Polynesian., 1850-02-09
From the London Times.
THE ASEATIC CHOLERA.

i The ASsATlC CHOLERA
Toward he end Of the last century (in
l7Sl), body of 5000 troops, stationed at
Canaan, coast town, 535 miles northeast
of Madras. were suddenly attacked with a
new disease, Of such incredible malignity
that men in perfect health dropped down
dead by dozens. Exclusively of those then
sInitten with instantaneous death, more than
800 men sickened in one day and for the
most part sank beyond recovery within an
hour. Next day, the distemper still ragged
with unabated fury, and on the third day
more than half the army had either persisted
or we're in the hospital. Next year Tin 1881
the troops under Sir John Burgoyne at Ma
dras suffered from similar though less
severe disorder, which within month had
attacked 600 men Of whom some died
in the first hour, others expired after day
or two in horrible commissions, and very few
recovered.
The year afterward 1881 the same strange
malady broke out among the Pilgrims at
Hurdward, and swept off not less than 20 600
| Of the worshippers at the celebrated shrine.
At about the same time many Of the inhabi-
tants Of India, civil as we'll as military, were
seized with this cruel distemper, which the
MOslems called {" .MOrdechim," or bowel
death. The term mordechim" was cor
rupted by persons more cOnversant with
French than Persian, into mort de CHEN
The symptoms of mort de chien," as de-
scribed by Mr.. Curtis, who witnessed many
cases Of it both in Madras and Ceylon at
that period, are identical with those of our
SPAsMoDIc CHOLERA
The origin Of CHOLERA cannot be dis
tinctly traced to any earlier epoch. The
Brahminical records, indeed, vaguely notice
a somewhat similar disease as having pre-
vailed among the Hindoos in remote antiq-
uity; and Bontius, practitioner in Batavia,
about two centuries ago, describes, under
the name of Cholera, a bilious distemper
then prevalent in the Dutch settlement at
Java. Passages, too, in the works of Hip
pocrates, Aret9us, Josephus, and Zacutus
de Lisbonne, have been advanced in proof
of the antiquity of Cholera; and some have
supposed that it was this pestilence which, in
the time Of King Hezekiah, overlook the
Assyrian Army, and smote, in one night.
A HUNDRED AND FOUR SCORE THOUSAND MEN |!
But whether these ancient plaques were really
SPAsMoDIc CHOLERA cannot no,c be deter
mined. No definite traces of its existence
can be found before the outbreak Of the
{" mort de chien 30 and this distemper, we
know, never spread beyond the confines Of
India.
In 1917, however, the mort de CHEN burst
forth in Bengal with extraordinary malignity,
and was found to have changed its character
No longer localized in the tropics, it was
observed to travel rapidly westward; and
men began to forbode, from its rate and
course, that it would soon invade the conti-
s. 10 Of
disastrous outbreak-the origin OF the NOR
tally under which we are now sufferiDg-de-
serve attentive consideration. The overflow
of the river Ganges had swelIed to a greater
height than usual the annual inundation of
the marshy plains adjacent. Cities and vii
lagos appeared like houses in the midst Of
temporary ocean, covered with 'nnumcr-
able boats, and traversed even by vessels Of
100 tons burden. The whole country round
Jessore was one sheet Of water, and those
lungIy marshes, known as the Sunderbunds,
winch are intersected by the numberless
streams forming the delta of the Ganges,
Law s,eaming in a moist, calm air, neither
quite overaowed, nor yet quite dry, hot
bed of putrescent mIasma.
1t was under such circumstances, aggra-
waited by the heats of August, that the first
seizure occurred at Jessore. The mortality
spread rapidly among the population. infect
ing chiefly the miserable Pariahs who earn,
by excessive toll under vertical sun, only
about gid a day, and who live in squalid
novels, crowded and damp, ir the flthiest
quarters of the town In few weeks lO, 600
individuals, sixth of the population, had
nerished. The civil courts were closed, bu-
sipess was suspended, and the weather.
inhabitants fed in crowds to the country.
Within month the disease broke out in
Calcutta. about 100 miles to the southwest,
brought, as some say, by fugitives from Jes-
sore originating spontaneously: as others
suppose, from the same cause in both places.
Here, too, it committed fearful ravages, de-
strovinq daily 300 persons. Its migratory
character soon became terribly apparent
within a few weeks it had devastated every
town or village within an area of several
thousand square miles, from Sylbert IN the
east, to Cuttack in the west, and from the
mouth of The Ganges upward to its conffu-
ence with the Jumna.
From this central district the pestlence
travelled by three principal streams, one
flowing southwest, along the Coromandel
coast. 10 Madras; another, southeast, along
the opposite coast of the Bay OF Bengal to
Arracan and the Malay peninsula third,
westward, along the valley Of the Ganges
to Bundelcund, where the grand army, con-
sisting of 10000 fighting men and ~, ,VDO
camp-followers, was assembled under the
Marquis of Hastings.
The southwestern stream took IL months
IN reach Madras; in six months more It had
Tossed to the north-coast Of Ceylon, which
Island it rapidly overran and thence it was
conveyed by the Topaz fr,gate, to the
Waur;;;us. where it appeared in November,
1919. A,
The southeastern strear1otraveled more
slowly. Ittook IL months to reach Arracan'
and IL more to descend along the coas. 10
the Malay peninsula. At the British settle settle
ment me- Of Penang, {an island on that coast)
| n'oos - u ~. c,,..hs of the population.