Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-04-13
The Arrival Of the Cholera.

SEA II coming Will tAC O
hear of il in Europe where it has already
manifested itself in Germany. 1t has
broken out on the French coast, and along
the Mediterranean. It has kept Italy
anxious through the whole winter, isolat-
ed cases having been frequent in the
Italian cities. 1t has prevailed also dur
ing the winter nearer home. The West
Indies have been visited by it and one or
two Islands, especially unfortunate Quad
eloupe, have felt the scourge severely
And now, in the early heats Of spring,
the news Of crowded emigrant steamer,
p~estilenee-laden, arriving at Halifax, sets
half the continent a-tremble with alarm.
We do not see in the arrival Of the
England any particular cause for fear
and, indeed, shall welcome its appearance
fit will galvanize into life the relaxed
energies of the Boards Of Health and the
municipal and police authorities of our
cities and towns From the time last
year, that the cholera, having made its
first appearance in Arabia, travelled
steadily and irristibly westward to Paris
and Madrid, we have regarded its appear
anee in the United States as inevitable.
Il was lust as sure to come with June and
July 1858, as were the heats of the sum
mer s~olstice. 1t is 8 curious fact that the
dread disease has visited Europe at reg
ular intervals Of seventeen years-frst
in 1881, next in Is4s, and again in ls6 5
In each of these visitations it has pursued
the same route from its origin until its
disappearance. Thus it broke out at an in
terval of seventeen years and in CORES
pondinz months of the year, in Tifis,
Astrachsn, Moscow, st. Petersburg, and
Berlin. In 1881, from Berlin the cholera
left the frequented route to Paris and
passing along the Baltic shores crossed
over to Sunderland, and broke out in
London. It then re-crossed the Continent
and visited Paris, taking SIX months in its
Journey from Berlin to Paris. In each of
its previous sppearances.it came to Amer
lea on the year subsequent to its arrival
in Europe. Thisi is not proof positive that
it will be here this year, but it gives US
warning enough TO make it the part Of
wi1dom to prepare against If.
And, in the work of preparation, the
sooner our people and our authorities get
out Of their heads the idea that the cholera
is contagious, the better. The entire
weight of medical testimony concurs with
the commoR-sense deduction from the
history of the disease to refute tho idea of
its e~ontagiousness. The facts of the case
are 90 clear that we shall not stop to argue
them. The whole policy Of cordons and
guarantees is, therefore, not only mis-
taken but positively harmful. Itmisleads
the people with a false sense Of security
it directs the labor Of the authorities into
the wrong channel; and it inhicts need
less hardship upon the unhappy crews and
passengers of cholers-ships, and greatly
increases the malady among them, by
penning them up in confinement, greatly
increasing their terror, which is the chief
prsdisposing cause to cholera, and pre-
venting them from strengthening their
systems, enervated by a long sea-voyage,
by land air and exercise.
The method in which the cholera travels
is still matter for speculation. The most
probable theory in regard to it is that it
consists of an unseen agency or quality in
the air, and that it travels with the winds.
The great popularity of the disease is that
its seeds, though they fill the air, do not
ripen except under favorable conditions
caused, in a locality, by bad drain
age, o~ver-crowding, or general filth
and neglect, or in an individual by IN
cleanliness and irregularity of habits and
by fear. The true way to prepare for
cholera, therefore, is not by u~nsocial
guarantees, but by sanitary regulations,
municipal and individual. OF the duties
of municipal authorities and Boards of
Health in the matter we shall speak in
another article. Our object at present is
to say a few words of advice to indi-
viduals.
The "Rule Of Three" against cholera
may be briefly stated as follows:
1. Keep cool.
II. Keep clean.
III. Be regular in your habits.
Observing these rules, one is EARNED
with triple brass" against the dread
Asiatic plague. Failing to observe them,
one runs great risk from it. We venture
to say that n~inety-nine on~e-hundredths
Of the victims of cholera owe their death
directly to the neglect of one or more of
three rules. The disease may, to be sure,
attack a person who has kept them faith
fully; but in such q case it is bereft of
power, and the usual medical remedies are
moderately sure to vsnquish it. These
precepts are so important that we think it
worth while to enlarge briefly upon them.
1. Keep cool Fright kills one-third of
the victims of the cholera. The first ne
cessity in fighting it, therefore, is to avoid
panic. The best way to do this is simply !
in resolving not to be scared Another +
most necessary thing is neither to believe
nor to repeat the rumors which circulate
90 readily in the season of the disease.
Should the cholera visit Cleveland we may
RELY upon it that the street reports viii
make it ten times worse han it really is.
Do not accept these exaggerations IS truth.
Above all, do not carry them home to
your families. Women and children are
especially liable to alarm, and should be
carefully guarded against it.
II. Keep clean Cleanliness" says
the proverb, sis next to Godliness." As
a cholera preventive it comes after Cour-
age. The care of the general cleanliness
of the city rests with the Board Of
Health. But no man should on that ao-
count neglect to keep himself, his house,
his Office, and his street, in perfect clean
illness. In ls4s. certain towns in Eng
land kept the cholera entirely away, sim
ply BY sanitary measures. The model
lodging houses had not q fatal case, the
inspected communicating houses but four
Gases. When the disease last visited
m.-ola,5 lie affects were confined almost