Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-27
THE CAUSE OF CHOLERA.

How the Germ Is Imported and the
Conditions Necessary for Its Spread.
The Lancet remarks that the epidemic
of cholera in the south of France does
more than maintain itself; it increases,
and it has diffused itself over a somewhat
wider area. But for all that it is still
limited outbreak, and the hope that it
may in the main be confined to the neigh
borhoods first attacked may, perhaps, be
realized to a greater extent than was at
first thought possible. So far the ru-
mors as to its extension to Paris and
towns in other countries do not seem
trustworthy, and hitherto no case has
been brought into the United Kingdom.
The Lancet gives a summary of paper
on cholera, read ON the Goth ult. before the
Academia Petrarca of AreZZo, by DIR.
TOmmasi-Crudeli, whose researches
on the bacillus malari9 from
a distinct advance in the etiology
of intermittent fever. After tracing the
history of the three great cholera epidem-
les that have visited Europe, he remarked
that the disease was always an impOrta-
ton, never acclimatiZed like smallpox,
and he defined it as a ''cOntagio-miasma,
a mOrbigenous germ, proceeding from a
diseased human body, which never
diffuses itself epidemically, except when
the eXcretions containing it find in the
soil conditions favorable to its multiplied
tiOn." Filippo Pacini, of Florence, WHO
died just year ago, was in 1854 the first
to recognize the cause of cholera in NIL
croscOpic organism. This organism, ac-
cording TO Pacini, attacked the mucous
membrane of the intestine; but his doc
trine was rIdicUled or disregarded till the
other day, when the German Commission
Fr1,
in Egypt and its native seat, the delta Of
the Ganges, came to the conclusion al
ready arrived at by the Tuscan patholo-
gist.
THE CHOLERA GERM.
The cholera germ imported by patients
or their infected clothes becomes epidemic
only in countries presenting conditions
favorable to its development. This devel-
opment does not happen everywhere in
the same mode, and in certain places it
does not happen at all. When the disease
has entered a country we cannot say
whether it will take firm hold or not.
We only know that its spread may be
favored by four conditions: 1. Porosity
of the soil in which choleraic objections
have been allowed to penetrate. 2.
Oscillations of the underground waters
by which the cholera miasmf which
has developed in the soil may reach the
respirable atmosphere. 3. The accumu-
latfon of fecalmatters or of organic detri-
tus infected by the germ. 4. The facili-
ties offered to the diffusion of the
germs in the drains, in the soil, IN the
air of the locality and in the drinking
water. DIR. Tommasi-Crudeli does not
believe in sanitary cordons. They are as
little able to keep cholera out of prov
ince as custom houses are to prevent
smuggling. Quarantine afoat he has
more belief in, if properly carried out,
with due regard to the incubation period
of cholera (eight days). But the sheet
anchor of the prevention of cholera
is the exclusion from the dwelling
house and Its inmates of the cholera
germ. His counsels in this regard are
similar to those of the English sani-
tary authorities-if possible a little
more stringent as 70 the washing with
disinfectants of all linen, whether Yisibly
fOuled or not with facial matter. AS to
prescribing a diet different from what
suits the individual in ordinary health,
he ridicules the notion.