The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-08-11
The Cholera Outlook in the West.

There can be no doubt that the fatal field
of cholera in the West is widening, and the
malignity of the epidemic is more aggravated.
The new disease maps of the census report
seem to show that the month of August is the
harvest month for this great death reaper;
and the fact may account for the increasing
ravages Of the terrible Asiatic scourge. There
is, therefore, additional and potent reason for
the sternest vigilance at this time in our mes
tropolis which has thus far wonderfully esl
capped, and which, by unsparing sanitary pre-
caution, may pass this critical month uns
scathed by the dreaded plague.
The new census report shows that the dis
tribution Of cholera in the State of New York
has heretofore been about ten per cent for
June, thirty-two per cent for July and August.
after which month the average is ten per cent
for September. These are the percentages fol
the male population, which is, it appears,
nearly twice as much exposed to attack as the
female; but the distribution of the disease by
months is nearly the same for both classes Of
population.
These figures, deduced from our own last
of Dr. Pettenkofer, the celebrated Munich
physician, furnished the HERALD through it'd
Munich correspondent, and recently pub
lished in these columns. The reasoning Of
DR.. Pettenkofer is very powerful in favor Of
the view that the seasonal influence is con-
nected, in all probability, with the climate,
temperature and rainfall The cholera statisl
tics of Prussia from 1S4S to 1860 prove that
in North Germany this influence is undeni.
able, since the mortality for August and Sep
TENDER is by far the largest item in the ter
rife total DR.. Pettenkofer thinks that thu
dryness of the Summer is favorable to the
spread of the epidemic, and cites two in-
stances in the history of Munich-viz., tho
cholera seasons of 1886 and 1854. These ara
widely separated dates Had the cholera APP
peared in two consecutive dry seasons it would
be more philosophical to suppose that they
justified the view of the Munich scientist.
But it must be noticed that the native homo
of the cholera lies in the Gangetic Valley,
region steaming and saturated with
moisture-indeed, q region whose most
marked climatic feature is an excessive,
absolute humidity. The effect of water in dc.
composing the offensive matter of large cities,
both animal and vegetable, is well known,
and, coteris paribus it would seem more rea-
sonable to expect greater immunity from the
cholera during summer of ordinary and not
excessive rainfall. The rainfall statistics fol
July will probably show that the experience Of
different sections Of this country is very
checkered There has been an excess along
the Alleghanies and in the Northwest, but il
would appear to have been otherwise on tho
immediate coast and seaboard Of the Middle
States and in the Southwest. The reports Of
rainfall that have been published would, there
fore, according to DR.. Pettenkofer's view,
look favorable for us as showing conditions
unfavorable for the spread of the cholera in
the belt which intervenes between the Middle
States and the afflicted West. But every such
consideration should be made absolutely SUBJ
ordinate to the supreme duty of exhaustive
sanitary precaution.
When we reflect on the fearful defamation
by the disease, even in healthy countries, az
England, where, according to the Registrar
Generals report, in 184S-49 it carried OF
SO, 600 persons, we cannot be too memorable
or too imperative in our demands for such I'M
sparing and exhaustive sanitary measures az
will, at any rate for a time, keep the great
enemy at bay. If we can safely pass August
without an epidemic the prospect of final e.
cape will be much brighter.