, 1866-06-07


lst;G.
This little volume shows considerable re-
search a1norE the records OF cholera In India,
ard presents frankly aud boldly the expert
ence Of IN able physician, who claims to have
started ont with no preconceivcd hypoLheses
by which to measure his facts. The author
"ns president Of the medical board for the
district of Montreal, and health commission.
er during the first two cholera inyasions of
1sSo aud 1884, and seems to haye made the
phenomena Of :his pest bis specially. He
gives rs the origin and Itinerary, remote
cause, common sporadic cholera morbus,
symptoms examined in detail, progress up
thr st.Lawyence, pathology aud treatment, In
compass Of two hundred and six pages duo.
decimo.
Cholera morbus aud cholera spasmodica,
or Asiaiic cliolern, arc two quite distinct
st.tes of the hody. The former has been
known tince the time Of Hfppoc1ates, and is
literally lux Of bile, (eholt, bile, and rheo,
to fow.) The lattcr was not known till the
present century. when It has assumed the
form Of an invading pest, spreading over
every continent, cutting of millions Of yic-
tins. terrifying mankind by tho rapidity of
It's movement and the carriciousness Of its
selections. This monster plague has arrested
The march OF armies, turned conquest into
defeat, laughed at science aud ba{lled
the efforts Of man to impede
lis progress. Bontfus. Sind and
Oellon mention sporadic cholera as having
been long kunwu in IndIa, md 1t Is said TO
have prevailed IN an epidemic form IN Bengal
SO early as l162, wien thirty thousand natives
and eight hundred Europeans were carried of
IN one season. This Is probably the first ap-
pearance Of Assatlc cholera. hut nothing
more is said Of It till the year 1877, when it
broke out with great violence In the popu-
lous town OF Jessore, the capital Of the Sun
dcrhundE. In the delta Of the Ganges, sixty
haf'es from Calcutta. In few weeks ten
thousand per1shed In that single district. The
people led IN n7asse to the country, business
vas suspended, The courts were closed, gov
erntnsnt ceased From this centre 1t spread
north, cast, south and west, till 1t crossed
the lower range Of the HimalaYas, penetrated
enna, and devastated Pekfa, Sankin
ano eanton; enrmounfed the Eastern
6nauts' and spread soathWard to Ceslon and
thence 10 Aaafh1nS. bourbon and the coast
OF AiE'ca 10 EGYPT and tue states OF Barhary;
wcst"ardly the plague ndranced to Bombay,
thence across the Persian Gulf to Sfuscat, in
Arabia, then to Shiraz and the seraglio Of the
Prince Of Persia, Tcheran. Dagdad, Aleppo,
Antioch and the Mediterranean coast. As
cendlng the Caspian Sea, 1t reached Astra-
clan near the mouth OF the Vo1ga In Sep
tember 1sa3. 1t went up the Volra and
finally reached Moscow. It crossed from
the Volga to the Don at the point,
where they approach each o,bcr. and COM
mittcd fffghttul 1ayages among the Cossacks.
Ii oc,ober it WIS in scbastopol. Injected
goods were brought down the Duna to RIA.
whence tour vessels sailed for England. aud
one with the cholera On board, ran in TO tbe
1,ort OF Montrosc, Scotland, and thus first
gave the pest to the British people. Itshort,y
a!1er broke out in Sunderland. and then in
Portsmouth. From England 1t was brought
by The shin Garrick, to Crosse Island, in fhc
St. Lawrence, and the yoraecur carried II In
Quebec, and thence TO Montreal.
The remote cause OF all diseases, especially
OF pests, is the most important noint tn br
Laoan hy physicians or legislators who at
tempt to mitigate their ELECTS or impede
their progress Without such knowledge M
we'll ordered measures can be EMPLOYED 10 ex.
cludc the cloleraic pcstilcnce or to reduce It
when prevalent. Why, from The yerv ont
break Of this disease. should our ablcst doc.
tors OF medicine take sides 50 ardeplly as con-
taetonists and non'conta:ionlsts? Instead