Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-09-15
Pomcrania into the heart of West
ern and civilized Europe.

This fatal drama has been repeat
cd several times within the memo
ry of the present generation. -Four
times we have seen the approach of
cholera, by regular gradations; from
the East we have watched it com
ing upon us, and, until we were ac-
tually wrestling with the epidemic,
we took no measures to avert the
threatened devastation. Yet we
know what a horrible scourgc it is.
The outbreak of ls4s carried off So
600 lives; the milder epidemic of
1854, 10000; the latest visitation in
1866, was disastrously felt IN all the
pauperized quarters Of the metropo-
lis. Against such danger as this
it has been our practice to take no
general precautions, although med
ical science, almost powcrlcss to
cope with the disease when it has
once appeared, has demonstrated
that its ravay ycs can be absolutely
avertcd, or, at all events, restricted
within the narrowest limits, by most
simple preventive measures. Chol-
era is IN enemy which, once per-
m!ttcd t" enter the citadel Of life,
cn" ir Ms]"tiled by M efDrt Of the
pLysiciin. when the disease has
stricken down even the Youngest
and most vigorous, there is only
faint hope LETT that the latent ener-
gies of nature may be powerful
enough to resist the fatal state of
collapse and to initiate healthy
reaction. II is surely better not 70
challenge contest 50 unequal As
this. If cholera is i prcyentablc
disease, those who maintain the
conditions which foster and propa-
gate it are almost as culpable as
those who resist the prevention of
smallpox by a general system of
vaccination. We have suffered
enough lately by the neglect Of san
itary precautions before an epi'lcm-
ic has taken permanent hold on
the country. 1t can hardly be qucs-
toned that cholera is to be ranked
among prcven;able diseases. We
know thoroughly the means Of its
propagation, and the most fatal Of
these is completely under public
control. Before the principles Of
sanitary science were well under
stood, it was a matter of marvel that
cpidcmics of cholera, in their pro-
gress from the East, followed the
course of the great rivers. This OF
servation, once difficulty, has now
been recognized as an additional
proof of the theory, supported by
many other observed results, that
the germs Of cholera are mainly
propag ted by polluted water. The
ercret" from patients suffering from
the epidemic are allowed to minglc
with the common drainage, and
thence find their way to some river,
which further on its course furnish
es the water supply to populous
towns, and thus distributes the
seeds of the disease. In other cases
"cholera DUST" the dried ercretu
from infected persons, is carried by
the wind into some well, pond or
river. Cholera germs thus distrib-
utcd are an organic poison, and the
destruction they create can as sure
ly be prevented by proper methods
isolation and disinfcction as the life
of any person can be secured by the
exclusion of an ordinary poison. In
the East, as we have said, the alb
sencc of personal cleanliness among
the population and Of public santa
ry measures allows the poison to
circulate freely, and to spread ruin
over half continent. l., England
we have made some slight attempts
to control diseases by enforcing san
itary precautions. We have it in
our power especially to check the
spread of the cholera poison by a
v;giant inspection Of the drainage
system and the water supply. But
how little will what we have done
hitherto avail us against the dan
gerous foe, whose invasion we now
see impending if once the scourge
sets foot on our shores.-Lonion
Times, July 2l.