Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-08-09

| and U01O she would NOT De SICK, anu Ihus
exercise the verdant voyager's sea fisnd.
But we are told the cholera is coming.
The dispatches which we published yes-
terday morning from New York state
that the threatened approach of cholera
is being met by every precautionary
measure on the part of the health authori-
ties in the city and quarantine. The
work of cleansing the streets with lime
and other disinfectants is commenced.
The quarantine officers state that up TO
the present time no cholera has been de-
tected On vessels entering that pert. New
ertheless it cannot be doubted that the
cholera is on lis msrch. Fortunately for
humanity, its march IS slow. Should it
even cross the Atlantic, ample time will
be allowed after its appearance on the
front for the interior TO be foreWarned of
its approach. We would not, however,
thereby delay any sanitary precautions.
The London Times of July 81 says if
We may credit the accounts which we
receive from every quarter, terrible and
subtle enemy is approaching the shores of
England, by an accustomed ard well
mar zed track. For some time past chol-
era has been ravaging Persia, where
fam iue hiss contributed to nourish the
pest Hence. 1t has crept on slowly
through the steppes Of Southern Russia,
until it has grasped Poland, and has made
its appearance in virulept form in the
eastern provinces of Prussia.
The history of all recorded epidemics
of Asiatic cholera are well known. They
hs We never taken the intelligent members
of the medical profession unsHares.
They have always given warning of their
Apr zach, and allowed ample time to set
our house in order before their coming.
In tropical Asia, among a teeming popu-
lation to whom sanitary precautions are
cholera has apermanent home.
A correspondent, recently returned from
India, called attention to the state Of
things by which the disease is propagated
in the East. Ia India there is no system
of drainage, no purified water supply,
except IN the great cities. The germs of
disease are never destroyed or removed;
they sce transferred by water or wind
from one household to another, and allow
ed to tester freely in the filthy, close, and
darkersed habitstions of the natives.
When an unhealthy season causes a par
ticularly Tirulent outbreak of cholera in
India, the epidemic rapidly crosses the
spreads among the nomad
tribes of G entral Asia, whose primitive
habits de not tend to check the pestilence;
makes its " ~ steadily along the shores
of the Caspian into Southern Russia, is
nurtured am ong the miserable peasant
population IF that region, and finally
by way of Poland and Pome-
rama into the heart of Western and CT
vilized Europe.
This fatal drama has been repeated
several times within the memory of the
present generation. -Four times we have
seen the approach of cholera, by regular
from the Eas'; we have
watched it coming upon US, and, until we
were actually wrestling with the epidemic,
we took no measures to avert the threat
ened devastation. Yet we know what
= horrible scourge it is.
The means Of its propagation are thor
Uughly known, and the most fatal of these
Is completely under public control The
sracle in the London Times from which
We have before quoted, states that before
the principles of sanitary science were
well understood it was matter of mar
vel that epidemics of cholera, in their
progress flom the East, followed the
course of the great rivers. This obser-
va,iOn, once difficulty, has now been
recognized as an additional proof of the
theory, supported by many other observ-
ed results, that the germs of cholera are
mainly pTOpaga'ed by polluted water.
The ercreta from patients suffering from
the epidemic are allowed 10 mingle with
the common drainage, aud thence to and
their way to some river, which further
on its course furnish The water supply
to populOus towns, and th1s distributes
the seeds of the disease lie other cases
''cholera DUST" the dried eCcretn from
infected persons, is carried by The wind
into some well, pond, or river. Cholera
germs thus distributed are an organic
poison, and the destruction they create
can as easily be prevented by proper
methods of isolation and disinfection as
the life of any person can be secured by
the exclusion of an ordinary poison. In
the East, as we have said, the absence of
personal cleanliness among the population
and of public sanitary measures allows
the poison to circulate freely, AID to
spread ruin over half continent. In
England some slight attempts hsve been
made to control diseases by enforcing
sanitary precautions. We have it in our
power especially to check the spread of
cholera poison by Vigllant inspection of
the drainage system and the wsiersupply.
Where personal cleanliness 10 lacking and
imprudence in diet is permitted, the dis
case will be most prevalent and most fatal.
The Springfield Qns.) Register says:
'TO travel over the State At this SESSION