Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-06-06

| tLStS aS d CidoS' n Jew are convinced, Du
these do not advance sufficient proofs o
| the virtue claimed for the incubation. O
the FIVE thousand persons inoculated only
a very few have taken the cholera but
not much Importance is to be attached t.
the fact that the others escaped the plague
although the disease was epidemic il
the countries Of their residence, for it i:
not and cannot be shown that ali or ever
| the major part of the five thousand were
exposed to the disease directly, though
living within an atmosphere where it pre-
| vailed, fer many hundreds of thousand.
have not been attacked though also re.
| siding in the same sections of country with
the five thousand supposed to be armed
against the disease. To be thoroughly
tested it would be necessary to expose 2
majority Of the five thousand people in
| oculated-or at least very large number
of them-directly to the disease and to
have them for a given time within the I'M
mediate atmosphere tainted by the disease
or the causes of the epidemic. I'm
der such conditions it could then
lie noted how many supposed to
be protected were attacked by choler-
attic symptoms, compared TO those al
tackled who we're not inocuIated.
and what the character of the
action in each case, The statistics
Of the desired proofs must be made in
several groups and under dissimilar condi-
tions. The escape of one, two or dozen
persons who have been inoculated and
then similarly exposed would not be ac-
cepted as demonstration Of the effect.
Nearly all the English and american ply
sicianS are agreed that no real test has
been made, and they warn the public not
to form a judgment on the matter as yet
when the Ferran system has been ex-
tended, tried in different climates and
under varying conditions, and for con-
siderable time, then there will be sufficient
data at command to form an intelligent
judgment. The United States Govern
ment has been solicited to send a medical
commission TO Valencia to investigate the
Ferran discovery, jointly with France and
England, but it is argued that scientific
and medical societies will accomplish the
work of investigation before any Govern
ment commission can do 50. DR. Wendt,
of New York, who is preparing treatise
on cholera, is of the opinion that " it is
much better to urgently press upon the
of cities the enforcement of
sanitary measures which are known to be
successful in excluding cholera than to
lull the populace into a sense Of security
by spreading the belief that incubation
will protect any individual from all attack !
of the disease"
DR.. jancway regards F'erran as an {" ex-
perimenter," and that his inquiries are !
still in the experimental stage. He holds,
however, that it would be an act of wis
lon to appoint a competent medical man
IN Spain to act by authority of our Gov
eminent, and report fully all the facts.
If that report were submitted either to
me of the national societies Of medicine,
II to several eminent physicians, to ex-
.mine, and their Judgment taken as to the
,est course to be adopted, this country
irrIt ! Il |
lave basis for pursuing our mvestiga-
ions and experiments that We have not
low."
DR.. J. H. Douglas says we do not now
now enough Of microbe incubation 10
orn any opinion whatever as to its avail
bility for protection in a cholera cpl
enic. He favors the appointment of a
Government Commission Of Inquiry One
f the most eminent physicians of the
ountry, on being asked for his opinion,
lated that a Commission will be useless. as
he French and Spanish are deeply inter
sted in this matter of checking the chol-
ra, and their scientific societies will leave
0 stone unturned to get at the bottom and
nth Of every suggestion made in the way
staying the plague. From all that can
t this time be learned there Is not placed
ny reliance by the mass Of medical men
pom incubation as protective or pre-
entive measure They know very little
oout the new discovery, it is true, but the
;idences of its virtues have not yet been
lown to be such as to act as guide to
lie profession. In the meantime, with
Immcr approaching, the vigilance of san
airy officials should be renewed, and no i
easure of cleanliness at all practicable to c
force. remain unenforced. !