The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-09-29
ARNOLD ON CHOLERA.
SIR EDWIN'S IMPRESSIONS ARE
BASED on EXPERIENCE.

BASED On EAPER1ENCE.
He Thinks the Plague is Not a Malad
to Provoke a Panic-The Distin
guished Traveller Describes How til
Cholera Bacillus Works.
The New York World of yesterday COZ
tanned thefOlOwing communication iron
Sir Edwin Arnold
As YOU did me the honor in your issu
of this morning to reproduce some yer,
casual and careless remarks of mine upO1
the cholera question, | take leave to offe
YOU some rather more gravely consid
cred words on the matter from the pOin
of view of an unprofessional and unpre
tending traveller who has come Il gOOt
deal in contact with this sinister but la
tOo-much dreaded disease.
Let me at once disarm the natura
resentment of scientific men and phy
sicians against what might otherwise
seem presumption by declaring that
am without the slightest claim to auth
orty on the subject, and only speak from
what | have personally noticed during
cholera epidemics in India, Japan anC
elsewhere. | have seen enough OF The
ravages of the pest in many places anC
seasons, not to talk lightly of its terrors
was at station in India where il
carried Off seventeen to twenty soldiers
a day out Of a garrison OF l,JOO, and
passed the summer OF 1890 in TOXIC
! japan, when hecapital lost many thOus
+ ands, and when as many as 10000 died
in the southern cities and villages.
! have helped to aid the suddenly smitten
and have seen the sad cCnvulslOns and
| dreadful collapse which seiZc d the victims
1t is not, therefore, with any levity that
| have heretofore said of cholera that
! it is not malady to provoke panic or
any wild measures of public protection.
/ really do believe from my own Obser-
walton that few diseases have less terror
for the healthy, the wcl-fed, the temper
ate and the sensible How else is it that
| in mixed communities, such as exist in
the East, YOU will see the poorer and
weaker natives die, and not one, or
scarcely one European affected? Very sad
indeed it is to say so, but it is just the
| il-fed, the ignorant, the unWashed, the
incorporate and theyOungw who succumb.
am one who thinks them all nearly if
not quite as precious the to universe as
their elders and better, but this is the fact!
| The cholera bacillus does not kill where
| it is not ignorantly or recklessly admit
ted to the killing place, (Which is quite
without Offense to the nasal sense), and
there is left in the veins the crassament-
UNI, the thick parts of the blood, imped-
ing the circulation and producing heart
| troubles, cold eXtremities, cramps, col
lapse. and the other signs which too Of
ten end in death. This theory-very
roughly stated-of the action OF the
bacillus may be right or wrong.
| offer it with the utmost diffidence as
that given me by acute medical observa-
ton, and it seems to fit the phentomena.
Ii it be true we see Why diarrhpa so
often leads to and precedes cholera, and
why it is good to avoid this, or to check
it when commencing. When, like many
! of the poor Hamburgers, people fill them
selves with unripe or Overripe fruit and
beer, and sweep from their intes shines
thereby the natural mucus which pro-
tects those channels from the parasites,
the mischief-suppOsing the germs to be
precautionary we'll begin. do not think
i speak with all humility-that they
ever pass by the atmosphere, at any
rate from man to man.
They would then be ubiquitous and
inevitable, and we should not see nurses
and doctors and the like escape, as they
do. Water and milk and the exterior
surface of foods and vegetables seem to
be the carriers OF the germs, together
with clothes, rags, &C., but only SO far
in regard to the latter as the unwashed
hands may convey what is on them to
the lips and mouth. Those Europeans
in the East of whom | have spoken as so
constantly and surely enjoying immunity
are persons drinking aerated beverages.
tea, boiled milk and eating care fully
cooked and washed food. The victims
in my observation have been thirsty
soldiers drinking at the first town well,
children fed on milk from infected local
tiles people draining waterf from the tanks
i'll such districts, and so on.
Again, say, | offer all this humblv
and tentatively. | have breakfasted
with man in India and stood at his
grave next morning. | have seen my
children at play with other children in
that country and found their playmates
dead of cholera when we followed them
within "a hours into the station. There
is sadly mysterious clement in the
malady, | know.
| suppose it is pretty we'll settled am
ong scientific men how the cholera bacil-
lus works. Seen under the microscope
1T Is minute, cOmma-shap ped thing,
stained pink for investigation which has
for its special function to eat away the
vevetv lining of the lower intestines.
In limited numbers or in the healthy
body it can do little harm. but when it
has been freely taken within or has large
ly multiplied inside it only awaits the aid
OF a prccurrent diarrhpa to do it's fatal
work of stripping the intestinal men,
brane bare. Through the portions thus
denud"d the illaries and veins of nutri-
ton oozes away, producing the charac-
tcrlStlc 'rlce-water discharges" And
Yet affirm that it is not nearly so terri
ble as it seems. My very slight and in
sufficient experience would put first on
the list OF preventiveS courage and cheer
fulneSs. Fear can itself produce prelm-
mary dlarrhpa, as every field commander
knows
\ brave and light heart is good at
all times, and best OF all amid a cholera
visitation. The Joy OF doing duty has
kept many a nurse and doctor safe. |
think in thewards OF the cholera hospital.
Next | really believe, from experience,
that these five drops of hydrochloric
acid In the morning tea or boiled water
Is capital thing. These little crooked
wretches cannot live in an acidulated
stomach, and they must pass through
the stomach to get to their moving
ground. | have never had the pest in
any home OF mine. Next, at such sea-
sons. the water and the milk should be
boiled.
| don believe tiltering does much good
one must remember that vaccine lymph
passed through tilter-paper will still in
ocu late. The Chinese, who seldom touch
co!d drinks OF any sort, are not, as a
rule. very Liable to chOlera nlagnes.