October 21, 2012
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| Red water means get out of town! |
Yellow fever epidemics were a significant cause of mortality
in the 1800s. As we passed this historic pharmacy our guide told us that the
water in the globes was tinted as a code to alert residents of an approaching
yellow fever epidemic.
This allowed residents to leave the city without causing
a mass panic, or importantly, disrupting the business of trading cotton and sugar, which were vital to the
city’s economy.
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