Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-08-05

"Some very interesting details are made
in this report, which it will do well for US O
exsmine. First, that the number of deaths
Of both sexes are exactly equal, and while
the number is very near the same as to
white and colored males, the proportion of
white and colored females is almost two of
the latter to one Of the former, and the same
proportion seems to exist among the suIult
males, the colored being nearly double that
of the whites. The same difference with a
slight diminution on the part of the colored
seems to exist among the middle aged and
those under ore year Of age; and when we
take the relative population CT the two
races, we see the mortality CT the blacks
stands in the ratio OF four blacks to one
white.
"Cholers appeared in our city on the 23d
dGy Of June, 1873, in the death of two ofour
citizens upon that day, and increasing in
violence, it seemed to reach It's highest fig
ure on the Sd day of July, when its decline
almost Immediately commenced, and the
ravsges of ths fell destroyer ceased entirely
on the 14th day of July, showing three
weeks as the time for its visitation TO our
city, in which pariod it carried off alone
sixty of our in II bitants, and its kindred
diseases about sixty more, large propo--
ton Of these being colored, aud nearly every
one among the adults the city.
"The mortality was more fearful in
certain portions of our city, the Fourth and
Fifth wards suffering the most, but every
ward lost more or less of its citizens. The
disease made its most fearful havoc in the
vicinity Of the East Tennessee, Virginia and
Georgia Railroad depot, where the depth of
coil is much less than at any other point of
h.. o:t rls;d = b-, III l.
Of limestone. A great deal of mortality &C.
CURED among certain class of our popula-
ton who would eat beans and cabbage fer
dinner OF, and the same for supper cold,
and then, rs they say, "put their trust in
God" and in six or eight hours snccumb to
the disease, or an overdose of vegetables, it
Is hard to say which.
"When the cholera first appeared in our
city, it found Cs very poorly prepared for
1t. Our sanitary regulations were very
pooly gotten up, and what we had, worse
enforced. No disinfectants had been used
The present season, Cor until few days be-
fore its appesrance), and of course malaria
was ran pant all over the city, bit with all
due praise, the authorities went 10 work,
and in very short time, the sanitary po-
lice were disinfeetiug every place that
needed it. Q lick lime and sulphate of
iron were freely used. Vege ables were
prohibited from being sold in our market
and on our streets; due caution was eXer-
cised by those who remained, and but
few days elapsed before the disease left
us. sas=s HHr7a-a-s
"Ano her feature of the disease, was that
most OF the fatal cases were directly traced
TO imprudeC &c either in eating or drinking
Of those suffering, and l might safely say
from the reports of cases that have come
under my observation, that we have not
had single case that proved fatal, where
the party abstained from The usa Of vege-
tables Of all kinds-a strictly light diet,
animal food in moderation, bread, sweet
and we'll baked, with coffee and tea, being
conducive to almost an exemption from a
fatal termination of the disease, il not from
an attack itself Another point, is the
great fatality which existed among the col.
ored population of The city, owing, In q
great measure, to their habits of living;
their poor nursing, as we'll as The fatal idea
they have had, that there was no necessity
Of sending for medical aid, until the time
was passed to render them any assistance
whatever. Still another festure was the
control the physician had over the disease
when taken in time, it being almost always
preceded by that kind Of sickness which
yields readily to treatment, when taken in
Its incipieucy."
There ere ffty-one deaths marked Gun
known" DR.. VanDeman stating
that they were reported to
him for permits to bury, without
the signature of any physician as having
been In attendance, snd he was compelled
to mark them as unknown" being unwil
ling to designate any disease himself with
out having first seen the patient or the GER
ti6csse Of some physician. Most Of those,
marked in that manner, were among the
colored population, and confirm DR.. Van
Deman i'll the o9inion expressed above
about the negro population