Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-12
THE CHOLERA.
From the Cincinnati Gazette of tuesday,

| FROM the cincinnati 6azette OF luesday-i
There was a second cholera scare vester-
day, 1t fthe scare) appeared here in mild
form, but it appears to have been bad in New
York. 1t made a direct attack upon Wall
street. and the speculative stocks broke to
4 per cent The first scare of this kind was
caused by the arrival Of a Hamburg steamer
at New York, crowded with emigrants. A
number of cases of sickness had occurred on
board, several of which proved fatal. At
first these were attributed to the genuine
Asiatic cholera, but subsequently there was
dispute among the doctors on this point,
and soon the excitement died out, and the
cholera, if it was the cholera, didn't spread.
1t had a good effect, however 1t caused
the authorities to give attention to sanitary
regulations, and to cleanse the streets and
unwholesome' dwellings of our cities. New
York had an efficient Board of Health or
ganized, and the city has been cleaned as it
was never cleaned before. Other cities
adopted the same excellent precaution.
Our city authorities abolished the humbug
system under which contractors were paid
roundly for merely pretending to clean the
streets and now, under the efficient system
inaugurated, the streets and alleys are being
thoroughly cleaned nuisances are being re-
moved, and very soon we shall have city
as clean as il is possible to make it. All this
to be entered up to the credit of the first
scare, and cholera or no cholera, the health
Of the city cannot fail to be promoted by the
industry that has been exhibited in the line
of sanitary reform.
The second scare is chronicled this morn
ing. The steamer England arrived at Hall
fax yesterday. She had on board tIueIDe hun
drcd and tro emigrdnts, chiefly Germans and
Irish, and one hundred Of crew-thirteen
hundred and two passengers altogether. On
this steamer there were one hundred and
sixty cases of sickness, and forty deaths.
These are attributed TO cholera. This con-
clusion may be correct. There is in this no
cause for surprise. 1t is only surprising that
half the passengers did not die Just think
of it! Thirteen hundred persons, clothed
as emigrants are usually clothed, living as
such persons usually live, and in a condition
to invite disease, crowded into a single ves-
sci. That was sufficient TO breed cholera, or
a disease as bad as cholera; and if this
scourge had not existed anywhere as an
epidemic, we might expect to find it on board
that vessel
While, therefore, the proper precautions
should be adopted to prevent the spread of
that disease, it is essential that public at
tention should be directed to the heartless
conduct of the avaracious owners of emf
grant vessels, who pack their decks and
cabins with human beings as closely as
freight cars are packed with sheep, or hogs,
or oxen. Under this packing arrangement,
we may expect to hear of sickness and death
and epidemics and if cholera can be i'm
ported at all, this inhuman practice will be
sure TO bring it.
Foreign papers have for some time past
reported the congregation of large numbers
of emigrants from France, Germany and
Ireland at the seaport towns, awaiting pas
sage to this country. These people are
mostly poor, and their mode of living while
crowded in the lodging houses of the ports
lily prepares them for the further and more
severe trial of a passage across the Atlantic
in Overcrowded vessels. 1t is important,
therefore, that quarantine regulations should
be strictly enforced against emigrant vessels
arriving at our ports. This will undoubtedly
be done, and thus all that can be accom-
plished, resulting from the enforcement Of
stringent laws, TO prevent the epidemic from
obtaining a foothold upon our shores will be
secured.
At the same time, as we have already in
timated, there is nothing in the case of the
steamer England as there proved to be
nothing in the case of the Hamburg steamer,
to cause alarm, or to justify the apprehen-
sion that the cholera will spread. The lat
ter vessel arrived at the port of New York,
which was in the worst possible condition at
that time as regards sanitary regulations; yet
the sickness was confined to the ship. The
former vessel has arrived at the distant port
of Halifax, at time when the authorities
are on their guard, and when preventive
measures have everywhere been adopted.
The danger now is, therefore, much less than
1t was year ago.
Besides, we find that the deaths on the
England amounted to only two and a half
per cent. of the number on board; and the
cases Of sickness a little over five per cent.
This mortality and this sickness is not, as
already stated, at all surprising. Under the
circumstances, an average bill of health
could not be expected. And it remains to
be proved whether there was any real chol-
era on board. The fact that there was much
sickness and considerable mortality on that
vessel, crowded as she was, and unwhole-
some as she must have been, proves nothing
on this point.