The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-02-01
From The Boston Courier.
THE INDIAN CHOLERA.

dence, is a pestlence. Men will go forth
and he swept away 10 battle with firmness,
but when the invisible agent is waving its
bosom over them, and their comrades are
dropping around them, all courage, reason,
justice; and virtue seem to he Frustrated.
II the good and few, indeed, come forihlike
gold from the publication of fire, the had
become more like demons than men. Pes
thence raises curtain from the darkest
career OF the human heart: time when
Azrael is brandshing his sword over the
whole race, would seem (had not history
recorded the contrary to be a season, when
man won!c rePress the evil Of his passions,
and become just and mercifni in his ways,
from terror II not from choice. Yet these
are the times, when, as civil rule is relaxed
wherein human depravity rises in the pro-
portion OF calamity. Scholars can recount
the particulars Of the plague at Athens
Int less learned men may find, in the intro
dnctlon to the translated Decameron, 4
fear'al sketch of the plague at Florence, in
l34S, and which travelled from the Levant,
somewhat as the Cholera is moving now.
Notwithstanding masses and professions,
strict precautions, and rigid quarantine, it
entered the city of Florence, which seems
designed by nature not as place of lamen-
tatons, but OF delights. The first symptoms
were numerous, and afterwards purple spots,
and the disease was communicated by
contagion. Boccaco relates that he saw
two swine roofing among the clothes of the
dead, who, IN less than an hour, dieti upon
lhe spot. In contagious pestilence the
sick are left to die, without aid or consola-
ton. The strong impulse of self preserva-
ton takes place Of the tenderest affection
OF the nearest affinity. At Florence some
shut themselves up liz the castle-like houses
OF the cltv--every one Of which would sus-
tam siege, and diverted themselves mod
erately, never listening TO the sounds with
out. Others revele,l, and plunged into all
KINDS OF dlssolutencss. The wisest, indeed,
though not the most humane. deserted the
clty,leaving dying relatives and friends The
people became so eallous that they would
utter jests upon the death of others. Those
who died in the streets we're burned but
those who persisted in the houses. often mn
trifed there, and added fuel to the plauue.
There we're no servants, no attic ndants. but
the mercenary wretches who came to rob
more than to nnrse-"to murder not to heal. /"
- Dire was the tossing, deept the rroans; DESPAIR
Tended the sick, busted from couch to coucb:
And over all, Death shook his dart"
Boccacio states, though somewhat large
~, that from March to July. upwards of
IOO,0O0 persisted in the city alone in the
midst OF this plague, he feigns that seven
ladies', young and fair, who met at church,
determined TO retire TO the country, with
several young and cheerful gentlemen Ct
good name and accomplishments, and there
in secluded but ample dwelling, pass the
time IN so much gaie:y, that the plague
should find no coadjulor, in hypochonlria.
The pleasant tales of Boccacio, 1.-THE Decam-
eron) are supposed to have been told by
these ladies and gentlemen, when under as
much apprehension of immediate death as
the improvisatrising Scheherazade.
s,Btsgp qfHgg 4stth as s # Was III i6e 1aaf6
century; every ship may bring the pesti-
lence to US, and it is cur duty to consider
steadily the evil before it may be upon US.
With pestllence precaution is every thing,
for :here is little cure.
The last Quarterly Review contains an
article on the Indian Cholera, in which
great many interesting facts are disclosed.
1t has been supposed, indeed, that one party
In England is very anxious to spread an
alarm to divert the public attention 10 some
other channel than the question of Reform.
Yet the Cholera undoubtedly has gained
ground in England, which it invaded from
the east, by the way of Hamburg. 1t is not
our wish to cause needless CONSERVATION
but what is in England may be imported
here-and the distance is less than the space
between Calcutta and the Isle of France,
which the Cholera has already passed over,
" forewarned, forearmed." Security is a
great enemy, but fear often does good SER
vice. The Cholera is a new pestience, that.
from the east, is travelling westward at
slow though certain rate. In fourteen wears
it has, according to the Review, swept away
fifty millions of the human race. 1t thrves
in every climate, and among all classes of
people--the poor and the destitute are
hardly more liable than the rich. Ii is not
the thing of day-it takes root in The soil.
Ii IT disappear in one season, the seed is left
for fatal termination in the next. Med-
cine has as little effect upon it as upon :" a
mind diseased" and the only security seems
to he in precaution. In few hours, and
sometimes in one hour. the brief transit is
made from health TO death. The prostitution
of strength is immedlate-great debility, ex-
.
ing Of the body are the striking character
istics. The thirst is intense, and generally,
the intellect is unimpaired. In 1918, this
plague first appeared on the western coast
Of India. The CONSERVATION was extreme,
and the mortality justified any pitch of alarm.
One person would have notes written to
every physician within reach, TO be forward
ed on the first attack; another had bath
kept warm day and night, to be entered on
the first appearance Of the disease; a third
placed more confidence ina spare diet; and
fourth in a stimulating one.
Among the natives, superstition added its
horrors to the terriers of the plague. In the
very Outbreaking Of the disease, a crazed
female came forth, and declared herself to
be an avatar, or incarnation of the demon Of
the pestilence: and her appearance dimin-
lshed the necessity Of direct testimony.
The Furies wee never more appropriately
represented. In one hand she held sword
in the other, vessel containing fire.
There were musicians before her, and long
line of empty carts behind---for no driver
that she met disebcyed her command to fol-
low 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,
antt escaped while under its infuence-and
it was never known whence she came, or
whittier she went.
twas the belief of the physicians in India
that the cholera was not contagious; but
that It was spread by some general cause.
probably IN the atmosphere. This belief
later events have chanped and the reverse