They have demonstrated that they can check and eradicate the most virulent. such as cholera. yellow and ship fevers. and smallpox. This was clearly shown when. in 1866. eighteen vessels. mostly steamships. arrived in the port of New York from foreign ports with 8.501 passengers and crews aboard who had been exposed to cholera during the passage. On five of these vessels there were 3.133 steerage passengers. and of this number but 243 cases. or 7f per cent.. proved fatal in quarantine. On one of the vessels. the Virginia. with 985 steerage passengers. there were 78 deaths. or 7J per cent..while on board her twinsister vessel. the England. which put into Halifax. out of 1.145 steerage passengers. there were 214 deaths. or 181 per cent. Of the latter vessel there are strangely conflicting accounts. the health officer at Halifax reported that 400 cases were sent to the hospital ship. As the passengers were all destined to New York. and no trace could afterwards be found of but 9. the deductions are that the remaining 391 died in hospital.
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