Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-07-17
THE AsIATIC CHOLERA.
where Ii starts, HOW it Travels. and
by what Roads.

now living IN TINS country VINO have
ever witnessed case of Asiatic chol-
era. and there is probably no disease
of which mankind in general stands
in greater fear, and which is the 90
iect of more superstition. The fact of
the dread malady spreading its con
tagion by personal contact, and fol-
lowing in its march the main roads of
commerce induced Eugene Sue to
select Ahasuerus as the personal pro
pagator of cholera, especially as it
formerly advanced with the slowness
with which eastern caravans carried
the Tea across the Atlantic prairies.
In Asia. in the neighborhoed of
Calcutta; in Arabia, near Mecca, and
in Egypt, not far from Cairo, are the
breeding places of cholera. There
famine is frequent occurrence. The
people grow up surrounded by filth
such as an American citizen has not
the faintest idea of, and an infectious
disease finds the most favorable con-
ditions sfor its development in those
unhealthy districts. The pilgrims
who in thousands yearly proceed
from Egypt to Mecca and who live off
the poorest food and amid the greatest
soualor, carry with them the seeds of
cholera, and thus form the connect
ING link in the transmission of the
disease from Asia to Africa. If we
consider the commercial Importance
of Alexandria we can not wonder
that the cholera, once epidemic in
Egypt, should swiftly travel to Eu-
rope. Thus far medical history has
not recorded a single instance of an
original outbreak of cholera anywhere
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.
The fact has been established that
the human being alone acts as the
carrier of the cholera poison. There
is no Northumberland case on record
where rags or clothing, as has been
proven of yellow fever, had trans
mitted the infectious material of the
Asiatic disease. In olden times, when
no railroads, no steamships, hasten
ed no travel, the march of cholera
kept pace with the rapidity, respec-
lively slowness, of human inter
course. The disease either followed
the road of the great tea caravans,
which brought the high-prized leaves
from Asia to Russia, or it travelled
the usual ways of commerce across
the Mediterranean sea. Wherever
large belt of water separated two
countries the epidemic marche d from
one to the other in the same length
81 . l. IL
across the water Such instances we
saw in the spreading of the contaglon
from the continent Of Europe across
the channel to England and from
Great Britain to America In the
latter case the infectious material is
not waited across the Atlantic ocean
and carried the long distance by the
air. From the moment of the out
break of cholera in England about
seven days must at least elapsc ere
the first case of the disease can hap
pen in our country, for the fastest
steamer needs about that time TO cross
the ocean
We knew, therefore, long since
that neither in Europe nor America
could Asiatic Echolera develop itself
without its germs having been first
introduced into the countries. We
also were aware of the fact that hui
man intercourse alone propagates the
contagion, and experience has taught
us that filth favored and cleanliness
prevented the spread of the disease.
In modern times, where public by
giene has become such an important
factor in the governing of nations,
where public sanitary matters are
generally understood ana highly APP
preciated in civilized countries, the
facts Just enumerated have been made
subservient to the general welfare of
the people The original breeding
place of the malady was first deter
mined; then the utmost precautions
were taken on the first signs of the
outbreak of the disease to confine it
to its limits-to insolate the district
attacked. Besides every state, every
cit. every county established its own
board of health. This board had to
see that the greatest cleanliness exist
ed in its locality, and that travellers
from the suspected regions We're first
quarantined ere they were permitted
to enter the protected district.
That it is possible to limit the spread
Of Asiatic cholera, to lessen the num-
Der of its victims, and to diminish its
severity by the measures just describ-
ed, the experience of the last ten
years has proven. The last epidemic
just reached our shore, but, finding
no suitable soil for its development,
it died out of its own account after
having attacked few victims in the
flthiest quarters Of the metropolis.
The epidemics which last year ragged
in Egypt and Calcutta were totally
confined to their original starting
point. Perhaps the best proof of the
utility of strict sanitary measures was
given by the epidemic in Egypt. In
the immediate neighborhood of the
infected places some thousands of En-
glish soldiers were camping; many
foreigners from all parts of the civlliz-
ed world were then living not fifty
miles from the dangerous district; a
greatly augmented intercourse took