St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-03
People That Will Be Subject
to the Epidemic if
Here.
Physicians Unite in Express
ing Their Belief We
Will Get It.
But There Is Little Fear Of
Anything Like Epidemic
Form.


taking to the woods, nor general in
difference and lack of preparation.
II have been through one," said an
old citizen, experience with cholera,
and don't desire another. | am not a
physician nor the sou Of physician,
but know something of the character
OF the terrible contagion now threaten
ing the country. 1t is we'll enough to
take certain proposed sanitary meas
ures, as cleaning up the city, ETC., but
to my mind the most important prepare
ton has not been suggested. The first
thing-because in my mind it is the best
thing that should be done where WIS.,
itation of cholera is anticipated is
to clean up and put in or
der the systems of individuals.
Cholera always finds Its most numerous
victims the already diseased OF en-
feeoled of every sort. Woe to the bill
ieus, the dyspeptic. the Incorporate, to
troubles, and to the internally diseased
of every kind where this plague APP
pears.
Healthy localities do net count for so
much as certain people think. l have
known scores of people who lived in
wretched situations, and who, as to their
outward appearance, were as dirty as
Lazarus, and yet had strong, healthy
systems, who either survived severe at
tacks of cholera or escaped the disease
entirely, while their fellow citizens who
lived in luxury and cleanliness were
stricken down and died, in spite of
everything that could be done for them.
Some people recover from typhoid fever;
others die. Some people have half a
dozen attacks Of pneumonia; others die
from the first and only attack. Some
people die from cholera; more survive.
Results always depend upOu circum-
stances.
People who expect to be subject to
cholera ought to thoroughly cleanse
their systems. A good disinfectant /
found in bicarbonate of potash. Dis
solve nickeFs worth in pint of water
and take tablespoonful three times a
day. A combination of sulphur and
tartaric acid is favorite preventive.
Take laxative, if necessary, to move
the bowels once day. When the dis
ease actually appears, keep some kind
OF remedy constantly on hand. and then
according to my experience il is well
to keep the system somewhat cOnsti-
pated by taking some sort of astringent
medicine. But it is always best to con-
suit reliable physician about these
matters.
''There is great deal of humbug
talk about cholera. Notwithstanding
repeated assertions to the contrary, |
do not believe anybody was ever fright
ened into having the real disease. Nor
do believe that garbage piles or cess
pools breed it: they may receive and
propagate it. But privy vaults are by
far the worst propagatOrs. Anybody
tnot empties Stop vessel containing
cholera deJecta Oh the ground, in the
open air, should be shot on the spot.
IA city's experience with cholera is
about equal to its being subjected to a
protracted bOmbardment from hostile
army. Some lives are sure to be lost.
How many largely depends upon how
we'll the inhabitants are fortified, the
care they take of their persons, and the
persistence and bravery they exhibit in
fighting the enemy"
DR.. Hewitt, the president of the state
board OF health, has his own ideas about
the probable approach and attack of
Aslatlc cholera. In this he differs from
| many of the other practitioners of the
city. lie maintains that his experience,
| and the experience. indeed, of the most
erudite Psychologists of the time, is that
| cholera has natural tendency to follow
watercourses rather than railway lines.
Twice, he asserts, has the dread peSti-
ience visited the state through the
| course of the st. Lawrence river and
| the lakes. Hence he fears that same
avenue now, and it was this theory that
| has induced him to place all inhibitive
| embargo upon emigrantS coming into
| the state from that direction.
There Is scarcely a physician in ST.
! Paul that does not agree that the out
| break of cholera in st. Paul is more than
imminent. They look:upon its coming as
positive certainty. Palpabiy the city
council looks lightly upon the hypothe-
sis and refuses to do anything whatever
with the filth and garbage of the city.
The proposition is to bury the same, but
the doctors rise up in indignant disap-
prevail and condemn the theory that has
led the SolonS to entertain the project
| as one of the most dangerous and men,
| acing vagaries that ever attacked city
| official.
The cholera will come. That is agreed
on all hands. There is no earthly power
that can prevent the spread of the dis
| ease. That is also agreed to, but it is
claimed by all pathoogists that the
plague can be greatly mitigated by sani-
tary regulations, although all the sani-
| tatlon known to the most scientific
hygiene are unavailing when it comes
| 10 building up an adamantine or i'm
pregnable wall to stop its approach.
1t may come, and it may find st. Paul
| the most susceptible victim I'M all it's
| march from the seaboard. That is what
the doctors fear. They urge that sys-
tematic cleaning up is imperative, and
why don't the refOrmers of the council
awake to the exigencies? Echo answers,
Why?
! The first note of warning will either
| be sounded along the watercOurses or
| in Chicago. Some think the latter. and
some agree with the president of the
State board of health that the greater
danger lies in the former. Once the
| fell disease came to st. Paul by steam
boats up the river. and it is not impos-
| sible that this experience will be re-
peated.
But. as intimated, there will be warn
| ing, although 1t may be mighty brief.
The time of incubation is short, so tnat
the man who becomes inOculated in
New York, for illustration, though he
| travels by limited trains. will not
be able to reach st. Paul before full
development of the disease. 1t will
show itself in Chicago first. and then it
| is possible for it to reach st. Paul in a
day or two subsequent.
| Again. it may breakfast on the lakes
ON shipboard-and then begin its raw
ages at Detroit, Superior and other lake
| ports before 1t comes to the Twin Cities.
| Bnt it is agreed that there can be no
| doubt that there will be an epidemic in
| the United States. and. moreover, that
there can be no complete escape for the
| two cities.
AUGUST METEOKOLOGY.
The Past Month Was q Warm and
Damp One.
Observer Lyons weather report for
August shows in general terms that it