Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-06-01
70 ovonEsA

dry or wet ground-lodging, the habitual
food and habits Of an individual, acting
for a longer or shorter period, may predis-
pose him to an attack of disease. the pre-
else nature Of which we are unable to fore.
see. Il may be fever. intermittent or con-
,inued, or ~dysentery, or diarrhea, or chol.
era morbus, or bronchitis, or pneumonia,
according to the action Of the exciting or
occasional cause, such as excuses in eat
ing or drinking, exposure to extremes,
and sudden alterations Of heat aud cold,
suppressed perspiration, etc. But times
come, happily at long intervals, when one
Of these diseases presents itself with such
frequency and violence, and attacks so
many persons in quick succession, as to
force US 70 look for some other cxtraordi-
nary cause, additional to those Of an ordi-
nary kind with which W. are familiar.
We think that we find this extraordinary
cause in some change or distemperature OF
the atmosphere, or great body OF air, BY
which we are surrounded, and in which,
and, to a very great extent, by which, we
live. BY this medium or vehicle q disease
which was, at first, local and circumscrib-
ed in its range, and affected but a few per.
sons, spreads over a great extent Of coun-
try and assails the inhabitants in numbers
corresponding with the variety and force
of the predisposing causes to which they
had been subjected. It is then said to be
an epidemic. Examples Of the extension
of a disease through this atmospheric
agency, everywhere marked BY the same
symptoms, are found in influenza, and in
Asia,ic or spasmodic cholera, the plague,
etc. The first Of these epidemics spends
its force on the organs Of reputation
lungs and bronchia-and the second on
the organs of digestion, and particularly
the stomach and bowels.
The above explanation Of the causes Of
cholera has been and still 10 accepted BY q
large majority of medical practitioners and
writers. But Of late not a few avow their
belief in another cause, viz: eontagion, BY
which the disease, instead Of its being ex-
cited by a specific distemperature OF the
atmosphere is propagated from person to
person through the medium Of a particu-
lar poison found in the cholera discharges.
| The advocates of this doctrine tell US,
however, that, unlike the poison Of small.
pox, which is produced on and transmit.
ted from the skin, that Of cholera 10 only
effective through the excreted matters, OF
what is thrown up from the stomach OF
passes from the bowels. There is nothing
breathed from the lungs. nothing given Oh
the skin, that will cause the disease, and
hence it - admitted by those who adhere
to q belief in the contagious nature o.
cholera, that it is not communicable BY
simple contact with the sick. The chol.
era poison is, we are told, neither a gas
nor a vapor, but a material substance, and
exists either as a liquid or a solid. II
cannot, therefore. be carried q great way
by the atmosphere, and when dry It must
be attached to clothing or disseminated
through water if it is carried long dis.
,ances. As i, is assumed that the poison
Of cholera is found only is the discharges
from the stomach and bowels Of the sick,
and that i, can give rise to cholera in the
previously healthy only BY reaching theii
stomach and bowels, we leave it to III,
imagination of our readers to tell in wha'
way the process Of c~ontagion IAN take
place.
But the fact that cholera has hat
numerous separate sources OF origin ought
Of itself, settle the question. 1t appeared
nearly simultaneously in the year 1917 il
diferen, parts Of Bengal, some Of them re-
mote from each other. On its first inva'
sion Of Europe, it was shown by oficia
documents that cholera had attacked in
hab,tants respectively Of Astracan, Mos
COW, St. Petersburg, Riga, Dantzic, War
saw, Berlin, Breslaw, Vienna, Hamburg
Paris, Cairo and Alexandria, who had nj
intercourse with persons from abroad, no
with those who had been or then wer,
affected with cholera. Moreover, thu
disease attacked. within the period Of
few hours, persons in different and remote
parts, who could not possibly have in
fected each other. The cholera appearet
ars. in England, in the town Of Sunder'
land, notwithstanding guard-ships and
quarantine; and in its ~springing up sud
denly in other towns in England and Scot
land could not be traced to q foreigr
source. A similar record might be mad
Of the separate origin Of the disease in
many towns and districts Of the United
States.
When cholera appeared in Montreal on
the 10th of June, 1882, it came, to use the
language Of some Of the physicians, like
o rhower Of hail." simultaneously all over
the suburbs Of the city, without any pos
sible communication between the subjects
Of It's attacks. It die not begin among the
emigrants, and thence spread as far from
q center to the circumference over the city.
In May, ls4s. cholera, as an epidemic,
broke gu. in New York. six months after
the occurrence Of several cases In the hos
pi,al at Staten Island, and the alledged
Importation Of the disease by an emisrans
vessel. It came at its own time, without
the suspicion Of Its being imported.
An editor Of q Western paper, while
taking . snooze after dark in q railway
carriage, had his pocket picked. The
thief next day forwarded the pocket book
BY express to the editors Office with the
following note: rg "a s
"Yeou miserable skunk, hears your
pockit book, ! don't keen sicb. For a