The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-08 00:00:00

Cholera and its Cure.

How awful and universal was the panic through-
out Europe when first this dire disease appeared
advancing with rapid strides, and slaying its thou-
sands and tens of thousands as it passed, sparing
neither young nor old, rich nor poor ! It is true that
the ill-fed, dirty, and vicious were its surest and
quickest victims, and also that death (generally
speaking) was rifest in the low marshy ground, on
the banks of a river, and in deep valleys, or where-
.ever there was a stagnation of air.

Some years previously the population in the
south of Spain, especially in Seville, Cadiz, and
Malaga, had been decimated by the yellow fever,
imported in vessels from the Havana and Puerto
Rico.

The friendly (?) intervention of the French in
the year 1832 was one benefit to the Spaniards.
They strictly forbade and prevented the entrance
even of any vessel from infected places into
Spanish ports, from the month of May until Novem-
ber ; they obliged them to perform a vigorous
quarantine at Vigo or Mahon, when passengers and
cargo were sent to the lazaretto, whilst the vessels
were fumigated and purified. This quarantine was
never under 21 days ; and if any deaths had taken
place on board during the voyage, they were incar-
cerated for from 40 to 60 days in that portion of the
lazaretto set apart for infected persons and
goods. A French vessel of war was stationed
just outside the bays of Cadiz and Malaga, not
allowing any vessel to enter without permis-
sion. Against the yellow fever the vigo-
rous measures met with perfect success. This
dreaded disease was completely banished from Spain.
But not so the cholera. The Spaniards, hoping to
prevent by the same measures its ingress into Spain,
not only summarily forbade the entrance of all ves-
sels from infected ports, but obliged all other ves-
sels carrying clean bills of health to pass a quaran-
tine of from three to ten days before admitting
them to pratique ; they also sent a large force to the
frontiers, to prevent any communication by land,
hoping, by thus entirely isolating themselves, to
ward of this dreaded enemy. But all in vain. The
cholera took a leap over their heads, and alighted
in a village about 40 leagues in the interior ; and
their first knowledge of the fact was accompanied
with the announcement that the village was empty,
and all dead except some half-dozen. The news
spread like wild-fire, augmenting the panic of the
natives. In Spain, as elsewhere, each physician
tried his theory ; some half-killed their victims with
calomel and purgatives, others intoxicated them
with brandy or stupified with opiates. The strictest
diet was enjoined, and in many places fruit and
vegetables and fish were not allowed to be sold ;
thus causing almost a famine amongst the poor,
whose general aliment they were ; and ruined the
agriculturists, whose subsistence depended on the
sale of their produce. But this was of no avail
either. Death was here, and death was there, and
death was everywhere. This grim enemy, who com-
menced his ravages in Russia, proceeded to depopulate
the whole of Europe. On his first visit Cadiz seemed
a favoured spot ; his malignant breath seemed merely
to have passed over the city, so few were attacked,
and the only two or three deaths occurred in the
upper class ; but in the years 1854-5 the disease was
more virulent, and all classes were attacked; and many
fancying they had caught it or having it but slightly,
died from fright. Almost all who, thinking to escape
from cholera, left an infected place for the pure air
of the country, were victims to it. Servants, labourers,
and even many of the family, fled as soon as any
one was attacked. Every non-infected town or
village closed its gates against any new corners ; and
the corpses of them who died in the country had to
be buried by the father, wife, or child who might
survir e.

One might fill scores of pages with heartrending
accounts of the tragic scenes one witnessed and heard
of. The reader, then, may judge of the reaction of
feeling when it was known that some men from the
Philippine Islands were curing numbers, and that
the street they lived in was thronged with people
to witness what they considered to be an im-
mediate interposition of Providence in their be-
half. Of course the doctors were all up in arms
against these interlopers on their special demesne.
Several of them waited on the Civil Governor to
beg him to prevent these characters from imposing
on the credulity of the people ; but when the popu-
lace heard this, they surrounded the Municipality,
threatening to break the windows if they were de-
prived of the assistance of the men who were work-
ing miracles amongst them. So it was decided that
two of the complainants and a policeman should go
with Lorenzo Martinez, the principal cholera-curer,
to the hospital, and witness his skill on the cholera
patients there. If -he succeeded in curing them,
they were to be allowed to continue doing so—if
not, they were to be sent to prison as impostors.
There were ten patients in the hospital ; one in a
dying state, whom he refused to touch, as incur-
able ; three were severely attacked, the rest slightly.
He cured theni all, and most of them walked out of
the hospital with him. The doctors then wished to
oblige them to state what was their method of cure ;
but they would not, as they had been so badly
treated. I sent for them, stating my full belief in
them ; and as the cholera was raging in my coun-
try, I entreated them to describe to me their method
of cure, which I would willingly pay for, in the
hopes that it might serve to stay the mortality in
England.
" Most willingly, lady, will I explain all to you,
but without any remuneration. It is a common
disease in our country, and we think little of it, as
the medicines that cure it are indigenous there ;
and having the medicines with me, how could I
see them dying around me, and refrain from ad-
ministering them ?
" The cholera," he said, " attacks the human
frame in three places. If in the lowest part of . the
body, it produces dysentery, and, if taken in time,
is easily cured by taking rice water ; but the rice
must be roasted first, as the coffee-berry is, and then
boiled. Let him drink nothing but that, and the
more the better, with just the chill off it. Should
the dysentery be obstinate, let injections of the
same roasted rice-water be administered. No one
.need die of this kind of cholera, if they refrain from
taking anything else. At other times it attacks the
large colon, and produces both dysentery and
spasms. The first remedy is friction.

" The worst and most difficult to cure is when its
first appearance is felt in the pit of the stomach,
when severe spasms and retching are produced, and
if not promptly cured, cramp sets in, and is often
fatal.

_____
" In both of these cases the stomach is as hard as
a drum, and friction must be applied until the hard-
ness and tension is removed ; and then we give
three drops of our medicine in a cup of strong green
tea, which produces a profuse sweat, and the cholera
has gone. The friction must be applied in a par-
ticular way, or it will be of no good.

" Grease the hand with cocoa-nut oil if you have
it, if not, with hog's lard or common oil ; but if you
can get neither, then apply the hand from the region
of the heart to the pit of the stomach, and then
straight down to the abdomen—taking care never
to apply the friction upwards or in a rotatory move-
ment. The patient, meanwhile, should lie between
blankets. Begin the friction rather gently, in-
creasing in force. All at once the tension and
tightness and hardness will disappear. Then give
the medicine; but if not to be had, give camomile
or tilia (flower of the lime or linden-tree), a decoc-
tion as hot as the patient can swallow it. Keep the
patient a quarter of an hour in bed after the sweat
bursts out, then change him to a fresh one, and
continue to administer every half hour one of the
two mentioned beverages, and simple beef tea after
some hours, without any salt in it. The medicines
are the pepita (a seed) of the Camalonga, and the
madera (or wood) of the San Paca, dissolved in