The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-08-21


PORT TO THE HAWAIIAN GOVERNMENT ON aoLERA.
NOW ADOPTED by sAxoNy, wIRrEMBERG, ARD 9TH
ER GERMAN STATES.
tFrsm our Munich c,rrespondsntl
Dr.. Pettenkofer examined the localities Of every
important city in Bavaria visited by cholera, then
the locality of each street and at last the condition
q each house. in which examination he WAS assisted
by several other physcis1' and the police OF the
place. He found that HE observations agreed en-
trely with those made by the Loldon physicians in
l848 and 40 and with Jamesons report to the medi-
cal board at Bombay. Elevation and drainage are
the best prevcntives against contagon, as the doc
tor illustrates by the Official sto mortality in each
street and in each house given in separate tables in
his report He also shows. from the position Of
Wurzburg Ratisbon, Forth, &C., that cholera never
becomes epidemic In houses placed on q rocky foun
dston and that sand underlayed with clay forms the
worst basis on which Buildings may be erected
Jameson in his report. made similar observation
in India. and observed that cholera does not seem to
be fond of rocks The London report. in like
manner. shows the diminished mortality In elevated
places but it is the obsev ..ion OF Dr. Pettenkofe
that elevation Ia the cause Of greater health only
when it facilitates dgai ago. Elevation, without
drainage affords protection against cholera. This
he proves by the progress Of cholera in Nurcmburg
Hgensburg and Freysing
On rocky or hard foundations the excrements Of
men and animals are carr cd of without being de-
composed while in loose sandy soil, especially when
undenaid with clay, they are enthusiastically divided
and BY the process of putyes4ence In gaseous form
again communicated to the atmosphere, to which
they rise by being specifically lighter than the liquids
with which they are mixed. There is specific germ
OF the disease In all excroments proceeding from
ehOesS patients, which is Of course transferable to
any place to which the patien: may move or be car
rcd. The disease Is not in the air nor in the water
nor communicated by contact.
The intensity Of the disease in Munich Augsburg
and every other city examined by DR.. p, was in
proportion TO the drainage. The construction of the
prvics was in nearly every instance the index to
the uaiignity Of the disease and the number OF its
victims. series Of tables with the very names OF
the victims in each town, with exact plan Of the
streets, and the condition Of the houses furnish con
elusive evidence Of the Doctors theory. He even
shows that in one and tho house poor people were
exempt from the disease while rich and strong people
became its victims whenever the faulty cOnstruc-
ton Of sewers promoted the developement Of the dis
ease from the injecting matter being carried thher
either by person sick with cholera, or with the
dlarrhoa immediately preceding 1t, in the progress
Of an epidemic. In every the doctor furnishes
positive proof that the disease first carried to
place hitherto not infected by person afflicted
with the malady or its premontory symptoms. Thus
be proves that the cholera first brought to Mu.
mich by strangers from Italy, who came to the exhibit
ti0n that the house where the officers OF the exhibit
ton daily assembled was first in showing symptoms OF
the disease that thoy carried the disease to the yar
streets they lived in and that the houses thus first
infected exhibited first the eliminating point OF the
dsease, and were also first exempt from It. This the
doctor considers conclusive Of the fact that the
disease was carried there by the said officers because
the places first infected are invariably those which
are first freed from It.
At Freysing, in Bavaria, the extraordinary case
occurred Of the disease raging most on q noun
tain (the Domhernber2) aud very little OF it in
the valley. On examining the premises. the doc.
tor found the conical mountain to consist Of ter
races regularly walled up TO prevent tho earth from
rolling down on an inclined plane and the soil to
consist Of heavy loan and sand. Through this arti.
impurities of human habitations have been III
tered for ages without regular drainage The
rain water from the spouts Of the many large
buildings. the residence Of the bishop, the semi.
has to Geek it's own channel, which Is usually
the largest surface. Tho sewers consist of wooden
quadrangular tubes, conducted to the edge OF the
mountains, whence they are empsed in such man.
ner that their ean be traced to the base OF
the mountain. Tho consequence OF this arrangement
u, that the grounde are moist and unhealthy, and
the seminary, during VIC last four years, had TO be
hiI Of tie same town, The same imperfect drainage
exists, and the consequence has been equally severe
in regard to cholera There Ia q ditch into which
al the sewers empty, but he principal street forms
the ditch. All the Impurities emptied into tue lat
Ter thus absorbed b. the ground Of the houses
10 that street, which, being sand and loan, became
active propagator a cholera. Through the deep
est point Of tho valley. between tho Domhernberg
and the ditch, flows rapid stream. the Mosschbach.
and carries with tho contents of the sewers
and privies OF that neighborhood Here. then. the
ssRs and I'd. apparsa The worst Ss situation g re-
ether parts Of the valley. whore the stream is
damned up TO prevent its overfowiRg the streets
lying below its level, where, consequently, the
drainage was towards the houses, instead OF from
them. occurred the WORSE cases Of the disease and
the greatest number Of them. y. 80
There are, however, two observations which the
doctor considers conclusive for hls theory. They
e0ndst Of two prisons, entirely distinct from one
another. situated In different towns, and 10 which
the cholera carried By prisoners afflicted with
.alarrhGa. from Munieh. Prisons and barracks. it
has been observed. the best cholera hesrths all
ever the world, and the doctor ascribes il To the
extreme difficulties with which priyies kept
Clean. In most Of tbae institutions Tin prisons,
from necessity night stools kept In the different
apartments and cells, practice which j. in itself
propagation Of cholera instances have occurred
where nothing but this practice furnished the
81 ENGRAVING and spreading the disease, when The
village os town where the prison was situated, re-
NAMED entirely exempt from l. The doctor men.
ons bat two cases which furnish the basis for this
theory, and arc indeed remarkably cosroboratiyc
Of il.
The first Of them y the Convent EbraeA, trans.
sormed into a prison for about Thousand dciiu-
fueuts. The cells OF the prisoners are provided
with night stools. which sre cmptied into prvies in
zach stOry, aud each working room (thc prisoners
syVrk In different halls according TO their respective
lradee) has a door lcadfn9 Immediately 10 prky
door. The walls Of t1f rrtytes are damp end grcc4
sulpharctted ammonieo gs- ia all the rooms thus
situated The first cholera patient in that prison was
. certain Laurence Grave. who was sent there from
his cell In Munich In hi. Munich prison several
cases OF cholera had already occurred. lie arrived
"a Erbrach on the 10th August. 1854. Aftet q few
days he WA reported &ck with cholera, but recover
ed. On the 9TH Of the same month. tho man who
anrsed Gxae.e fcll sick. and died With the d.ease.