XXII. Health
A minute report made to the Faculty in June, 1849,
reveals that the hygienic condition of the University was,
at that time, in the main, satisfactory; but it was admitted
that there were no wholesome means of disposing
of the refuse from the laundries and the kitchens of the
pavilions and hotels. The board of health was now composed
of at least two professors of the medical school.
Doctors Cabell and Davis appear to have been the first to
form it; and with the consent of the executive committee,
they continued, until the next meeting of the Board,
to put in force all the regulations which they considered
necessary to sanitation.
In the course of 1856 unmistakable symptoms of the
presence of typhoid fever within the precincts began to
show themselves. The students, very much alarmed by
the threatened epidemic, sent in a petition for a suspension
of lectures, to continue at least two weeks; but
as there were only seven or eight cases of sickness, the
Faculty decided that they would not be justified in granting
the request. In consequence, there was no interruption
of work; but the unsanitary condition which these
cases demonstrated led the Board in the following June
(1857), to adopt far more stringent regulations to
bring about a complete cleansing of the University area.
In the autumn of the same year, the Faculty placed the
proctor in charge of this task, and allowed him an additional
force of laborers to carry it out with the most
painstaking thoroughness. A weekly report upon what
had been effected during the previous seven days, was
rigidly required of him; and he was also instructed to
make a similar report on the condition of all the buildings.
This extraordinary zeal had its origin in an outbreak
of typhoid, which had darkened the latter part of October,
and was even prolonged into the next month.
Five deaths occurred before the 15th of November.
There was an abatement in the disease as winter approached;
but in February, 1858, the number of cases
again began to multiply. It was observed that the
fever was most prevalent on both of the Ranges. So
alarming became the rapidity of its progress, that, at
the Faculty's request, the Board convened in March.
Hitherto, the executive committee had permitted the
former body to use their own discretion in closing all
the rooms in the Ranges, should there be urgent reason
for doing so; but the inconvenience of removing so many
students would now be so heavy that this responsibility
was tacitly declined. In fact, the Faculty were opposed
to any interruption in the lectures, as, during that
period of the year particularly, the dispersion of the
classes was certain to prove very confusing and damaging.
The students, who had most at stake, from their occupation
of the dormitories condemned, petitioned the
Board to order a suspension, in spite of the Faculty's
reluctant attitude; but they were not successful,—the
Visitors sustained the professors in their position, and
adopted their recommendation to remove the tenants
of the Ranges, and to scour and fumigate the deserted
apartments. The young men were accommodated elsewhere;
and the dormitories in those parts of the precincts
remained vacant during the rest of the session.
Provision was now made for the proper nursing and
dieting of every sick student; for the better ventilation
of the different rooms; for the removal of all horses,
pigs, and cows from the University premises; and for
the daily inspection of the cisterns. By the advice of
the Faculty, the entire system of policing was reorganized
and remodeled, so as to ensure an unbroken attention
to cleanliness and orderliness. But none of these
sanitary measures proved successful in halting the epidemic.
It continued to increase in violence, until, on
March 19, the medical professors, with the approval
of the entire Faculty, counselled the closing of the classrooms
as apparently the only way of bringing about
some abatement in the fever. Many of the students
had already turned their backs on the University,—
only, in some cases, to develop the distemper after their
arrival at their homes. Many were too ill to depart.
Fourteen died. The Board adopted the recommendation
of the Faculty,—the session was suspended until
May 1; but from that date, it was to be continued until
July 29, in order to make up for the length of time
that would be lost. On May 1, the young men returned,
and there was no further sickness during the remainder
of the term. It was supposed that the increase in the
attendance of students had been the principal cause of
this epidemic; and the Board, for that reason, actually
debated the advisability of limiting the number of matriculates
at the opening of the next session in September.
