The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1884-08-12
SAX FRANc1sco, Aug. l, 1884.

SA& FRANCISCO, Aug L, 1861.
The clolrls. is still to the fore in con-
vers,,tiou and the newspapers.
The Secretary of State has resolved
from Consul Mason a long report on the
cholera epidemic now prevailing at Touion
and Marseilles. The Consul says in part:
Both MarseIlles and Toplou suffered ter
ribIy in the 4cholera epidemic of '65.
During the nineteen years that have
elapsed since then Marseilles has been in
several important respects rebuilt. Her
pavements, her sewerage system, her
water supply, and the method of cleaning
the streets, inspecting and regulating the
markets, her quarantine regulations and
hospital facilities, all are probably unsur
passed in excellence by those of any Euro
pean or American city. The old quarters
of the city, ancient Marseilles, which was
scourged SO sharply by the plague in for
ner centuries, has been pierced with
broad avenues. Streams of pure water
flow down the cutters. The narrower
streets and alleys and the pavements of
the principal thoroughfares are washed
and swept with such care and frequency
as leaves nothing to be desired. AS there
is no tide to maintain a circulation of sea
water through the inclosed ports the in
evitable result is that the latter grow foul
and pestilent. The same conditions, un-
mitigated by equally vigorous sanitary
measures, prevail at Toulon, and it is
l1- Al IT,, 80
used dock there during the months of
April and May which developed the seeds
of the present epidemic. In spite of this
a number of deaths have occurred in the
cleanest and handsomest portions of Mar
seilles. The attack of the cholera has
been this year far more vigorous and
fatal than the great epidemic nineteen
years ago, and all indications point to
summer of gloom and suffering for the
people of Toulon and Marseilles. All that
energy and liberality could perform, all
that sanitary science could suggest, has
been done, but the pestilence is here, and
defies restraint The present situation
may be summarized as follows The cpl
O6IIlC WHICH, HOW DIGfdl1S dG 1dISG1lleS
and Toulon is Asiatic cholera, imported,
beyond all reasonable doubt, from Saigon,
China, by the French transport Sarthe to
the port of Toulon. At first the disease
was the type medically classified as be-
nign," but its malignity has since in
creased by it's further diffusion and devel-
opment under the influence of continued
hot weather. In compliance with in
structions from the department, this Con-
sulate has ascertained from efficient
sources that no emigrants have recently
left either Toulon or Marseilles by sea for
the United States. It should be added,
however, that few emjgrants for American
ports ever embark here, as the steamers
leaving Marseilles usually touch at one or
more Mediterranean stations before leav-
ing their final point of departure, and
emigrants usually go by rail to this ulti-
mate port of departure to embark for
the United States. 1t is therefore sug-
gested that all vessels bringing emigrants
or baggage to the United States from Bor-
deaux, Havre, Larochdle, 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.
The lower classes dislike and oppose
the physicians because they have got the
notion that the physicians have been
ordered to help the cholera along, in order
to get rid of the surplus population.
There is marked decrease in the num-
Der of cholera cases throughout the dis
trict. The Municipal Council has re-
solved to erect tablet to commemorate
the noble sacrifice of the doctors and
Sisters of Charity who were victims of the
epidemic. DIR. Petras. who died recently
will have street named after him. There