National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-07-04
King Cholera.
Ills March Through the Mississippi VAL

Dispatches from different points in
the Mississippi Valley convey tho dis
nal Intelligence that King Cholera il
steadily stalking onward Even at this
distance, with the mercury lowering in
the nineties, the prospect is far from
an agreeable one, with the knowledge
of our filthy streets and IA tic au-
thorities. 1t is idle to disgl. .he fact
that great alarm exists. The leading
journals OF the country are actively en-
gagged in discussing measures OF proven.
ton or eradication.
"Great ater-c courses" says the Phil
adelphia Age, "are said to be avenues
along which tho cholera tarvcls from
one part of the country to another.
This fact has been tested both in Asia
and Europe. No sooner does this pes
thence make its appearance Mt one point
on stream than its ravages are noted
Mt other stations on the same body of
water. In this manner the poison is
spread far and wide untila whole nation
is smitten by the power of the destroy
er. If the disease now prevalent III
some of our Southern cities is really
Asiatic cholera, it runs in the old wa
terry tracks. From Memphis it jour
neyed to Nashville and Cincinnati. In
this manner the lean and bony visitant
rode the current and visited the places
watered by the waves. From Cincin-
natl, water courses invite its progress
toward the East. Are we prepared for
disease made more fatal and deadly
by dirty streets, impure lanes, filthy
cellars, collections of refuse, and all
such provocations Of dsordered systems
and weakened constitutions ?"
A Cincinnati physician, however,
takes the view that the epidemic is
purely local; therefore, Cincinnati,
Louisville, and the other cities in the
East, are safe as to epidemic travel if
they simply observe reasonable hygienic
precautions.
DR.. Minor, of the Cincinnati Board
Of Health, in a communication to that
body, thought the alarm much greater
than the circumstances warranted, al
though he advised stringent sanitary
precautions.
The Cincinnati Gazette, however,
takes a less complacent view of the
matter. In referring to the epidemic
of 1866, it says: "ln that year sporadic
cases, which were as fatal as the cpl
demic ones that speedily followed, broke
ont in lager beer sellers family on the
east side OF Sycamore street, just above
Fifth, and we know no reason why the
present droppings may not be begin
nings of as deadly a storm as that
which swept over our city seven years
ago. There is abundant cause for ac-
ton, and if speedy and efficient action
is taken, there will be small grounds for
alarm.
A Louisville physician gives this di-
agnosis OF the cases he has attended in
that city: Violent vomiting is general
ly its commencement, soon followed by
copious liquid excavations, but it soon
changes to colorous rice watery dis
charge, and after two or three evacua.
tons the patient collapses and is urged
rapidly to dissolution. In what we
called the collapsed state it might be
termed the congestive state. There
is no shrunken skin, the general blue
ness, nor the extremely emaciated form
of the cholera subjects of 1866. / have
not witnessed in the present malignant
form of cholera that cadaverous, that
pinched-up appearance of an Asiatic
cholera corpse. In almost all the fatal
cases to the 7th inst, the exciting
cause OF the same was traceable to
hearty meal of new this years vege-
tables. From late developments we
may look for epidemic dysentery to fol-
low the track of the present cholera.