The New York herald., 1871-09-27
Recent studies OF Choieraic ana otner
COnin aiOns.


Conta aiOns. |
Despite its tardy movement the westward |
march of the great Eastern epidemic has not
been arrested. This fact has qiickened the
zeal of scientific men in exploring the causes
aud character Of contagi i0us diseases, ana |
already much has recently been added to our
knowledge of the more dreaded forms OF pesti-
lence. II is, indeed, to be regretted that the
literature of cholera has not been equalled In
its advance by the scientific and exact pathoi- !
ogy Of the disease. But there is no room nor
reason for Encouragement.
On the contrary, we may refer to the recent
and valuable English treatise by Mcnamara,
which has now run the gauntlet of scientific
criticism and has taken rank as substantial
support of the germ theory of contagia,
as heretofore developed in the HERALD.
Among several conclusions reached by this
eminent surgeon we select the following -
First, that the cause of Asiatic cholera sis
invariably portion of the tomes of person
suffering from the disease second, that the
organic cause Of cholera may be preserved
dry for years third, that water is the
most common medium of its diffusion, bat
that it may be carried and may act in foul
air; and, lastly, with the exception Of the
cholera injecting matter, entirely ignore all
other causes or combination of causes as
capable of producing the disease. DR..
Macnamara's conclusions are those now wsm
known as entertained by Professor syndall,
DR.. Budd, of England nrr; LISTER of Edin-
burg; Pasteur, of France an and other distr-
su'Sneo 4 u!.sio' ''.opists and the author of the
"ea''. -. to which we allude, as one whose field
of professional labors has been a. Ca.catta, in
the Gangetic valley, the native place of the
choiera, is worthy of attentive consideration.
i Besides the york of Macnamara the 81 ..slc
contributions of DR.. sausvTsvn s1s5 Ivue medical
officer Of the Privy CounciD will greatly illu-
inmate this dark and subtle problem of epi-
denies. The wel-known experiments of
Chauveau, of Lyons, with Vaccine matter, and
the poisons Of sheep-pox, smallpox, g., re-
peated in part by Sandersou, show that the
| contagious nniGss Of infectious diseases, wheH
difused through an animal membrane, lose
their contagious property, while the portion
which does not pass through still retains it,
the main difference between the diffi,sate and
the non-diffusate being the presence of the
organized particles which are retained in the
latter the membrane not permitting their pas
sage through it. Hence it is concluded that
the essential and active principles of contagion
reside in the solid gelatinOus particles to which
the term microzyme is applied. These micro
zymes are discovered by the microscope to be
about one twenty-thousaudth of an inch in
| diameter Water this experimenter found to
be peculiarly good medium and repository
of the microzymes, and he tells us that even
should our microscopes be unable to detect
them in water, yet they may be there, when the
latter is examined by the electric beam. In
this Dr. Sanderson's investigation agrees with
the deduction of Mcnamara. The former,
however, reveals the additional and not very
comforting fact that Filtration exercises no
| perceptible influence on the zymotic power Of
water, however it may improve its color and
appearance warning to all municipal au-
thorities to 60 back to the source Of mischief
and see that the drinking water is not polluted
at its fountain heads. DR.. SandersOn has also
shown by actual experiment-contrary to the
theory that these particles may exist in healthy
structures of living beings-that the blood and
other fluids Of the body, when passed directly
into his test solution, was devoid Of them, aud
gave no trace of the zymotc property SO no.
ticeabe in water. This latter experiment
clearly reveals and demonstrates the most i'm
hat <ha - oil ,n1
putrescent diseases come, not from within, but
from without the body. So important and val
liable are these late researches that they have
awakened great interest in England upon the
question Of the water supply for London and
other great centres, and the Registrar General
has just proposed general application of the
Clark softening process to the London water.
adducing the following facts:-
The average daily water supply to the metropolis
was ILL., 292 lo4 gallons in June aud III, l07, 697
gallons in July. Now, In each million gallons Of
me or III tons IN June U and liz July About
two thirds OF this weight OF lime or chalk would he
removed by DR.. Clark's sortenlng piocess-that Is,
| year about 5000 tons OF useless lime would be re-
| moved from the metropolitan waters by the simple
| and easy process now IN use at Canterbury The
! Registrar adds:-"This riddance OF the foreign
matter which deprlves water of some oil It's cleans
ing properties Is IN itself an advantage; but
besides this, the fine precpitate OF chalk carries
down with 1t suspended impurities and probably
frees II from cholerac and other contagious. II Is
most effective dltraton.
What we want is patient analysis and inves-
tigation of this subject We have in our own
country able physicians and microscopists,
and we are deeply interested to know whether
they are moving in such researches. Whether
we escape the fearful visitation now or not,
the subject Of contagious diseases their ori-
gin, propagation and treatment, is evidently
one upon which the whole medical world is
painfully in the dark and the interests of suf-
fering humanity demand relief from medical
science.