The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1888-02-04
THE DREAD PLAGUE.
SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
ASlATlC CHOLERA.
\ New York Physician Tells Where the
Danger Iie>-Thc spread of the Disease
1866,

Danger l.icS-Thc spread of the Disease
May he A>crtcd with Proper Carc-In
1866.
"lhc first symptom of Asatir cholera
says lbr John &. Peters, sis ~ mild ,liarrhua,
with or without vomiting. The patient is
likely I" feel invigoratcd, us if purgcd by
medicine. and many so about with little or
no Si@n of sickness. In two or three days
there is Il violent explosion of the disease In
few hours the patient may he in an almost
helpless condition. In the carly stages the
patient may attend to usual avucations, thus
sowing OF spreading the germs of the disease
i'll many places. The germs are contained in
the discharges from the stomach and bowels,
and also probably from those of the kidneys.
The possibilities and even the probabilities
are that everything the patient handles will
become contaminated and dangerous. \
piece OF bread handled or broken by such
person and eaten hy another will probably
r;i'!ss' an attack. fruit, cake, anvthing-n
cholera times fruit and vegetables are grncr-
ally considered dangerous, hut only such are
that have been handled by the afflicted per-
>t,ll.,
In 1876 saw cases daily for many days
and ate fruits and Vegetables of all kinds,
even cucumlers, and occasionally soft she'll
crabs They wclrnuch less dangerous To me
than piece of bread or an apple touched by
ON" "l the patients. If | had contracted
cholera, such Il diet would have made it much
w"r>" and more dangerous. They could not
produce cholera un!cs, they We're ronamina-
'"'l hN somebody diseased was very par
l'rul'i in keeping my hands clean. In 1875
carried my own towels in my pocket and
w"l.l'' not usru basin in house where there
was II rasc"f cholera | had the water poured
over my lmnlS and wiped them with my own
towels.
"Ati"r tn" explosion of the disease the pm
tent Incomes very weak, and frequently
Gms int" what is called collapse The IA
ticnt is cold. almost pulS"c>s, his features
rinrii"i, tongue, nose and breath cold, and
ms hands. feet aud iaco probably hlnr. Won
can often tell Il cholera puticn. many feet
distant iy the blue color of his skin Sing,l
larlH "irnsh. proportion of the collapse
r": $ Recover, almost as many by mild treat
''lrht rs when the most energetic measures
are used. DR. Smiths collapse eases at Swim
burn" Island Seem to have done remarkably
""ll under hvp"irrmic injections of brandy
ANA II LITTLE 'nrhuir acid mixed. The rccov-
cries We're quite astonishing, and MS largo in
proportion as by nny other treatment.
STAMPING IT OUT.
/ "Thrre are many experienced men in tho
local board, like DrS. James, Day, Morris aml
others, who went through more than one cpi
'i'm'r, think they served under Dr. bal
ton, VIII" WAS president of the board of health
III 'S'H. In that year 1850 infected immi-
grants landed in New York from twenty
eight or more cholera ships, upon which Gst;
deaths had occurred at sea. DR.. Dalton took
control of "v'ry house in tho city where
cholera had entered and rarely had a second
ease after the arrival "l lis inspectors. Fifty
telegraph stations wrr" connected with the
health office, and the whole police force aided
the busy sanitary corps in giving the earliest
information of suspicious cases In less than
two months the whole outbreak was STAMPED
out and only ,2W deaths occurred. Previous
To July S twenty -one cases Of we'll marked
cholera had terminated fatally. They oc-
CURED in seventeen dif'cr,n, streets in
eighteen different blocks and in nineteen diff
terrnt houses. The residences of the twenty
one fatal cases, together with ten other nom
fatal cases, were widely scattered over the
city, aud none of the thirty-onc were tlis,ov-
cr"d I" hav" been i'll any way directly cx-
posed 4" persons or thing, from quarantine
"r from tli" elni.,rant landing or depot
"l.at" in July, lstfi II tremendous outbreak
OF cholera occurred among 300 worklusc
l"olcun 'lackwe!l's Island Dr. Frank II.
Hamilton said he would stamp it out in ten
days. and h" did 50 He drove all the i'll
mates from their crowded rooms, ventilated
ANA cleaned everything, improved the food,
put guards at thr closets to watch for any
ono who visited them more than once a day,
put cholera medicines in tho hands of trllsty
nurses, and in u few days the epidemic was
rr;ir,i"a!lv over, and in ten days all gone.
But tni" were H.; deaths almost before DR..
Hamilton took Charge. 1t was fcarfully sud-
den. There "'," eight cases in seven DAYS,
and in two nights the inmate, frH by the
>co!r. There are eases which came ln,lrrmy
notice where a weaker person sickcnc,l and
'h'r' before il >tI"n@ person from whom the
disease WA contracted showed any signs of
it.-New York Cor. Chicago Herald