Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-19
CHOLERA.
Theory of an Eminent Expert OF It's Cause
and Prevention.
Sacramento, July Is, 1884.

Theory of an Eminent Expert OF Its Cause
and Prevention.
(Cablegram to the St Louis Globe Democrat.
PANS, July 11th-The GauLois to-day
publishes the following interview with DR.
Koch:
TouLoN, July 1oth-5:3o Evening-Ap-
pended is an extract report of an interview
had last night with Dr. Koch and his as
| sistant, DIR. L. hertz of Frankfort;
Are you off to Marseilles, Doctor?"
Yes, no more fer me to do here have
quite made up my mind. All the post
mortems | have made confirm the results
of my first investigation, which put the
Asiatic character OF the scourge beyond
question. | have found the same phenom-
ena as in the cases which l investigated in
India
Were the microbes identcal?n
Precisely. l found numbers in the
body of that soldier, Bernard whose post
mortem | made on Sunday evening, In
deed, | found more than | had seen in
Egypt. Messrs. Strauss and Roux, who
were standing by, also recognized the pres
ence of Indian lnicrobe in Egypt, but had
always seen it mixed with others, whereas
in post-mortelhs that | have made here the
Indian microbes outnumbered the others
immensely"
Where do you find the microbes in
times of epidemic?'
THE microbe is rarely met with in the
stomach The disorders of the digestive
organs and the gastric disorders are not
favorable to it, so it takes refuge in the
small intestines, where it can easily multi
ply
i What mischief does the microbe do in
the intestines?" the Doctor was asked.
ISit--f tic r,rnrSyt-a oa1,gac fiior,-ian o,,J
vomiting, leading to thickening and chill
ing of the blood. Then ii secretes an intox-
icating poison, which causes the dry, in
Simultaneous cholera in the original cholera
-foudroyant sec-that is, cholera without
diarrhea"
With such precise information as this,
Doctor, surely one should soon be able to
destroy the nicrobe? o.
q No doubt, but | have nothing to do
with cures. | am a mere observer Let
others profit by my observations and sug-
gestions. [ have already told you contain
ination is not caused by air, but by absorp-
ton of microbes injecting food, especially
water and solid food introduced into the
digestive tubes"
~ presume that explains why, this af-
ternoon, you advised the members of the
Sanitary Committee to shut up the wells
ter or water from disinfected places or light
mineral waters?'
Yes; it also explains the necessity of
taking only well-cooked food, peeled fruits,
vegetables and preserves. Remember, mi
crobes die if exposed to high and espe-
cielly to a dry temperature. | hold that
microbes are transmissible only by exCTe-
ments or objects soiled by excrements, con-
sequentiy the first precauti0n to take is to
subject the linen of cholera patients to
heat, hot air and picnic acid more or less
concentrated. Microbes can not live in con-
centrated solutions of picnic acid or in a
dry atmosphere. Remember they develop
and multiply in the damp, They have
been found in ponds in cholera countries.
Would a great storm of wind, as the
mistral, for instance, destroy microbes III
apartments linen, etc.
Yes, certainly. No soiled object is the
least dangerous once it is dry, for the mi
crobe has become powerless to reproduce
itself. Indeed, it is dead"
Zone more question, said your CORE
spondent. It is this; Did the theory of
the destruction of the microbes by dryness
lead you TO advise the closing up and dry
ing Of contaminated apartments for several
days"
. les, and to pronounce the disinfecting
ofbaggage, letters and travellers Intellectual +;
1 can not understand how any faith was
ever put III it.
90 How about watering streets and the
boulevards ?"
The practice is dangerous. 1t favors the
conditions needed for the reproduction and
propagation of microbes
"Then it would be preferable to leave
the streets dry and dusty ?"
Certainly"
What is your opinion regarding the
origin Of the present epidemic ?"
I" think ! may say that, considering the
precaution taken by the naval authorities,
cholera was imported on some merchant
ship-probably English. They do not scru-
pie on English vessels to hide deaths which
occur on voyages or to falsify logs"
" OF course, said !, you disapprove Of
crowds altogether ?"
All public fetes and fairs, and conse-
quently the fete of July 14th, should be for
bi dGen