The Mineral argus., 1883-08-09
AsIATIC CHOLERA.
:, ges OF the Plague on the Nile

q yes OF the Plague on the Nile.
on. the Philadelphia Bulleyi1.
II is apparen. that the most malignant
fplagucs has sUdo emily appeared on the
highway between east and west Dam
ie;ta lies on the east branch Of the Nile,
about q quarter OF the distance from
Port said TO Alexandria ty sea. Man
surah, where additional cases are re-
ported, lies a short distance up the Dam
ietta branch and Rosetta and Port Said
where the -aase is also said 10 have
broken out, on the east 70 the west
and east. Damietta itself which is the
centre Of contagion is separated from
Port said only by the shallow salt mere,
Lake Menzaleh, through VI. de Lesseps
hollowedlout his great ditch. The scourge
has appeared in a quarter where il is d.
rectly communicated 10 Greek, Italian.
French and English ports, where il will
be capable Of reproducing itself.
AslRtic cholera is a disease as old as
bIppOcrates and Galen, for they de-
scribe 1t in detail, although each has
his own name for il. For a century and
n quarter its periodical movement has
0een attributed to the dense masses Of
population gathered together every
twelfth year at the great HindoO fes-
rivals. From the shrines in the inte-
nor, TO which pilgrimages are made the
disease has boon carried te the coast at
Bombay OF Calcutta, Mauritius and
China, or along the caravan roads 10 the
Persian Gulf, the Caspian and the Med
iterranean, and even across Central Asia
into European Russia. The most ter
riblo visitations of this plague which
have occurred since 1850 have followed
this periodic law. The disease broke
out in India in 1917, and ran It's course
in four years. In 1929 cholera reached
0renburg. spread 70 Poland and
Eastern Europe, and was
carried by emigrant SHIPS to America in
1852. In Is4l there was a fresh out
break in Bengal, the effects Of which
we're traced year after wear III one coun-
try after another until the ppsiilence
again spent It's force IN America. In
1850 the injection was communicated
more rapidly, steamships Carrying IL 70
Marseilles and England, and finally To
New York. The next visitation was due
under TIE periodical law IN 1917. and In
December Of tnGtlyeaT there was great
mortality from the disease IL Jodda.
Mecca, and throughout Arabia, and
sporadic cases we're reported in land car
avans at long distances from India.
4 llAE " a. AAAf NNuA DA the AaLA@@iI- % EltL
war, and If Ghe disease had broken out
iu-tsia minor or the Balkans us rasdces
wonlG have been terrible. It's progress
was stayed in ISIS, and 10 did NOT reach
the Mediterranean ports.
Ii Is not easy TO determine whether
the present appearance Of cnoiera in
Egypt Is directly connected with the
outbreak rve years ago il AraCia. or is
10 be attributed % more recent injection
from India. Whatever NAV be its
marching pace, and wherever NAV
have been it original punt Of depart
uTe II is visitor whose approach has
not ceased 70 be an awful warning. Its
presence in the south Mediterranean
ports ought not, however, 10 cause the
same degree Of apprehension as former
~. The overland routes Of communica-
ton between Asia Minor and Egypt on
the one hand and the hives Of Indian
population on the other are nc longer
so densely thronged as 10 open an easy
passage FOR contacion. The railroad sys-
TEN IN India, the SIez Canal and the
Egyptian trunk line have broken up
the business Of the caravan routes and
and thereby diminished the danger Of
contag'On. AT the same time. a Quarau-
tine system has been established bv
various nations in the Mediterranean.
by which the progress o. plague NAV be
retarded and possibly blocked a.;rgcth-
er.