The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-09-20
GENESIS OF CHOLERA.
1t Is a Child of the Gauges and Its
Victims Countless.
How Heroes of science Have Learned
to Meet the Terrible Scourge
and Conquer 1t.

Fifty years ago there was no word
which brought greater terror on its wings
than the trisyllable cholera" 1t was
the comet with the fiery tail among the
great maladies of the earth. 1t did not
seem ruled by laws as other diseases were;
it did not follow certain defined paths in
its terrible and devastating marches
across continents and seas, as most or the
other epidemics did, but seemed to move
on its own eccentric ways without refer
ence TO latitude or longitude, or cold
or heat, or any other apparent cause
known TO the men of science.
1t came, and mankind grew daft be-
meath its sway. 1t went, and men could
not say wherefore, nor could they predl-
cate the whittier. Like some old-time
dragon built of nightmares and having
no existence in reality it roamed to aud
fro over the earth at its own sweet Will
with death i'll its breath, consuming all
who felt its whitening power.
WHEN MEN WERE PANIC-STRICKEN.
Who that has silver in his hair cannot
remember the awful scenes that used TO
accompany the march OF this conqueror?
How frightened men got! How quick
Victims were hustled off to the ceme-
terry almost before the breath had lett
their bodies. The rattle OF the death
carts sounded on deserted streets, for
every one who was out fled panic-Strlck-
en- when he approached the horses, on the
gallop generally, in their hard endeaVor
10 keep pace with the destroyer.
In many cases no prayers were said
above the dead as they were hurried UNI
der ground. 1t was the plague-the
cholera! That was funeral service enough
to hasten the burial. 1t was prayer and
sermon and panegyric all III one In those
days of mortal terror.
HEROES OF SCIENCE.
And yet in those days, as in these,
there We're brave and patient investigat-
Ors at work looking up the secrets Of The
disease, finding the lost clews to its ma
ture the laws which governed it, the rea-
son for its existence, the means OF cure.
Many of them died in the work, but their
work lives after them. Where one died
two came to take his place, and in the
course OF time the glorious heroes OF sci
ence-Some named, others anonymous
built up their monument OF knowledge,
and as it grew the monster lessened in
size, until to-day men can see 1t for what
IL really is-no wandering star at all in the
armament disease, but as fixed and gov
erned in its ways as any other plague
sent by broken laws to punish offending
mankind.
1t is true that no place is assured against
an attack by cholera, as 1t Is from yellow
fever, tor instance, by reason OF latitude or
attitude. Frost does not destroy it, Tor il
sometimes thriVes nightly III the novels
of rigid Russia and Sweden.
But it does not leap from place to place,
as was formerly supposed, without any
connecting link of infection carrying it.
In every case there was a cause for the
outbreak which could be traced, and
since the disease has been treated instead
of being retreated from in almost every
case that connecting link has been dis
covered.
IN OLDEN TIMES.
Centuries ago cholera was looked upon
as a visitation ofthe angry gods for some
thing displeasing the human family had
done and allowed to 60 at that. When
ever an epidemic ragged the people were
reduced TO most abject terror. and as they
did nothing i'll their own defense the
stricken ones died by thousands.
In Japan the disease was called ko-ro-ri
or fox, wolf and badger, and was be-
leved to be production of the devils.
All fish and water during an epidemic
were considered poisonous, which shows
that the Japanese must have had some
good reason to suspect the latter, which
is now known to be one Of the most pro-
ductive agencies for disseminating the
seeds of cholera.
Whenever the disease ragged the jana
nese refused to drink water from the
purest of springs, or to eat of fish, no mat
ter if they were brought alive to their
doors. They fought OF the plague with
prayers to Buddha, and adorned their
gates with amulets of straw and pine and
bamboo.
In I76S and 1869 there were some sixty
thousand deaths from cholera in Japan,
the people going off so fast that the car
hi fA
enough to keep up with the demand, and
empty sake casks had to take the place of
collins in thousands of instances.
Finally the graveyards were all filled
up, and then the priests insisted On Gre
nation, but the bodies accumulated so
fast that the crematoEies could not keep
up with them. At length, by order of the
Government, those bodies remaining I'M
buried were taken up and wrapped in
mats and thrown into the sea, the univer-
sal disintector, at Yeddo.
MILLIONS DEAD.
From 1917 to 1919 the victims of black
vomit were almost countless. They ran
up into the millions. 1t devastated In
dia, ran riot through Madras, crossed the
sea to Ceylon and ravaged Sumatra,
Malacca, Siam and Burmah. In 1920 it
made its home in Northern China and
Tartary. The next year it was on the
shores of the Persian Gulf. Thence it as
1872 crossed the desert into Syria. The
following year the all-devouring mon
ster was in Russia. The whole of Asia
had paid tribute to its Unsuitable appetite.
And still ii was not satisfied.
Some of the blacklist pages in the dark
history of Moscow are those which tell
the story of cholera there. 1t visited the
hoyel and palace alike. 1t broke up
scenes of revelry and turned them into
scenes of mourning. 1t stood beside the
bride at the altar and the mother at the
christening. 1t was omnipresent, SEEM
ingly. Some families it touched lightly.
taking but member or two. Others it
wiped out altogether. 1t was as merci-
less as a Gar, as unsatistiable as a Napo-
leon.
AMERICAS FIRST VISIT.
Still unsatisfied, still looking for other
worlds TO conquer, it crossed the ocean
and landed in America. 1t was its first
visit here, and though it found condi-
tons less favorable TO its propagation
than it had in crowded Europe, it still
managed to number its victims by thou
sands III the crowded cities, which,
though much smaller than tney are to-
day, were in far less favorable sanitary
condition and thus gave the scourge an
open sesame to their inhabitants
Ii had already carried Oft LIE, 900 of the
French, of whom 1000 died in Paris with
in the space of eighteen days, in 1882,
when five vessels setting sail for Quebec
WORTH a GUINEA A BOX."s
/; gea1As STILL :