The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-05-02
Facts about the Cholera.

The following Is an epitome Of work
published in Germany in 1855, by DR..
Max Pettenkober, bearing the title elm
vestigations and Observations in regard
to the Propagation Of Cholera, with
Reflections on the proper means Of Ar
resting its Progress -
|. That 1t is not contagious in the
usual sense Of the word, but that it can,
nevertheless, be carried from one place to
another.
2. That it always follows the usual
routes of commerce.
B That no elevation above the level of
the ocean furnishes guaranty against the
disease. nor is any depth necessarily ex-
posed to its ravages.
a. That no contagious cholera matter
is floating in the atmosphere, and that
consequently the disease is not propagated
by currents of air.
5. That it is not propagatcd through
the water.
6. That it is propagated Though the
earth.
I. That the earth receives and develops
the cholera conagion from the excrements =
Of diseased persons.
3. That excrements from q diseased
person thrown into a sink or privy, are
capable Of Transforming the whole ulas5
into a hearth of cholera contagon.
y. That the gasses disengaged by the
decomposition Of organic substances, cs-
pecially Of excrements, penetrate the
earth, rise TO the surface and become
then the cause Of fevers and of cholera.
10. That there has not been a single case
of cholera observed in Bavaria that could
not be traced to that species of Infection.
il. That the stools OF persons afflicted
with cholera, or that peculiar species ot
darrhea which usually precedes cholera,
are more infectious than those who are ac-
tually seized wit the disease.
II. That cholera is always carried TO a
place where 1t has not yet appeared, by
diseased person, and communicated through
excrements brought in contact with the
earth and that there is no other way of
propagating the disease Immediate con-
tact with the patient, inhaling the air of
the sick room, washing of the deal BODY,
nay, even dissecting it after death, does
not communicate the disease.
ID Not every species of earth acts on
the process Of decomposition in like man
ner, and the capacity for spreading the
contagion in the manner above state
varies, in consequence, with the compost
tion ot the soils on which dwellings are
built On rocky foundation, granite or
sandstone, cholera never becomes eplem-
ic. An alluvial soil, underlaid with lime
or clay, or any other cause which keeps
the ground moist, may become a teeming
womb for the cholera contagion.
IA. The cholera poison may be in a
person from one to twenty eight days
without maniie,ting itself. This fact fur
nlshes Il measure for the distance to which
1t may be carried from one place to anoth-
er.
10. The disease which is not commu-
nlcaled by contact is carried to the inmates
of houses, sleeping in rooms exposed .
he cholera poison as above engendered
l6. lfthe cholera as proved in London.
Is more intense and fatal in the PLAIN than
on ell vallons, it will, on investigation. ba
aye, by when MIN Is teuiberh tttfUiI'ri7G
lecomppsel. or before it enters, IA in
damp and wet soils, into process Of fer
rncntatiun. DR.. Pettenkobtr found some
of the worst cases Of cholera on hills
whore the privies o. housas still higher
situated emptcd into sewers or sinks of
improper fail The upper houses were
; generally exempt.
II. To prevent contagion, the stools Of
cholera patients must be disnlected before
they are emplied. The best disinfecting
agent is yitrol of iron (Green copperas).
Chloride of hme only purlies the air, but
does not destroy the cholera poison.
IS When strangers from cholera dis
tricls are expected TO arrive, the pri,ics
OF hotels and boarding houses where they
are expected to put up ought to be disin-
tected wSh vitrol of iron-say once Il
week In the rooms and corridors Of
hospitals turpentine may be spread on
, paper and exposed to the atmosphere.
The ozone electrified OXYGEN thus given
, out is the best purifier of the atmosphere.
10. Care must be had not to allow any
linen TO be washed which is soiled with
the excrements of a cholera patient. The
process Of maceration, to which solel
clothes are usually subjected, is capable
, of developing and communicating the
disease in its worst form. Jameson found
the same truth in lSl7,-'lS and 10 in
India without tracing it to its source.
20. There are no other sanitary regu-
lations capable of preventing or arresting
, cholera in its progress, than those which
: have reference to cleaning and purifying
those places when serve TO collect OF
convey human eXcrcments.H
A -. I