The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-13 00:00:00

STRIKING SCENE IN A CHURCH Ili
ITALY.

A. correspondent in Italy writes to the Lancet:
"A strikingly dramatic scene was witnessed the
other morning at Peregallo in Lombardy. It was
Sunday, and the people had assembled in crowds to
hear the special prayers prescribed by the archbishop
to appease the anger 'of the Almighty and to stay the
scourge of cholera. The hour had been changed from
the usual one of ten a.m. to five a.m., in order
to secure fresher air for the more numerous
congregation. The mass was over, and in another
winute the kneeling devotees would have risen to dis-
perse, when suddenly a voice was heard sonorously
and commandingly bidding them remain, and all eyes
turned and fell on an old gentleman in white hair and
of ruddy complexion from whom the words proceeded.
In dead silence he spoke to the following effect: I take
the opportunity of finding you assembled here to say a
few words to you on the cholera. Your good priest, Don
Antonio, by order of the excellent archbishop, has
engaged you, as becomes his office, in matters which
concern the soul. las a layman and a member of the
Communal Committee of Public Hygiene, will speak
to you on matters which concern your body. Life
has been given to us by God, and it is our duty to
guard it well and preserve it as long as possible: and
I believe I am not desecrating this place by telling
you how this, in the present circumstances, is to be
done. The cholera is in full career throughout Italy.
Workmen—mechanics without conscience, flying from
the cholera-smitten towns of France, where they were
employed, violating the sanitary cordon placed by
Government on our confines, and refusing to submit
to quarantine, where, after all, they are lodged and
boarded gratis—have penetrated into the heart of
Italy and carried the disease into many districts. So
long as the danger was remote the syndics took pre-
cautions, and nothing more was thought of it. But
now it is at our gates. Milan, Monza, and this neigh-
bourhood have hitherto escaped attack; but not so
Bergamo, Lodi, Treviglio, and Pescarenico. With
the easy and frequent communication now established,
we may from one moment to another have the enemy
upon us, and we must therefore be prepared to rep]
it. First of all, let me enjoin on you cleanliness—
cleanliness of your bodies and of your dwellings. Next,
moderation in drinking and in eating. Finally, and
above all, if any of you should have t he ill-fortune to
be seized with the malady, give immediate notice of
the fact; prompt remedies can save you when delay
would be fatal. We see how, by culpably persisting
in concealing the outbreak at Spezia, the cases rose in
24 hours to CO, of whom 39 died. Yesterday I heard
someone in his ignorance say, "If I were seized with
cholera I would conceal the fact, so as not to be taken
to the lazaretto," which is, when all is said and done,
a pleasant enough domicile, quite isolated, with an
agreeable exposure, conceded ad hoc by our excel-
lent member of Parliament, Count Rinaldo
Taverna, "because," added the individual, "they
give the patients poison there, of which
.they are sure to die.' These impressions are
follies, which ought neither to be conceived nor
uttered. Is it not the fact that the moment you feel
ill, say with headache, you at once send for the
doctor, and if he does not arrive forthwith and pre-
scribe for you, you angrily upbraid him? And why
is it that in the case of cholera you keep the
physician at arm's length for fear he would hasten
your death with poison? Does he not come to you
in such a malady to the great risk of his own life?
Would it not be less dangerous for him to leave you
alone to die than come all the way to poison you?
What interest can the medical man and the com-
munal authorities who appoint him have in causing
your death, when they would thereby be putting your
widow and your orphans on the charity of the com-
mune, which would have the burden of maintaining
them? Be advised then. The poison you seem to
dread, given opportunely and in the proper close, will
be your salvation. You have seen my father, who,
thanks to laurocerasus, which is a powerful poison,
was cured and lived for fifteen years, and
yet a teaspoonful of it would kill you. It is a duty of
conscience lam imposing on you. All of us have our
lives at stake. I, in spite of my seventy-two winters,
who would have but little to lose if I were stricken
down with cholera, will continue to wear my flannel
shirt and send for the first medical man the moment
I require him." The effect of this brief address was
electrical. The people left the church profoundly im-
pressed, and the harebrained chatter about avoiding
the lazaretto, with its doctors and their drugs, has
been heard no more in Peregallo. And who was the
speaker? He turned out to be Signor Carlo Curti, a
landed proprietor in the neighbourhood, a communal
councillor, a patron of the church, and superintendent
of the communal schools. The leading Milanese
journal printed the address pretty much as I have
given it, and it is now being copied and circulated in
other provinces, where it is much more required than
in Lombardy."