The Arkansas advocate., 1832-10-03
CHAPMAN ON CHOLERA.

.MY Dear Sir; l have delayed to an- s"er your letter, til Ihad formed some decision as to the nature and treatment of the presidential cholera which is now prevailing. These arc points on which so much diligence of opinion existed. that 1 found 1t impossible to make up my mind as to them, without tie ligfifs oi actual observations and experience. have now seen the disease sufficiently 10 enable me to arrive at satisfactory. and l trust, just conclusions on the sub Jeet. But can present in the narrow compass of q letter, only a very concise and imperfect exhibition of my views, and indeed, such are my incessant oc- equations, that l have scarcely leisure to execute even this slight sketch.
 The disease, asholly iadepe,uzeat of co''tqgion, is caused by an epidemic agency, of which we know nothing with certainty. lis not improbable, howev- CT, that it is owing to an aeriform poi son, which, acting through the medium of the stomaehonthe glanglionic nerves, so impairs the system, that it's functions are ln greater or less degree suspend ed. As always happens, when sensori- al ornervoas influence is withheld, there IS in this case, a recision of blood from the periphery, and correspondent accu- mutations of il the deep seated vessels, subversve of theproper distribution of It Tn the circulation, attended by yt- alton or suppression of the secrctions. This, in word, is my theory of the dis ease, the truth of which, think, is sus- tained by the symptoms, the pheno. mena on dissection, and the mode of cure.
 It is generally held here, that chole- ra IS pretty uniformly preceded by con- siderable disturbances of the alimenta- y canal; bynausea or purging, the two united. That affections of this sort are very common ill the city and else where, cannot be denied. Bat wheth- CT they constitute the preliminary stage of the disease, is very doubtful. l. seems to me, they ought rather to be considered as condition, arising from distinct sources of irritation predispo. sing 10 the disease. Can't be credited. that a cause ultimately operating so as that of cholera, should endure for three OF four or five days. merely teazing, in this slight manner. the stomachor bowels? The transition omthese mild and lingering affections. 10 the explosion of cholera in its full. est force, is far too sudden and violent. 10 suppose that they are one aud the same disease, varied only by stages. ] know not tie analogies by which the by can be supported. Nor is this Precluslve indisposition mentioned by any one ot the writers on Asiatic chole- ra whom ] have consulted. Itissearee- ly 10 be presumed, that so prominent and important fact, had if an exist ence, could have possibly escaped the attention of these very able and experi- enced historians of the disease. Being attached to armies, and, more particn- larly from their position in Hospitals, they enjoyed the best, and peculiar ad- yaIftages, for accurate and diserimina- ting observations. It was first noticed, and promulgated by some of the British publications. though not sanctioned by all, and from a similar coincidence of gastric and enetric Arrangement with the epidemic in this country, the notion has been espoused hy us. De it as it may, such disorders should at once be