and the proceedings and resolutions of that body, had in reference to it, with equal conclusiveness show it to be endemic, or of local origin, and not an imported or contagious disease.
When such eminent "doctors disagree" what shall the unlearned and uninitiated do?—we are surely in a dilemma, and hardly know on which horn to hang our own humble judgment—but it would really appear that with a sanitary system, commending itself to the more cautious views of the Atlantic cities, an advantage would be gained, that would far more than balance any diminished trade of our neighbors in the Gulf. Are there not also, many hundreds of active, intelligent, business making citizens, who now fly to the North on the first approach of the sickly season, who, with such guards faithfully maintained about them, would remain through the summer? and are there not thousands more in various parts of the country, who, inspired with confidence by the existence and maintenance of a system of measures which they deem essential to the preservation of the health and lives of the citizens, would throng to our metropolis as the most inviting field of enterprise, and thus multiply our numbers and enlarge our business far more rapidly than it can, or will be done under the present system?