Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-07-21
THE CHOLERA.
A History OF its Epidemics.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

! history OF Its EpidemtcS.
! From the Pail Mall Gazette.
1t is idle, no doubt, to speculate at present
upon the whence and the whittier Of the cpl
demic of cholera reported from Egypt. As be-
comes place which has experienced sixteen
attacks of cholera some Of them very severe
within the last fifty years, Mecca. upon the
| occurrence of an outbreak, ordinarily takes
precedent among the grayely suspected sources
, Of disease. During the whole of last summer
Cholera prevailed to an unusual extent I'm Japan
There was also about the same time a very de-
! structiye epidemic raging In the SOulOu and
Philippine Archipelagoes.
For the last hundred years or more cholera
| mas been treated as an institution of India
and the mortality bills there on a large scale.
! The last notable outbreak in India was amongst
| an assembage of pilgrims at Allahabad I'm
January last year. The first historical epidemic,
| so far as Europe is concerned commenced
| toward the close of 1929. Cholera then reap
peared in Persia and. gaining a foothold in the
| Caucasian provinces bordering upon the Cas-
plan, it entered Russia in Europe. The capitals,
OLD and new, and other parts of the great en-
| pre came under the scourge. Grave alarm
! spread over Europe, where the dread disease
had put Itself in evidence for the first time. 1t
| passed from Russia to Austria. Hungary. and
Germany. the victims in the latter country alone
numbering more than 900 900. Upon the Goth
Germany to Sunderland; on February 9th, 1882,
| 1t appeared in Edinburgh, and on February 18th
| in ROtherhithe and iimehouse, and on March
18th 1t was reported from Dublin, and during
| the year it prevailed extensively throughout
| almost the entire kingdom. The exact numbers
| are unknown, as there was then no registration
OF deaths, but the deaths of SO SAT persons were
| reported through various sources to the board
| of health. France, Spain and Italy after
| wards got their turn. Between March and
AfffP
disease in Paris. where, as in Hungary, the peo-
| pie, being suspicious of occult poisoning, were
excited to madness and murder" From
| France the cholera crossed the Atlantic, and
spread through North and Central America.
From Germany it had previously travelled into
Turkey. A little while afterwards it presented
| itself in Arabia. Egypt, and the Nile district,
and it was general throughout North Africa In
| 1885. In 1S41 great epidemic broke out in
| India and China, and, developing upon the lines
| of the former epidemic. it reached Europe in
1S47. and, passing over the continent. travelled
to America and the West Indies. there being
| &C, 600 cases in Jamaica in 1850. 1t was in Oc-
| tober, 1S4S, that the first cases became known
| in England. On June Sd, 1S49. the
deaths in Paris numbered lie. On June
| IL the general board of health in England re-
ported that since the latter end Of March the
| disease had broken out in twelve different parts
| OF the metropolis. In twenty-seven towns in
| England and Wales, and seventeen towns in
this country about 200 deaths out Of 49, 600 at
| tacks. During the week ending September Is
| the deaths in London were 31S3 the ordinary
average then being 1,OOS. By order of the
offered up in all the churches for the removal of
| the scourge. The number Of deaths from
| cholera from June II to October in London
! alone was 13, 161. The sickness disappeared in
the middle of October Out Of population OF
II, 564 CSC in this country So 1913 died of cholera
and 1887 of diarrh9a.
England has had experience Of four epidemics
| OF Asiatic cholera. The two remaining out
! breaks of which we have to speak were much
mider In character than those already described.
| On September 4, 1853, the disorder again broke
! out with great severity in Newcastle and North
| Shields and other adjoining towns suffered
greatly. In July, 1854, it again made it's pres
! ence felt over the whole Of the metropolis. The
epidemic reached its height in the second week
OF September, almost on the same day that
the epidemic Of 1S49 OccasiOned the highest
mortality. Indeed. as DR.. Sutherland reported
| to the general board of health, there was
| remarkable similarity throughout in the
progress and development of both epi-
denies In the week ending September
there were 1850 deaths from cholera in Lon
don. The epidemic reached its maximum in
nine weeks. but the mortality did not fall to
that of the first week until thirteen weeks after
| the maximum period. From the LIST of July to
! the 10th Of December the total mortality from
cholera In London was 10.675 and from diar-
| rhGa, 2601 while from typhus it was / 347. On
the north side of the Thames there was one
deathto 353 inhabitants; on the south side the
proportion was one to every 108. During the
autumn the terrible disease appeared In
many parts Of the kingdom. and in some
cases the epidemic was severely felt. 1t
was in September of this year that Lord
Palmerston Issued his famous rebuke to
suggested national fast "When man has
done his utmost for his own safety" said the
| home secretary, then is the time to invoke
the blessing of heaven to give effect to his exer-
tfons." In July. 1854, the alarming intelligence
| reached England that the cholera had appeared
| among our troops in the Crimea. Regiments
were reduced to 800 or 400 sickly men. 1t
took the Guards two marches to get over the
ten miles of ground lying between Alladyn and
Varna. During an expeditiontu Kostendji nearly
years the epidemic prevailed extensively on
the continent. ten thousand persons dying
at Naples, and it also spread with great
virulence over North and South America. Ten
years elapsed before the awful scourge again
visited Europe. From June to July. 1865. it had
ragged at Alexandria, and in August it was caus-
Ing deaths at the rate of g. OOa day in COnstan-
tinOpe. The deaths in COnstantinople had
| reached nearly $4,000 when the great fire on
September S, which destroyed l 500 houses. be-
sides mosques and other public buildings. pref
ty summarily closed the career of the epidemic
At this time, also, it was to be found in Russia.
Italy, Spain and France, and Austria lost 10, 600
lives. In April 1865 the cholera reached England,
via Bristol and Liverpool, but the number of
deaths it was great satisfaction to those persons
who had been interesting themselves. between
epdemics in the promotion of sanitary reform to
know, did not materially affect the returns of
mortality in the whole kingdom for the year In
the London district, however. 1913 persons
died of cholera, and 3, 1877 of diarrh9a, princ-
pally in the East-end. In describing the scat
astrophe in which $500 persisted In East Lon
don, DR.. Farr hints not Obscurely that it was
very largely traceable to the character of the
water supply Within few weeks G7O. 900 was
raised for the relief of the distress In London
the queen subscribing $500. The close of the
year saw it extinct in London, but longer
time elapsed before it was banished from the
continent. Since then only isolated groups of
cases have been reported In our quarter of the
globe.
Bill Nye On Health Food.
While trying to reconstruct telescoped spine
and put some new copper rivets in the lumbar
vertebr@ this spring, l have had occasion to
thoroughly investigate the subject of so-called
health food, such as gruels, beef tea innun-
dations, tOasts, Oat meal mush, bran mash.
soups, condition powders, graham gen. ground
feed. pepsin, laudaSle mush. and other hen feed
nanal1v nOkod infO tho Invalid MI 10 foo x.,oot~