Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-09-16

cholera hcsu,,al was In william street.
uuacr The professional charge OK Df.
Alsxauder &. vacse; the second IN
Thirteenth street. under the supervision OF
Or. Ovid r. Wells; the third In stanton
street, under The control OF DR.. Isaac
Greene. and tbc fourth Ia Thirty-0fth
street, under the care OF DIR. Bnel. Dne
thousand seven hundred and ninety eises
were treated In there hospitals, aud OF thess
DIG were fatal. During the continuance OF
the endemic for twenty-five weeks the In
tcrments we're 1870. and 5,0i7 were chol-
era eases. The weekly death rate was an
average Of over 600. The year before the
weekly death rate was 2S) during The cor
responding period.
Previous 10 the 9Th OF June the cholera
had not spread beyond The immediate
neiehborbood OF the Five Points, but on
that day a case occurred ut No. Washing
ton street. In the First Ward. The victim
was Mary MeAnaily. servant In an emf
grant clearinghouse. One case apparently
was enough to infect neighborhood, and
during the next fortnight the plague ragged
IN Washington, West, Morris. Cedar, and
Thames streets. The first case In the Sc
yeuth Ward occurred on June L. but II
was not until the Gotta that II became cpl
demic In that part OF the city. From that
date until August ] II was exceedingly viru-
lent 10 Cherry and Water streets. East
Broadwsy, near Rutgers street, was next
visited, and then II became general In
Scanned. Water, Walnut. Cherry, Madi-
son. and Division streets. On the west
side case occurred in Forty-sccond street.
between Ninth and Tenth avenues. on the
s,h OF June, and another in Thirty
Al. 80 m
9th IL soon became epidemic there.
and RACED with great violence for nearly
two months. From Twenty-fourth ~
Forty-second streets and from Eighth
avenue 10 the river was cholera dis
trict, the elevated ground Mt Tenth
avenue and Thirty-nith street being the
apparent centre OF The pestilence. In that
neighborhood as many as eight and ten
persons from one house were seized aud
died Of the disease. la Harlem and Man.
hattanvillc. where there were a number OF
bonc-boiling establishments, 1t also ragged
with great fury, continuing from the mid
die OF July 10 the middle OF September.
The pest had reached its culminat-
ing point previous to the 2Sth OF
August. and then It rapidly de-
clincd, until it disappeared altogether.
The Brahmins attributed the origin OF
this disorder 10 the anger OF the goddess
Ulabebi In consequence OF = quarrel be-
tween her and e. god Kali. They asserted
thst the goddess could only ~appeased by
a pilgrimage to her temple at KaIiHghaut,
by liberal offerings at her shrine, and by
bathing in the sacred waters OF the Ganges.
As consequence thousands fell victims to
the pestilence on the very banks Of the holy
river. In China 1t was assumed a. princi-
pie that the disease knew it, victims, and left
all others ntouched-that the pusilIanmous
alone die OF it. This theory, extraor-
binary rs II may appear, has many facts TO
support it. When the disease invaded
Moscow i'm 1881. $4,000 OF the inhabitants
fed, many OF whom sickened and died on
tie frontiers, but NJ. Darbal, a French ply
stefan resident there at the time, declared
that not one Of them had cholera-that the
malady that swept them away was terror.
ave must listen without alarm to the
report Of the disease at KukuchotoOn,"
said q Chinese dzaIgutschey 10 a Rus
sian officer, land then it will positively
not visit u.s. But neither the stocism
OF the Chinese nor the indifference OF the
Parsians was proof against ii. Some
thought the malady had some relation to
earthquakes; others attributed it 10 the ma
lign influence Of the stars. DR.. Schnufrer,
physician TO the Duke OF Nassau, declared
in 1881 that "the space travelled by the
cholera forms cross, the north end OF
which seems TO have received its utmost
extension at st. Petersburg. the east at Am
boyna, and the south at the Isle OF Bourbon,
while the west end is quite short, and ought
to run out as far as Cadiz in order to bal
ance the eastern arm terminating at
Amboyna." The subsequent extension Of
the plague TO Great Britain and America
utterly destroyed the proportions OF this
cIoss. The doctors differed as TO the ma
ture OF the malady. Some contended that
it was due to poisonous principle in the
atmosphere, and as late as 1S49 Professor
Ellet. Of this city, following the obserya-
tioDs made by DR.. Prout in London, in 1882,
undertook TO analyze the air. He con-
Quoted his experiments in the laboratory
Of the College OF Physicians and Surgeons,
in Crosby street near Spring. but was
to report the results OF his inyes-
legations as entirely negative. Tbepresence
Of no foreign matter in the atmosphere
that could be regarded as the source
Of the disease was detected. At that time
il was "Ozone" as it is the microbe"
now that was regarded as the probable
cause OF the plague. Professor Ellet looked
very lHuuslIlOu>ly iOT tue peculiar lIlnCt- /
pie called "ozOne." but failed to find IL.
Learned treatses without number were
written upon the disorder and its treat |
meni, but as yet we have no satlsfac- |
tory explanation OF It's origin and no |
specific for its cure. Although the |
disease was unknown previous 10 !
1917, its rayages since have been almost |
continuous in some quarter Of the globe. !
Even in New York, from 1892 TO 1854, there |
was scarcely year without cholera cases. |
Two years after its first appearance here ii |
was especially severe. II only remains TO |
be added that after thirty years OF COM
plete exemption we are anXiously regard |
Ing the spreadoi the epidemic in Southern
Europe, and hoping that three thousand !
miles OF ocean and an effective quarantine |
may prove barriers against avisitation from |
Ihe scourge.