The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-07-04
The Cholera Scare.

The efforts Of some of our papers 10
crea,e a sensation In dull season by get
ting up first rate cholera scare, are ridic-
Mons enough to provoke merriment but
they are scarcely less absurd than the
fussy, grandmotherly splutter of few
other Journals To prevent cholera panic.
"Don't be frightened, children dears, y
they say ''for If you get frightened, the
cholera will he sure to come" In other
words, there Is bear in the dark, and, II
you get. scared, he will surely leap out
and eat you up. So be courageous cat,
drink, and be merry, and never mind the
bear. This good, grandmotherly talk Is
soothing just in proportion TO the sun
But. like some other kinds of soothing
sirup, 1t may have just the opposite effect
from that grandmother intends. The
children will think of the bear, and the
possibility of furnishing him with sup
per will act on their imaginations, and
produce condition Of alarm all the more
fatal for their efforts to keep 1t suppressed.
The absurd thing about il Is the furnish
ing all the conditions Of terror and then
bidding them not be alarmed. AS well
put fire and gunpowder together and tell
them not To make noise. Tell the public
that the cholera ia in the air and may
crash down on them at any moment II they
are afraid, and nothing short Of miracle
will prevent panic.
The absurdity of this species of platitu-
dinizing, of which there is a surfeit at the
beginning of every summer, becomes APP
parent in moment, when 1t Is re
membered that cholera is not an or
binary disease. developed by pecul-
lar conditions Of the system or excited
by states Of mind. Il is poison. hav-
ing a definite origin and a perfectly we'll
understood law of communication. lie
comes solely from excrementitious matter,
and only "a 1t is introduced into the sys-
tenn in some way CAN'T effect lodgment
there or have the least effect. Fear may
derange the stomach and produce other
disturbances of the system which may,
and sometimes do, prove fatal; but such
arrangements are not cholera, and cannot
be developed into cholera. Fear may be a
very inconvenent and somewhat danger
Gus commodity to carry, but there Is Just
"a much danger of fear exciting or in
viting the cholera as of fear inviting the
asthma or amputation of limb or a por-
ton OF prussic acid. Even allowing that
DR.. Hammond's newly invented theory,
that the seeds of cholera are contained In
all excrementitious matter, and only re-
quire proper conditions OF temperature
to be developed into active poison and
produce devastating epidemic. 1t would
be impossible for fear to effect the trans
formation, unless 1t were strong enough
to change the temperature Of whole re-
gion Of country. We have heard of aman' :
hair being turned from black to white in a
single night by fear. but are not aware that
terror has ever affected vegetation or alter
ed the thermometer. The scare on our
part will not make the bear one whit
hungrier or more devouring. This whole
style OF talking is infantile; and the soon
er it is RETIRED and its place filled with
ideas based on demonstrated facts, and In
accord with science and the reason oi
things. the better for the community. In
decd. If there were such thing as cholera
of mind, some Of the articles that appear
in the papers of the day are quite enough
to communicate it.--N. Y. Graphic.