The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-07-26
TIE ASlATIC PLAGUE,
Some Interesting Facts Concerning the
Pestilence.
From the Philadelphia Times.

FOT Centuries past meuICai WrIterS
have described disorder the most
prominent features of which are profuse
vomiting and purging of II rice water
like liquid, sudden and great prostration
of the vital powers, rapid wasting of the
cramps in all the muscles, blueness and
coldness Of the skin, shrivelled "washer
women's" hands and suppression Of the
urine the case being terminated either by
| speedy dissolution or tedious GONZALES
cence. This disease is the cholera,
about which it is probable the most the
people of this country care is that it will
stay as far away as possible. Asia is
credited with being the birthplace "a
we'll rs the constant home of this epi-
demic, whence the expression Asiatic
cholera, and ia space permitted descrip.
tion of the way in which millions of
| people live in that country the wonder
would be not at the existence Of cholera,
but that any of those people escape
Living Us they do in absolute and CON
tinued disregard Of all the common de-
cencies of life, in absence life comforts,
with just enough indifferent or worse
food to keep body and soul together, the
wonder is that any are spared to tell the
tale. The pilgrimages made annually
By myriads of the dcvout to certai!. 90.
called body cities are believed to be the
| origin Of many cholera cpiiamics
| These travellers mostly journey on foot,
in large companies, and the statements
concerning their suffering exceeds belief
AT the shrines the pilgrims are fleeced by
officials and landlords, and on the home
ward journey their miseries reach the
climax, and long after their passage the
| 10 orlr ra1 h,,f
of those who perish by the wayside.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
The governments of these countries are
in no small measure to blame for these
events. Already correspondents from
Egypt are charging upon the Khediye's
Governmen. The responsibility for the
presence of cholera in that country.
Numbers of dead animals are said to be
floating in the Nile. The officials of the
country are reported as being ignorant
and careless to the last degree, and that
until recently there were no physicians
at Damie,ta, and that the most simple
preventive measures were neglected.
sick, dying or dead Of the disease, ply the
following day at public call. The sani-
tary cordons said to be established are
practically useless, from the fact that a
bribe will secure passage by the guards
for any" A still more pertinent, and
likely truthful statement, recently ap-
peared in an English journal to this
effect, viz: "That if cholera should
succeed in getting out of Egypt and in
spreading over the world the nations
will be justified in charging England
with the responsibility for its ravager
because, in the present state of sani'.
science, nothing but England's criminal
carelessness and political greed can ac-
count for the strong and universal hold
cholera has been allowed to get upon the
people of Egypt"
TIE CAUSE OF CHOLERA.
Now, cholera is believed to depend
upon specific poison, which is thought
to bo contained in the matters which the
patients vomit and purge. This poison
retains its life with great tenacity, and
how it is carried from place to place and
what places it is most likely to be carried
to is we'll shown by the following state
mcnt of a we'll known medical teacher of
this city, who said "The whole history
of cholera shows that it advances from
point to point wherever the men or
things infected by it are carried. High
ways, railroads and river courses mark
0ut its path across continents, because in
them the throngs of men are the thickest.
Seaports are its favorite halting places,
because in them infected ships and crews
congregate. Great cities furnish its most
numerous victims, because in them are
.!ie To.y ho.-heaas IN which .sns Of thou
sands of human beings are perpetually
kept upon the narrow verge which sep.
arates disease from health and where
the water, the air and the food may all
readily become contaminated by the
germs of the pestilence and spread it
through q thousand channels" This
statement is eminently true, and the ref
erence to the contamination of the food
air and water supply of large cities, ia
especially pertinent. The persons who
come as emigrants from those distan.
parts invariably bring their old habits
with them. A gentleman who had an
opportunity to observe closely some Rus
sian emigrants saw q woman wash some
cooking utensils and food in the same
water in which she had previously
washed her feet. face and hands and
other parts of her body. When cholera
is prevalent the individuals who from
any cause are run down in health will
suffer most severely from the disease
The fearful, the reckless, the inebriates
the dirty, the poorly-fed and over. worked
are its first victims, simply for the rea
son that these persons having diminished
vital powers have equally diminished
power of resisting the action of the chol
era poison.
SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE.
Profuse vomiting and purging are con
slant symptoms Of this disease. The
matters vomited and purged if subjected
to the proper tests will be found to con
sist largely of albumen. These detect,
are really the liquid portion of the
blood, which has, as it were, leaked ou
of the blood vessels into the stomach ant
bowels, and has by its presence there
provoked the acts by which it is elected
Exfoliation or shedding of the mucu.
membrane lining the bowels ia also q
constant occurrence in the disease. Thi.
was first demonstrated in 1882 and 1885
by Prof. Horner of the University o
Pennsylvania. This condition acts in g
two.fold manner to increase the fatality
of the disease. After this occurrence
the bloods leaks out into the bowels very
much more easily than before, and by
the same fact the entrance Of medicine
and food into the blood is prevented
The importance of the events Just detail.
ed cannot be overestimated. "Tbis it j.
that produces the vomiting and purgipg
This prostrates tho patient and wastes
away in few hours the fullest and firm
est form this chills the extremities and
later the trunk this thickens the blood