Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-07-19
THE ASIATIC CHOLERA.
Where 1t Starts, How 1t Travels and by
what Roads.
fa
Philadephia Times.

, There are comparatively few people
now living in this country who have
ever witnessed a case of Asiatic cholera,
and there is probably no disease Of
which mankind in general stands in
greater fear and which is the object of
more superstition. The fact of the
dread malady spreadingit its contagion by
personal contact and following in its
march the main roads of COP merce in
duced Eugene Sue to select Ahasuerus
as the personal propa gator of cholera, es-
pecially as it formerly advanced with
the slowness with which Eastern cara.
vans carried the tea across the Asiatic
prairies.
In Asia, in the neighborhood of Cal
cutta; in Arabia, near Mecca, and in
Egypt, not far from Cairo, are the breed
ing places of cholera. There famine is
f frequent occurrence. The people grow
up surrounded by filth such as an Amer
lean citizen has not the faintest idea of,
and an infectious disease finds the IN ost
favorable conditions for its development
in those unhealthy districts. The pill
grims who in thousands yearly proceed
from Egypt to Mecca and who live IF
the poorest food and amidst the greatest
squal or, carry with them the seed of
cholera and thus form the connecting
link in the transmission of the disease
from Asia to Africa. If we consider the
commercial importance of Alexandra
we cannot wonder that the cholera. once
epidemic in Egypt, should swiftly travel
to Europe Thas far medical history
has not recorded single instance of
an original outbreak of cholera any,
where but at the places mentioned.
Filth seems to be the sine qua non
of its development and cleanliness the
most powerful barrier to its march.
, HOW THE DISEASE Is CARRIED.
| The fact has been established that
the human being alone acts as the car
rier ofthe cholera posion. There is no
! well authenticated case on record where
} rags or clothing, as has been proven of
, yellow fever, had transmitted the in
/ fictitious material of the Asiatic disease.
J In olden times, when no railroads, no
steamships, hastened the travel, the
, march of cholera kept pace with the
: rapiditS respectively slowness, ofhuman
. intercourse The disease either followed
2 the road of the great tea caravans, which
: brought the high. priced leaves from
Asia to Russia, or it travel ed the usual
:. ways of ommerce across the Mediter-
{. ranean sea. Wherever urge belt of
water separated two countries the epi-
r demic disease marched from the one to
3 the other In the same length of time
g that it took ship to sail across the wa.
It ter. Such instances we saw in the
), spreading of the contagion from the con.
1 tinent of Europe across the channel 10
= England and from Great Britain tc
e America. In the latter case the infectious
: material is not waited across the Atlantic
ocean and carried the long distance by
>, air. From the moment of the outbreak
e of cholera in England about seven days
S must at least elapse ere the first case Of
: the disease can happen in our country
4 for the fastest steamer needs about that
q time to cross the ocean.
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CHOLERA.
4 We knew. therefore. long since that
4 neither in Europe nor America could
v Asiatic.cholera develop itself without it:
i germ having first been introduced into
a these countries. We also were aware
q of the fact that human intercourse alone
propagates the contagion and experience
7 has taught us that filth favored and clean
illness prevented the spread of the dis
: ease. In modern times, where public
" hygiene has become such an important
r. factor in the governing of nations, where
d public sonltary matters are generally
!. understood and highly appreciated in
q civilized countries, the facts just emu
h merated have been made subservient tC
the genera! welfare of the people The
y original breeding places of the malady
i were first determined; then the utmos
e precautions we're taken on the first signs
~ of the outbreak of the disease to confine
r. it to its limits-to isolate the district at
is tackled. Besides, every state, every city
,e of health. This board hal to see tha
| the greatest cleanliness existed in its
IS locality and that travellers from the sue
A. pected regions were first quarantineC
ir ere they were permitted to enter thu
to protected district.
That 1T Is possible to limit the spreao
or Asiatic cholera, TO lessen the number
of its victims and to diminish its sever
ity by the measures just described, th'
experience of the last ten years hav'
proven. The last epidmic just reached
OF our shore, but, finding no suitable sol
le for its development, it died out of it
of own account after having attacked few
49, victims in the fllthiest quarters of tn,
ei metropolis. The epidemics which las
N year ragged in Egypt and Culcutta wer
ct totally confined to their original start
ing point. Perhaps the best proof o
the utility of strict sanitary measure
g was given by the epidmic in Egypt. Ii
IL the immediate neighborhoed of the in
lg fected place some thousands of English
of soldiers were camping; many foreigner
from all parts Of the civilizo world wen
H. then living not fifty miles from tn
e. dangerous district; greatly augmente'
e. intercourse took place between Egyp
% and Europe, and still the disease neve
spread outside of the sanitary Gordon o
~ befell but few persons in the protecte
w uuarferS