The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-04-14
The Causes and PropaE alton OF Cholera.

psual upon the approach of any cpl
-, The members of the medical profession
hnsily engaged in discussing It's character
hast mode OF trea tment and IL any dis
~" ~ has been so honored and dignifed, ii is
nat asiatic cholera, whose appearance is
Xiv expected. In such times as these, the
S,,nrieuce of former years will perhaps afford
-, safest rules for our guidance, and that
orc living in the refinement and super
,;,nization of A. D., 1866 is no reason why
sbonld slight the lessons of ten or twenty
wears ago
:, ,S.S.' .. when the cholera was So fatally
.,,alent in England, all attention was paid
;,sn nature and symptoms, which excited
,,,r,f Of inquiry which was not allowed to
,si3a when the epidemic itself had ceased,
, Inc conclusions drawn from the pccull-
.;.,,s Of the disease throughout Europe only
,frn,ed the deductions already made du-
: the wears lSl7-'l9, when the cholera
,,-,ad like burning flame throughout
British India.
w MAX PErrExKoBER, the Professor of
,,ro,nistrv ut the Munich University, pub
,,ss,3 IN l>ij a work entitled Investigations
:, Regard 10 the Propagation of Cholera" i'll
,hirb he showed that there was no contradic
ZION in the data furnished by any of the re
r,rt> on cholera, except such As We're naturally
S,,e "a peculiar and modifying circumstances,
aud claims to have established individually the
following facts:
rTnat cholera is not contagious in the usual
-arse Of the word but that ii can, neverthe-
,r,S he carried from one place 10 another
That no contagious cholera matter is float
,cciu the atmosphere. and that consequently
he disease is not propasated by currents of
air;
That il is AIT propagated through the water,
and is propagated through the earth:
That the earth receives and develops the
cholera contagion from the eXcrcments of dis
tased persons
That the gases disengaged by the dccompo-
siti3n Of organic substances, especially oil en-
rranents, penetrate the earth, rise to the sur
.,eo. and become then the cause OF fcvers ana
O! cholera
Tina, there has not been single case of cho'
I.ra observed in Bavaria that could not be
traced 10 that species of infection
He also asserts that, on rocky foundations,
,r,pi,a or sandstone, cholera never becomes
.riIe,pic: that the cholera poison may be III
,,.~sou from twenty 10 twenty-eight days
,ri,hou1 naniCesting itself and that cholera
! always carried 10 Il place where IL has not
-, appeared by 4 diseased person, and COM
,oruicaIed through eXcrementS brought III
contact with the earth; and that there Is no
other wav of propagatng the disease lmme-
date contact with the patient, inhaling the
mir Of The sick room, washing OF the dead
bodv.-nav. even dissectnS it after DEATH
does not communicate the disease.
These statements are to us as novel As they
are evidently important, and II the meolctl
profession cannot conlrovert them, their rene
dies and preyentives should be based upon
their teachings 1t would seem that If Pro-
lessor PETrExKoBER' theory be correct, 1t VIII
reconcile most of our present differences OF
crinion upon the subject of cholera, and prove
atits prevention lies, TO 4 great extent, WIN
ourselves. There can be no harm in precau-
ton, and il is recommended that the stools OF
cholera patients before being emptied be dislh-
irctrd by green copperas,-Nitrloi OF lroh'-
which i far better than chloride OF lime,
which only purifes the air In rooms ana
corridors, turpentine, spread on paper anu
exposed TO the atmosphere, generates ozone
which is the best atmospheric purifier.
In this city, most of the drains and SINKS are
in = terribly filthy condition and the facts we
have mentioned prove the additional necessity
Of cleaning them out at once, so that we may,
II possible, be protected 1T all points against
The coming enemy.