Printed at the official press of the Sorbonne school of medicine, a rare treatise on yellow fever in Saint-Domingue (Haiti), detailing its effect on French troops sent to the island during and after the Haitian Revolution. It is dedicated to General Ferrand, the French commander in chief of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). It is broken into sections addressing the causes, contagion, symptoms, treatments, means of prevention, and observations giving case studies of specific patients.
When in 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte dispatched a French fleet to Saint-Domingue under the control of his brother-in-law General LeClerc, he hoped to re-capture the island, reinstate slavery, and once again use the wealth generated by this lucrative colony to fund the French Republic. The epidemic which followed did far more damage than the Haitian revolutionary forces:
“His troops were succumbing in droves to the most grievous epidemic of yellow fever in history. Forts with garrisoned troops and offshore ships provided suitable environments for mosquito breeding. Estimates of the death toll vary along with estimates of the number of troops sent to Saint-Domingue. McNeill reports that 50 000 to 55 000 (80%-85%) French soldiers died, predominately because of yellow fever with only a few related to combat (along with more than 20 000 deaths among civilians)” (Marr & Cathey).
OCLC finds 4 copies in France, plus copies at McGill University and Wellcome Library.
Marr, John & Cathey, John T. “The 1802 Saint-Domingue Yellow Fever Epidemic and the Louisiana Purchase”. Journal of public health management and practice (Jan, 2013). 77-78.
