St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-08-01
CHOLERA EPIDEMIC.
An Interesting Paper From Consul
Mason on the Cholera
Enidemic.

y IL Interesting Hapef FROM consul
Mason on the Cholera
a 6 Epidemic.
| WASHINGTON, July 31.-Thc secretary of
state received from Consul Mason a long re-
port on the cholera epidemic now prevailing,
at Toulon and Marseilles The consul says
in part: Both Marseilles and Toulan suffered
terribly in the cholera epidemic of 1865.
During the nineteen years elapsed since then
Marseilles has been, in several important re-
| spects, almost rebuilt Her payements, her
sewerage system, her water supply and
method Of cleaning streets, removing night
| soil, inspecting and regulating
markets, her quarantine regulations
and hospital facilities are all
unsurpassed in excellence by
those of any European or American city.
The old quarters of the city of ancient Mar
settles, which was scourged so sharply by the
plague in former centuries, has been pierced
with broad avenues. streams of pure water
flow down the cutters of narrower streets and
alleys, and the pavements of the principal
thoroughfares are washed and swept with
care and frequency, which leaues nothing
to be desired. The terrible lesson of the
former epidemics has been well learned by
the municipal government, and long before
the first rumor of trouble at Toulon Mar
settles was cleaned and made ready for sum-
mer heats. Butwith all the intelligent liberality
which city has eYinced in the construction of
her drainage system, there is the insur-
mountable difficulty which all Mediterranean
cities are alike compelled to face, their
sewers flow into the tideless and generally
placid sea- The harbor of Marseilles is al
most entirely artificial. The old port is
simply branch of small creek dredged
out into large dock with narrow outlet
to the sea. The new ports are sl&lcious
harbors enclosed by miles of piers and the
breakwater deepened to a navigable depth by
| dredging and excavations. Into these en-
| closed ports which extend along two-thirds
of the shore front of the city
the entire volume of sewerage
is poured, and as there is only suplus of
pure fresh waters of the city hydrants to
dilute this turbid flow, and as there is no
tide to maintain circulation of the sea
water through the enclosed ports, the inevi-
table result is that the latter grows foul and
pestilent. The same conditions, unmiti-
gated by equally vigorous sanitary measures,
prevail at Toulon, and it is thought it was
dredging of the disused dock there, during
the months of April and May, which devel-
oped the seeds of the present
epidemic. The Marseiles government re-
/ lies solely upon the most rigid and searching
enforcement of recognized sanitary meas
! ures. Dredging the ports has been stopped
and that source of miasma, as far as posi-
| BILE, abated during the summer. Since the
outbreak at Toulon the whole city shas been
! literally washed with water and disinfect-
ants, not once merely, but daily and nightly.
Markets are carefully inspected and i'm
mense quantities of stale and unripe fruit
and vegetables seized and destroyed. Rail
way cars, stations, omnibuses, street cars
and even hackney carriages are disinfected,
and the smell of chlorine, sulphates and
! carbOnic acid is everywhere. In
| spite of this, a number of deaths occurred in
| the cleanest and handsomest portions of Mar
| settles. The attack of cholera has been this
year far more vigorous and fatal than in the
great epidemic nineteen years ago, and all
present indications point to summer Of
gloom and suffering for the people of Toulon
! and Marseilles. All that energy and liberal
| ity could perform, all that sanitary science
| could suggest has been done, but the pesti-
| lence is here and defies restraint. The pres
ent situation may be summarized as follows:
The epidemic which now prevails at Mar
settles and Toulon is Asiatic cholera, i'm
ported, beyond all reasonable doubt, from
Saigon, China. by the French transport
! Sarthe to Port Toulon. AT first the disease
was type medically classified as ''benign,"
! but its malignity has since increased by its
further diffusion and development under
| the influence of the continued hot weather.
! In compliance with instructions from the
department, this constable has ascertained
| from official sources that no
emigrants have recently left either
| Toulon or Marseilles by sea for the United
| States. 1t should be added, however, that
| few emigrants for American ports ever en-
| bark here, as steamers leaving Marseilles
usually touch at one or more Mediterranean
stations before leaving their final pointof de-
parture, and emigrants usually go by rail to
this ultimate port of departure to embark for
the United States. 1t, is therefore, respect
fully suggested that all vessels bringing emil
grants or baggage to the United States from
Bordeaux Havre, La Rochelle, or any other
French port not yet declared infected, should
be subjected, upon their arrival TO the most
careful sanitary regulations. Clean bills of
health have been refused at this consulate
to all vessels clearing for ports in the United
States since the 25th of June, and none such
will be granted until Marseilles is officially
declared free from contagion.