The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-27 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

The medical officer of the Privy Council has
just issued a memorandum on the precautions
to be taken against cholera. In speaking of the
nuisances specially relative to cholera, he says
that the two dangers to be regarded against are
drinking water which is in any degree tainted by
house refuse or other like kinds of filth, and the
breathing of air which is made foul with effluvia
from the same sorts of impurity. Further
on he refers to what appears to be the charac-
teristic of cholera, that all matters which
the patient discharges from his stomach or
bowels are infectious. This is equally the case whe-
ther the patient suffer from the disease in its de-
veloped and alarming form, or from the slightest
diarrhoea which the epidemic influence can produce.
Too much importance cannot, it seems, be attached
to the duty of thoroughly disinfecting, without de-
lay, with chloride of lime or otherwise, all dis-
charges from the stomach and bowels of persons
under the epidemic influence, as well as all bed-
ding, clothing, towels and the like, which such
discharges may have imbued ; and keeping under
systematic disinfection all privies and other
like places to which such discharges may
have had access. They should be kept
110 °tied with solution of sulphate of iron or solution
of carbolic acid. It is also suggested that in infected
districts committees of gentlemen might be formed
to 'assist the medical authorities ; and that such
committees could be of especial advantage in making
house-to-house visitatio
Three more adnuss• ion:. to the Liverpool Work-
house have been made since Tuesday, and two addi-
tional deaths are reported-_ cd—one in the house, the
Dr. other in the town. Gee, the medical officer of
the workhouse, has been
appointed to carry out the
provisions of the Nuisance Removal and Diseases
Prevention Act.

The number of cases received by the Dreadnought
authorities on board the Belleisle continues
in-
crease, such being entirely due to the evidently in-
creasing prevalence of the disease among the ship_
ping in the river and docks. The latestinformati '-
that of two entries, one from a barge in the West India
Docks, the other from a smallvessel lying off the en-
trance to the Commercial Dock. All cases as yet ad_
milted on board the Belleisle have no history at all of
importation from any continental or other town, but
occurred in men who had lived on board their own
vessels at least a week before applying for hospital
relief. The general type is less severe than that of
former epidemics.

LLANELLY, Monday.
The cholera is spreading here, and up to the pre-

,ent time has been very fatal. Between Saturday
and Monday night there were no less than 14 deaths,
as ascertained upon reliable information. The local
authorities, however, make no offic return, so
that the general public are left in ;.he ark as to the
spread of the disease, and the result probably much
exaggeration. The origin of the outbreak has not
been traced, and it appears to have developed itself
almost simultaneously at different points in and
around the town, among the poorest and dirtiest of
the population, and where some crying nuisance
prevailed in close proximity to the houses—open
cesspools, filthy pigsties, foul privies, or deficient
drainage. The general drainage of the town is
defective, and a good deal of it runs into the little ,
river or brook, which thus forms an open sewer,
giving out most noxious gases. In consequence
of the dry weather there has been no water down
the stream lately, and there is therefore a consider-
able accumulation of filth on its bed. All the
cases have arisen among the poorer classes, and in
every instance there has been some foul nuisance
in close proximity to the dwelling-house. The sani-
tary condition of the town is very low, and the poorer
classes are very dirty in their habits. The Board of
Health, to whom the local government of the town
is intrusted, has this week ordered a liberal distri-
bution of lime, the whitewashing of cottages, and
the purchase of a ton of chloride of lime for disin-
fecting purposes, besides establishing depots for
medicine. The local medical men, however, appear
to have no fixed system of treatment, and the re-
medies hitherto used by them appear to have been
very inefficacious, looking to the large number of
deaths that have taken place. The disease is not
confined to Llanelly, but extends to some neigh-
bouring villages Velin-Voel, two miles, and
Llanon, five miles distant. It prevails both in the
upper parts of the town and near the sea and rail
way station.