The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-05-11
VISITATl0NS UF CHOLERA.
rs EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY.
& he Three Trips 1t has Made TO America
Loss of yiruIence In Its Wandering
Westw ard--The Relation it
Bears TO Commerce,

ave DOCOtil6 6SbhDllSneus ONe ~ Suht
cholera is migratory and prefers the
,hiel lines OF travel; the other is q con
,equence Of the first, and it is that che
iisease follows focal detritus, TO use
IN euphemistic phrase. When the
isease first appeared in Ameri'
"a, George w. Dixon, an opera
singer, published in Philadelphia n
periodical called the Asistic Cholera
Journal, which ran through nineteen
lumbers, beginning with midsummor
July IL, 1892, Three subsequent WISH
catious nave chilled American indopen'
ience, that of 1870, when 5000 cAOleie
Datients'died in New York city; that %
lS53 and 1854, when the disease fingered
or two years, and when IL excitou
specie attention from its TAVageS in
be Crlmean army. Tho las1 visitation
vas III 1866, when New York enriched
Is cemeteries with l,2e0 cholera
atients.
From these facts " appears ~ gem
aral way that cholera appears as pestil-
initial IN America tue year following its
European holocausts; and the more sat
sfactory fact also appears that, ike all
specific epidemics, the poison loses its
virulence by disseminaton,an through
he lapse of time. Whether this TACT is
TO be attributed TO attenuation Of virus,
i y
nOculation, or To improved methods OF
Treatment as scientific medicine becomes
more familiar with the disease, IL n
question we are not competent To UNI
ravel. Perhaps both influences are 10
DO crediLed with the result.
Epidemics have 81 intimate relation
to commerce. 1t is pity that few sta
tistios have been gathered on tho sub
ect. There are no official records which
will shaw the economical bearings ol
Infectious diseases. The averages of the
United States census, extending from
decade to decade, drown all these special
INQUIRIES in their lO-year aggre
gates. Local reports are UNI
when trying times come do men
care for tbe statistical history, winch
would enable them TO confront and
overcome the inYasiOns of calamity, and
then IL is too late TO do Any effeotual
work. In good sooth, each state ought,
ike Massachusetts, TO maintain bu-
reau of statistics, and out of tho accu-
INFLATED information tho specialist
could extract authentic information foI
new emergencies.
There Can be no doubt whatever that
epidemics have most disastrous In
huence on trade. An old PHILADELPHIA
pox broke out III his native city, In
1871 20, business was nearly practically
suspended. His correspondents dc
lined even tosorder goods through the
mail lest the infection should be trans-
ported in the return packages. He WAS
obliged TO write To his customers that
their orders would be filed by his New
YORK house, from goods which
had never seen Philadelphia. The
absolute Gordon established about Tou-
lon in the epidemic Of last autumn, the
difficulty OF escaping quarantine in
Italy, the reduced volume of eastern
Grade in Great Britain, despite the mer-
oanLile opposition TO the lazaretto, show
the disturbances which are sure 10 ensue
upon cholera scare. III this disease
should be epidemic in the seabord cities
OF the United States during the coming
summer there would ensue a staRnation
of trade amounting to one-thlrd OF lts
customary volume.
Another fact is quite clearly estab.
ushed concerning the Asiatlc cholera,
and that IL its movement upon estab'
lished lines OF traffic. Hence its seyer-
ity in centers of trade. Hence, on the
other hand, its amenabillty to sanitary
precautions. Whatever theories may be
advocated concerning this distemper,
I0AI
1t yields TO sanitary measures. Two
schools, in the main, exist In the
pathology OF cholera the older, which
regards the disease as neu
rotic, but still asks for all those
cleansings of streets, cellars ard sewers
which,will omancipate q feeble system OF
infection; aud the parasitic chOol
which follows Pasteur and Koch IN
regarding the disease as a focal conta-
giop. This point we cannot pass with.
out reference TO recent address at
DR.. Hugo Engel before the Philadel-
phia Society for Organizing Charity
iast January. A follower OF Koch, he
held to the theory long established ia
cases OF trichinosis aud in Bastin's
experiments in Spontaneous genera
ton" Beyond q certain poiut OF heat,
which is safely put At boiling pOiut, 2l2
Fahrenheit, no baoilli nor mioroscomu
germs can survive, Hence as boiled
pork cannot convey the bacteran infuc
Jon, 80 boiled food Is a preventive ct
cholera. DR.. Engel reports, IN the ad
dress referred To, concerning King
HumOets visit 10 Naples: HHe es.
capped unintected, but whyP All his
God, and all the water aud wine he
drank, were sent 70 him from Rome.
AS he could not become infected hy
way OF inhalation, but only by tho food
and water he swallowed, care was sim
ply taken TO have the food and drink
pure, free from comma bacilu" OF
course the progress Of the disease from
one country 10 another still points to
is migratory character. Whichever
theory of infection be taken, quaran-
inc and sanitary precautions still rear
heir heads AS tncOntestably wise. A
ilthy town is q source of nervous De.
preston on account OF bad air aud an
unnourished system; IL Il also good
menstruum for the spread Of focal in
cotton, which, doubtless, would be
cas- injurious If il were allowed decom-
rose than IL IN turned IL It's green state
tho almost uniform condition of band
ing city sewage, oesspoolB and street
deposits.
In Philadelphia the city authorities
20 lar have left the territory I'm their
rharge well exposed TO any neufotic
irparasitic Infection. The streets have
peen in a filthy state all winter, and
ne spring cleaning is but half accom-
p.ishod.
The measures taken to avoid sum
iner epidemic are still incomplete, the
charity Organization Society expsnd-
ng It's efforts 10 bring civic and spon.
taneous efforts into accord. The Board
Il Health has authorized q thorough
inspectisn OF every house In the city,
sud IN anticipation Of a municipal ap
propriation has appointed twenty
additional inspectors who are already
at work. But the Board OF Health j.
iampereu hv the niggardlines of the
councils, which would cheerfully ap-
propriate The money II pressure were
brought 70 bear upuu them by the cit.
zens, To effect tnis, tire women have
strong organization which presented
petitions signed by over 20,OOj persons
asking n civic appropriation of $4,000
% tho Board Of Health. These ladies
are ready for visitation, nursing or
my systematic scheme OF confronting
The calamity ofoholera.
The medical provisions OF law are
Scant. The police have smallinodical
staff The guardians OF the poor en-
hoy, at $40 per month, twelve physl.
clans available for the destitute. This
egal provision IN supplemented by the
action OF tho County Medical Society,
lnder whose sanction some twenty-five