The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-03-23
From Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
Sound Sense About the Cholera,
BY JACOB BIGELow, NJ. d.

perhaps, probable approach to thlS coun-
try. n. r
forty wears has led majority OF Medlcal
men who has observed the disease to be-
Iieye that, as a general law, it is not con
tooious In this belief | must indlVldu-
oIIy remain, until evidence more satls,
factory than any which has yet appeared
shall Justify an opposite conyleuon' -.
The GREAT epidcmics of 1870 and lol'
had n remarkable coincidence i'll the pain
whicb they pursued, and in the order
and dates Of their arrival i'll different cl-
tics They seem to have followed certain
Great routes of travel and to have
avoided others equally frequented. Ac,
cording to Lesegue, they bOth Vis1tea
consecutively, and in correspondents
months, Tiflis, Astrachan, MOSCOW, Ie
tersburg and Berlin. In ISL choieL'
did not take the most frequented ronre
from Berlin TO Paris, but passed. alonB
the shores Of The Baltic, crossed over ~
Sunderland, went d'wn to Lond On, anu
aoain crossed the channel, and arrived
af Paris about six months after its ap,,
ncorance in Berlin. A diseasepropagated
hv coutapion Of any kind would hardly
have avoided the moss frequent ed thor
ourhfares from Berlin to Paris, While 1t
occupied half year in going ronnd
I England. .,
The epidemic now, or lately prevail
inc in Europe, appears to date
hack AT least nine months, at when
time it existed among the caravans OF
niIorims visiting or returning from
Mecca In the middle of May last it was
was al Alexandria and Cairo, IN June al
Constantiuople, AncOna and Nurseries,
and in November at Paris, Hayre and
other European cities
Thus it appears that cholera has now
existed in Europe from three to eight
months amepg cities having constant
commercial intercourse with sen ports OF
the United States, during which t'mc
thousands If passengers and tens OF
Thousands Of bales aud packages have
been landed N our maritime cities. II
cholera were o. contagious OF portable
as many believe it to be, 1T onght to
have begun, aud perhaps finished MS
work i'm many of Our sea porls before
this time
Epidemics require two th ing5 for then
Introduction and extension. These are
| first. predaposition in the inhabtants
of the place visited; and second, the ar
rival or presence Of an eyistiug cause -
This cause in some epidemiCs, such as
sm9lIpoy. is contagion In others it Is
an occult influence, not yet discovered
nor understood. not known TO he con
trolled, except in some instances, by by
pieuic agencies. No country. | believe,
has succeeded in keeping out cholera by
onaraurSueg, and no country rs lar =
we know. can produce it artliIcjlliy ol
retain it after the predispoSit,"n has
di5appearcd In It's own time it moves
on thoroughflrcs where men are travel
ing. and spreads in cities where they
are stationary. for 40 better reason
known than that mankind are It's neces.
sary food, and that where there are nc
people there can he no cholera Bu'
why. of two frrqucnted roads OF CllItS
il selects one and avoids the other, III
vesligators have not yet been able Il
satisfy us
The credit OF having introduced the
present epidemic into Europe is by sor'
of popnlar reclamation assigned to The
hosts of sQuaHd deyotecs who perform
an annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Yet w
are told that "thc cholera exists ever!
wear among the caravans Of Mussulman
arriving at the holy cities so that thci
supposed missioH of forwardjn% th'
cholera 10 Europe in most years '2iis Z
he performed.
Cholera, like influenza and some oiEr
migratory diseases, has not always nd
-. 4 10, IN
hicle i'm which il travels, or the course II
is next to take, we know about rs much
nc mankind knew Of the cause Of light
uino before The discovery Of electricity
! lis conveyance and propagation have
been ascribed to air, 10 water, 10 mate
rial foci. 10 electricity. to ozone OF TO the
want al it. Of late, in consequence OF
the vast development by the microscope
! of the existence every where of minute
| living organisms, il has become more
common 10 ascTiBP The arrival Of this
and other like epidemcs to certain un-
seen germs" which are called seeds or
oya. cryptagamic or anImalCuIar, accord
inn as the fancy of he theoriSt inclurs
him to adopt vegetable or an animal
nomenclature.
But i'll this. as in many other cases, IT
is easier To trace an analogy, or To as
sume a cause than it Is (" prevent an eff
feet Although inWliUers have been in
icfaticahlc in their attempts 10 cnttght
| en- the world ON the means OF Kidding
ourselves of the presence OF The various
offensive co.ieuants OF our globe, yet no
crusade has succeeded IN hanishing
from our fields and houses the WnWel,