The Iola register., 1885-01-16
1nE coMlNo scoURoE.

Il
The Expected visit Of Cholera To oul
! shores-Importance of Preparing for Itl
| Reception In Way That VIII Rob It oi
| Some Of Its Terrors.
| Sr. LOUIS, No., January T.
At meeting of the Medico-C Chirurgical
Society, held in its rooms on Washing.
ton avenue, the subject of cholera in its
local connection was discussed exhaus-
! lively by Drs. James M. Leete, Holman,
Hardaway, Moses, Eugelman, Scott,
Briggs, Bryson, Dean and Baumgartner
with special reference to a sanitary bill
which the society intends to push before
the City Council at its next meeting.
DR.. Leete, who is cholera specialist,
| having gained much of his experience In
| the St. Louis epidemic of 1866, replied
| very pointedly and frankly to the first
question of the reporter who called upon
him this morning.
"Yes, sir, there is every reason to be-
lieve that the cholera will invade this
country this year from Europe and sweep
the land as it did in 1882, lS49, 1854 and
| 1866. st. Louis will lie directly in its
path when it comes, and it is the duty of
the city authorities to begin at once to
adopt precautionary and preventive
measures"
"Why do we believe that the cholera is
coming herep" he continued. "Because
we judge by the past, and in every in
stance that the disease has ravaged Eu-
rope it has reached the United States and
passed through the States. 1t is now in
France, Italy and Spain-that is very near
uS-and we can expect to be reached DUR
ing the spring. The city must begin to
provide against the spread of the disease
right now."
"How?"
"Not by street draining. 1 wouldn't
give a cent for such a sanitary precaution.
The wells and cisterns in the city, SO far
as their use for drinking water is con-
cerned, must be abolished, and the $1,000
privy vaults must be destroyed or re-
built according to the municipal bill
which we are urging. The city
should use the river water below
the bridge, which is purer than
that from either wells or cistcrns,
and as for the vaults, why they are
more to be feared than an enemy's army
should cholera once reach the city. But
the water should be attended to first.
There is no pure well or cistern in the
city. Here is an analysis from well on
the corner of Locust and Twenty-Eighth
street. Why, if the cholera once reached
st. Louis people drinking that water
would die like sheep with the rot"
"Was the influence of drinking water
made evident by the st. Louis epidemic
of 1852"
Certainly. When the cholera attacked
its first victim here, the city authorities
did nothing. From population of 2O0,-
500 cholera took 3,572. In New York,
then with 100000 people, every prepara-
ton had been made and every precau-
tion with regaad to water and stercora-
ceous that we are urging here, and only
l,l5S people died. Brooklyn prepared
before the cholera came and lost
only 5l7. Glasgow, Scotland, with
42O, 900 people, prepared and lost only
sixty-ei.ht lives, while in 1854, with u
much smaller population, when no pre-
caution had been taken, $3.50 people
died. Don't these facts point moral for
the st. Louis City Council? We intend
TO press the matter upon the authorities
until we force them to provide protection
for the people here, even though they
don't recognize its necessity themselves"