The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-06
investigators have not yet been able to

investigators have not yet been able to
satisfy us.
Cholera, like influenza and other mi
gratory diseases, has usually but not
| always advanced from east to west. OF
the vehicle i'm which it travels, or the
course it is next to take, we know about
as much as mankind knew of the cause
of lightning before the discovery OF
electricity. Its conveyance and propa-
l'gation have been ascribed to air, to water,
to material fuel, to electricity, to ozone,
or to the want of it. OF late, i'm conse-
quence of tile vast development by the
microscope Of the existence everywhere
of minute living organisms, 1t has be-
come more common to ascribe the arrival
| of this and other like epidemics to GER
tain unseen s'germso which are called
seeds or ova, cryptoganic or animalcu-
lar, according as the fancy of the the
orist inclines him to adopt vegetable
| or an animal nomenclature.
Butin this, as in many other eases, it
| is easier to trace an analogy, or TO assume
a cause, than it is to prevent aireffect.
Although inqnirers have been indefa-
tigable in their attempts to enlighten
the world on the means of Kidding our
selves of the presence Of the various Of
fensive co-tenants of our globe, yet no
| crusade has vet succeeded in banishing
from fields and houses the unwelcome
swarms of mosquitoes, worms, grubs
and flies which modest us with their an
nual presence; nor in suppressing the
blight of grain, the potato rot, or the
peach tree disease, Happily some ifnot
most of these have their periods Ofabate-
ment or disappearance, and this rather
through the order of Providence than
the agency of man. Cholera seems to
abide in the same category. We know
little of its exciting cause, and not much
of its prevention, except that by follow
ing in our personal habits, the dictates
of reason and experience, we diminish
both the frequency and danger of its Oc-
eurrence. k4EHHa 80 MOON
Whatever may be the cause or vehicle
of cholera, credulous and excitable per-
sons are impatient of suspense, and are
prone to cut knot which they fail to
unite. When an epidemic disease first
appears, some coincidence is always
brought to light which is supposed ca
pable of accounting for it. The arrival
of a ship, the opening Of atrunk or the
washing Of garment, are among the
most frequently accepted causes. But
as these events have happened thous-
and times fore, and apparently under
like circumstances, without any known
results, it has been thought necessary
by some of our later writers to narrow
the compass of actual exposure down to
the reception of the morbid execretions
of one individual into the digestive canal
Of another. The first impression made
by this announcement must, if true, be
one of relief, the danger not seeming
likely to happen very often. But to the
possibility of such danger we can never
oppose an absolute negative, so long as
we persist in eating smelts and founders
caught about the mouths of our drains,
or even turnips salads and Strawberries
raised at Brighton The risk, however,
is so small that most persons will prefer
to take it, rather than to deprive Them
selves of food or luxuries. ,t
Ofthe many sensational tales printed
and reprinted about cholera, and the
supposed instances of remarkable COM
munication or arrestation, is sufficient
to say that they are frequently interest
ing, being fully as dramatic as they are
probable. 4y.r
In the same regard we cannot help
noticing that credulity, and perhaps
private cupidity have caused much
stress to be laid on the supposed pre-
ventative efficacy of what are called
"disinfectants, mysterious word
which implies thing assumed but not
proved to exist. We have deodorizers,
such as chlorine, charcoal &C., which by
their combinations render certain efflu-
via imperceptible to our senses. But
that these are not disintectants, there is
most abundant evidence. The narrative,
then, of the physician of Malta, who
covered certain surfaces in vessels with
oil, and had them 'disinfected by chic
rine gas" after which no new cases oc-
cured, !" is to be classed with other like
results, with which the medical press
always abOunds at the close of epidem-
les. 7a
In clean and well-regulated cities of
temperate climates, cholera is far from
being the most formidable of epidemics.
A greater part of its victims are the
miserably poor, the worn out, the ill
provided and Incorporate, in whom this
disease only anticipates the date, but
does not greatly Increase the annual or
biennial number of deaths. It's mortali-
ty in our northern Atlantic cities rarely
AulOuutS W Oie per Cell VI Tile pOpula-
ton in q given place or year, so that q
man may reside through an epidemic of
one of these cities with less risk than he
can take pleasure voyage to Europe.
After having witnessed many cases of
cholera in this and other cities, am
farther satisfied that it affords one of the
easiest modes of exit from the word.
People who would avoid or prevent
the cholera should cultivate eqanimity,
regularity of life and habits, cleanliness,
salubrious exercise, temperance, and
avoidance OF all excuses. When they
have done their duty In providing for
the care of the sick, allaying public pam
les, and abating public nuisances, they
may safely dismiss their approximations.
Little good and some harm Is sometimes
done by the indiscreet agitation of a
subject which is to great extent be-
yond our control. A single or sporadic
case of cholera occurring in village of
thousand inhabitants, may attract little
notice, and perhaps pass without record,
bnt hundred cases in a city Of hum
bred thousand inhabitants, make an ag-
gregate which generally causes some
panic, though the proportion is exactly
the same, and the panic equally unnec-
essary. 1t is possible that the supposed
immunity of country districts in COM
parison with cities may be accounted for
by the fact, that in the sparse population
of country towns, cases are less liable to
be detected and published.
4 r. n. r