The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1832-02-07

new pes,ilence, that, from the East, is trav.
cling Westward at slow though certain
rate. In fourteen years il has, according TO
the Review, swept awsy fifty millions Of the
human race. Il thrives in every climate. and
among all classes Of psopls---the poor and
the destitute are hardly more liable than the
rich. II 10 not the thing ofs day--it takes
root in the soil. Ifit disappear in one season,
the seed is left for fatal germination in the
next. Medicine has 20 little effect upon ii a.
upon - mind diseased" )" and the only security
seems to be in precaution. In few hours,
and sometimes in one hour. the brief transit
10 made from health TO DEATH. The prostra
ton of strength is mmediate--grest debility,
extinction off the circulation, and sudden cool
ing Of the body are the striking charscteris-
tics. The thirst is intense. and generally,
the intellect is unimpaired. In 1918, this
plague frst appeared on the Western Coast
Of India. The consternation was extreme,
and the mortality justified any pitch of alarm.
One person would have notes written to every
physician within reach, to be Forwarded on
the first attack another had bath kept warm
day snd night, to be entered on the first ap-
pearance of the disease; a third placed more
confidence in spare diet and fourth in
stimulating one. W a .aH
Among the natives, superstition added its
horrors to the terrors Of the plague. In the
very outbresking Of the disease, a crazed fs-
male came forth, and declared herself to be
an avatar, or incarnation Of the demon Of the
pestilence: and her appearance diminished
the necessity Of direct testimony. The Flu.
ries were never more appropriately represent.
ed. In one hand she held a sword--in the
other, vessel containing fire. There were
musicians before her, and a long line ofempty
carts behind--for no driver that she met dis
obeyed her command to follow her. The
people caught the frenzy, and raised the
clamor Of alarm. This reached the officers
on duty, who apprehended the goddess. She
herself caught the disease, and escaped while
under its infuence--and it was never known
whence, she came, or whittier she went.
II was the belief Of the physicians in India
that the cholera was not contagious but that
it was spread by some general cause, probably
have changed, and the reverse is now held.
To believe it not conta gious, is to neglect
every precaution, with the spirit Of fatality
that inspires q Turk, who smokes his pipe
upon q charged bomb shell, and should he be
blown up, would only utter Allah Kerim.
The reviewer has collected mass Of facts,
from the various printed reports, &c. which
nearly establish the certainty Of the contag
ious principle.
| The course Of the disease has always been
along the great thorough fares ofcommerce,
and II has moved fast or slowly, according to
the rate Of travelling. Along the Coast it has
been more rapidly spread, from the increased
facility Of communication. On the navigable
rivera il has also followed the streams. 1t
cresps along olowIy, but surely--it may in
deed skip over small District. but itsnever
misses kingdom, and az certainly as it is on
the frontier, 20 surely will it be in the centre.
The movements have even been calculated
with considerable precision. The caravans.
which have eften communicated it, seem never
to have been infected--though it is probable
that they carried in merchandise the means
Of the contagion. This fact, however, seems
to make little against the doctrine. In the
early ravages In Indiu, as the Cholera was
not believed to be contagious, no precautions
were taken to stop its spreading but in Eu-
| rope the instances where the requisite pre-
cautions have been taken. the disease has not
penetrated and many similar results were
remarked in Asia. In the Mauri,ius where,
according to the popular belief, &c, 100 people
died in elk weeks, there were no precautions
taken to confne the disease--but in the isle
Of Bourbon, where the Governor established
the strictest quarantine regulations, though
q smuggling vessel introduced the malady,
the establishment Of lazarct, and q military
Gordon, prevented communication with the
country. The two islands are nesr each 9TH
er, yet in the latter only one in fifteen hun
dred perished, while in the former one in four
were destroyed.
In Persia, Teheran, the residence Of the
Shah, wss preserved several years, BY an or.
der for the caravans to 20 on another route -
the order was rescinded and the Cholera in
troduced. At Lattsquia, the French Consul,
and many Europeans, shut themselves up
while the pestilence was raging around them,
and not one received the disease; numerous
gardens and farms escaped the contsgion by
similar system. Al Manila, while 5000
people wcro dying in IA days, the vessels in
the harbor were free from the disease, As the
commanders interdicted all communication
with the shore. The people Of the large
town Of Sarepts, with the pestiIence near,
were preserved BY . strict quarantine. In q
villsgs where there were more than 100 ca,
ses Of cholsrs, . bsrricade was made, and
strict regulations enforced result was
that not one case occurred beyond the bar
ricads.
Up to May last, there had been in Asia
and Europe upwards Of ESQ different eruptions
Of the Cholera--and, perhaps as many more,
OF which there is no record. At Bassors,
out of 60 900 inhabitants, $4,000 fell in IA
dsys in many cases the deaths occurred in
little more than an hour after the attack.
The Cholers entered Europe by the way
OF Astrachsn, from whence the facilities Of
spreading il were but too great. Astrachan
is on the yolgs, . river which connects the
largest towns in the Russian empire, and
which is the great medium Of communication.
These towns suffered in succession near
one Of them, Zsritzin.. three great roads