The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-02-20
CHOLERA.

M~.s.s. Ep1roRs; In vie~ of hspossibil-
ity of our city being visited by cholera Ing
coming summer, we deem the facts and con-
s;derations contained in the following commu-
nicaton of Prof. Lee, of the highest interest
at this time. It appears to be well-estab-
l;sbed fact that the disease is portahle-sus-
ceptible of being conveyed in goods, cloth
ing. or by persons infected-having chole-
rine--traveling from place to place 1t is fur
Their known that its period Of incubation is
from thirty-six hours to three days; the high
est period ever assigned not exceeding ten
DAYS. From these facts much encouragement
is afforded in wsrhng it off by proper pro-
tective measures. Yet by no means should
we rely on quarantine regulations alone for
safety. Could they be made thorough on our
entire border, no doubt they would be effec-
tive; but owing to the extent OF our sea-
coast, and the numerous avenues to be guard
ed, ii may not be possible to hgate it in this
manner. And once the disease has passed
the quarantine barrier, it will be impossible
to stay its progress in the interiors for it is not
probable that our citizens will consent to sub
iect themselves to entire isolation-closing up
every avenue of trade and travel Hence one
main dependence for security, consists in
adopting and carrying out the most thorough
sanitary measures, whereby we may hope to
mitigate the severity of the malady, diminish
the number of its victims: and perhaps abbre
viate its stay. 1t will be borne in mind that
on the last invasion of this country by chole
IA, scarcely any city in the valley of the
Mississippi suffered so great mortality in
proportion to population as Keokuk. j. II.
BUFFALO UNIVERSITY MEDICAL De-
PARTNEST, Jan. II, 1866.
Lescis A. Sawe, NJ. D.:
DEAR SIR Some time since you did me
the honor of requesting my opinion in regard
to contagiousness of cholera. Circumstances
beyond my control, have prevented attention
to your request and even now | can only
briefly indicate the conclusions at which I
have arrived, after close and varied personal
observation OF It's pre- gress, both in our own
and IN foreign countries.
In the first place, then, | have no reason to
believe that the disease is ever communicated
directly from one person to another even uu.
der circumstances of the greatest intimacy. In
other words, 1t is not contagious, according to
the common understanding of that word
On the other hand, facts abundantly prove
that tie disease is portable, and always fol.
lows the great routes OF travel and CONNER
cial intercourse. / hold, also, that We have
satisfactory evidence that the disease is com.
municated through the excavations of those
infected with it, and in this way only |
could adduce many instances, where there can
be no question that the cholera has been con-
yeyed to hitherto healthy localities, by means
ofone injected person, IN whom the disease
has manifested itself by an apparently trihing
diarhoa. Persons so affected may doubtless
travel from one place to another without seri-
Gus development ofthe disease, und leave be-
hind, in privies and water closets, germs
which may rise to deadly epidemic. 1t is
this fact, so generally overlooked, or not re-
cognlzed, that has thrown SO much mystery
over tie causes and mode of extension of this
most fatal and mysterious malady.
This fact also explains those apparent ano-
males in the progress of the disease why it
often takes no defined course in its wander
lngs, out spreads lndltferently in different d.
rections and to different quarters now with
the wind and now against 1t; now following
the main routes of travel, nevertheless often
dviatlng from them, but travelling no faster
In any case than ships, railroad cars, and men
travel. Those great leaps which it sometimes
seems to take, and which have been supposed
stobe owing to the poison of cholera being
carried by winds, are thus satisfactorily ex-
planned.
Although cholera is undoubtedly communi-
Gated by the fresh objections of those infected
think there can be little doubt that if the
poison may not be actually present in the
stools just discharged, it may be generated
in them at a later period, under certain con.
ditions favorable TO its development. These
conditions are now pretty well understood
The contact of such discharges with putrid
animal and vegetable matter is very certain to
develop the poison of cholera, and an impure
atmosphere, from the presence of similar
matters, favors its rapid dissemination. The
accumulation of filth and organic remains
imperfect sewerage, overcrowding of tene
melt houses, and the saturation of the earth
with the products of decay, are the chief
causes of the greaterintensity and diffusion of
the disease in large cities than in other local..
ties. 10 these, however, may be added the
great imprudence with which cholera dis.
charges are emptied into common privies
cutters and sewers, which serve as .foci from
which the malady spreads in every direction.
Hence. we find that in localities visited bv the
disease, the houses and streets in which those
injected reside, are the places of the greatest
danger. But while these are being depopu-
lated the epidemic spreads rapidly, attacking
first those low, filthy, overerowded places
where the predisposing and favoring causes
most abound; afterwards, ravshing portions
ofa city and localities which were at first
wholly exempt, and which were probably
deemed safe from any danger of an attack.
think the experience on board the Ata-
tanfd tends strongly to confirm the correct.
ness OF these views. The disease originated
IN the steerage, where it may have been
Drought by one individual laborine under
chote'7ne As the water closets used bv the
steerage passengers were not used Inv the 6rst
caoln passengers or the crew, not one. Of
tnese latter we're attacked by the disease
while large numbers of the steeraoe nassea,
gers, who exclusively used them. were se;,sd
with the malady. Does not this theory s,so
afford good explanation of the fact. tba, ,bo
disorder is generally more active ON lines &c
travel by water than by hand
Although these views seem to me- N h.
abandantly. sustained by well known and acs
kaowiedged facts, | am ready to admit that
there are some phenomena which cholera ex.
hblts in its wanderings, which is difficult tn
explain on any existing theory Bat this
ought not to prevent us from pro6ting from
what is actually known.
The practical lessons which flow from these
considerations are the following:
i. Quarantine regulations can moi ha TOO