The bee., 1883-08-25
HOW CHOLERA TRAVELS.
THEORIES AS TO THE CAUSE oF THE
TERRIBLE EPIDEMIC.

The Terrible , tbr ak nnd Fatality n Few
Tenrs Ago on n RaiirOnd Train In I en-.
ga --R0yy tie Di else Begins.
Cholera is a disease that comes and
goes mysteriously. Although acting
under some unknown law of nature,
its movements are so erratic as to ap-
pear to be the mere result of chance.
While leaving long trail of death be-
hind it as il sweeps over long line of
cities, it will sud ienly pass over entira
districts and reappear on the other
side of them and renew its fatal
progress. 1t has bafled the ablest ply
sicians in the world. They cannot tell
whether it is in the air or in the water.
All they know is that it is.
The mcst general opinion held by
men who have had an opportunity of
studying its characteristics in its nat
ural home, the East Indies, is that
the malady is born of germs that have
sprung out of masses of decayed yege-
table and animal matter played upon
Inv a -lAlaain . -+L4 . 49, :----:-:iNl>
germs are borne over the earth by the
air currents, and that they have an
affinity for plIces characterized by the
decay and corruption whence they
sprung. This theory is at least as
plausible as any other, though occa-
sionally those who hold that it belongs
to bad water have their theory sup
ported by such awful calamities as the
one that took place few years ago in
Bengal.
On that occasion train packed
with natives started from CaWnpore
ftr Lucknow, q ride of about six hours.
When it arrived ut it's destination the
sight presented to the officials was ap-
palling. Hundreds Of men and women
wee either dead or dying from cholera.
Some survivors testified that the dis
ease broke out almost lmmt diately
after a native passenger had handed
round to few OF h S acquaintances a
drink of GangeS water from his |, tab.
FOE 1our h urs these Wre chel people
had Dten packed in that ira n, sur
rounded by the revolving agonies OF the
dead and the dying, and several were
taken out of it stricken. not with the
dl ease, Tut with insanity.
The observations made by well. in
f1rihed Egyptian correspondents are
suggestive Of the fact that the rulers
OF EGYPT are greatly to blame for th3
epide.i1c. The Ia ,eS around Damietta
produce enormous Quantities OF iish,
Which are imEe fe, tiy cured, dried in
the sun, and eaten in an alluo { putr,d
state ty the poor fellaheen.
Vast quantities Of d ead an :otten
cattle are cast injo these Lakes as food
for the fishes, and travellers have been
frequently filled with disgust at the
spectacle Of blOated car, as IS 10 ting
on the waters. The feliaheel would
probably gladly bury their deal ami
mails, but, true to the characteristics
OF Egyptian misgoyernment, cne of
the taxes of the country is lai5el on
hurled cattle. What is the result?
Rather than pay the tax each feIlah
throws his dead animals into the canals
or shallow lakes and takes no further
heel OF the transaction.
The New York Times gives the fol-
lowing particulars concerning the dis
ease: The first cases are generally
widely scattered and sporadic, and no
connection can eas ly be traoed from
one to another, and the whole thing
seems Il great mystery. 4 most pro.
ductiVe sourcA in obscure outbreaks is
The introduction of soiled clothes.
either sent to washerwomen or to rela-
Llyes, or sold as old clothes. These
cases are often obscure, for the wash
erWomen. ii robust, do not die fist
but some delicate person or child in the
same house or neighborhood. In the
meantime the healthy washerwoman
may merely have choleraic diarrhea
and may recover entirely and never be
suspected, or may finally die when five.
Ten, fifteen or even twenty whom she
mas infected have gone to their graves.
The initial case is not always the first
fatal one--far from it. The least
common occurrence is when persons
absolutely and greatly affected by the |
ilsease come into a place with such
,VldFnt signs about them that none but |
he least Informed can mistake them. |
'nd die quickly, and thus really fur |
lish not only the initial case of eyery |
llDd. but the first fatal one.