The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-09

comfortable and easy In their minds y
Informatiop Of this sort. Ii Is. however
worth remembering that there IL car
tein proportion of weaker bretnrel
amongst the community. and it may, per
hans. be suggested that good many ol
the details which are brought 10 tbei, NO
tice are hardly of sort TO reassure ,neni
Where people have been In the haDit o.
placidly drinking diluted sewage ~
would seem TO have been the case
amongst the inhabitants OF Corh; IL Is, .,
course, very desirable to warn theih tnl'
tho prsctice Is dangerous. and that con
tinued indulgence in it when cholera IN
any form is rife may not improDaDly leau
10 very frightful results.
While, however. it is absolutely essen
tial 10 awaken obdurate offenders against
the elementary rules Of health from the
state of delusiye security in which they
dwell. by bringing home to them IN the
plaipest possible language the appalling
nature of the risks they run, it should be
horne in mind that the number of snch
persons in these countries Is relatively
very small The class. on the other hand'
which is likely TO grow nervous under the
steady shower of warnings and eXnOrla-
lions now teing poured out upon them Is
considerable. and the importance OF the
fact is manifest when it IS remempereu,.
that fear. as our correspondent NJ. T.
noints ont is the most potent ally OF cpl
demic cholera. While. therefore, 1t is In
the highest degree desirable that the
authorities should continue to exert them
selves to the utmost 10 avert an outbreak
and 10 make adequate provision for deal
inc with the disease should it unhappily
visit US. they should at the same tune
bear i'm mind the advantage Of tempering
zeal with discretion. They should on this
occasion take pains not only to do good,
but 10 do it by stealth Provident fear
in their breasts may be the mother or
safety. but should it spread to those I'M
der their charge il can only sap the SPIRIT
of the garrison and make things easy Tor
the enemy.
In the presence Of the sensational
STATEMENTS which have been made in
somc ouarters. and which have received,
nerhaps. certain degree of uninten.
tional support from the fussy action OF
local authorities here and there. M. Is.
has done good service by telling the
British public the real truth about the
disease of which they are hearing SO
much. We habitualy talk OF epidemic
cholera. What alarm there IS amongst
ne ON the subject undoubtedly comes. as
an. b." points out, from the curlously
loose way in which we employ this oml-
nous nhrase. We use it, as he shows, 10
describe two things. which, in the lay
Judgment at any rate. are whoiy us
similar. We apply it to the ch?lera VI
the East and to the cholera WnlcH nrs S
visited the United Kingdom III lS ocs. an ~
revisited us in 1910, 1884 and looo. 1t
ia onite true that in their character,
norsotion and symtoms these two mala-
dos NAV he indistinguishable to the
scientific eve. To its unclouded ana uls-
passionate vision they are. 1t may may
he allowed. identical. Both are cholera,
10th are Asiatic cholera, and D0th are
Asiatic cholera of the epidemic type:
The mere lay observer must feel hiniSell
constrained to cOncede these tacts' re
consoles himself. however, with the CRU
cism that after all there does seem 10
be one wel-marked difference between
tho two diseases. and that to his thinking
that difference is not without importance
II lies in the circumstance thaI .Iine Asi
attic cholera in its own home Kills nun
dreds for every one whom the ASia'to
cholera kills here. After all tne lllca
dent about disease when cruises i iHUo'
alarm TO the average man that IL Kills
and tho incident about epldemics when
leads him 10 regard them with parucuia,r,
ureuu 10 tudb w. N~
in large numbers. 1910. .h,+
~ r." however, demonstrates thar
endemic cholera in this country mas
never killed any number OIL Pers3ni'
,.,hich can be called even cOnHderaple
in relation TO the amount OF the popuia-
ton He takes the figures OF the iast
tbrea outbreaks, which are the only tnl'
stat;stics that ere available, and be
draws attention to the fact that the
deaths from cholera in 1919, 1904 ana n
IeeG renresent respectively rates or oV'
II and 7 per 10000 OF the popuia'ion.
To describe q disease when, upon ,nS
last occasion when 1t visited US hlleu
the same proportion OF people as n ~
died annually between the years iooo
and 1873 from the result OF accluentS
nv the same words as pestiiehce VIM"
sometimes sweeps away I'VE per cent
of the inhabitants OF an OrleptaI 70" !,
may be scientifically correct put =
undoubtedly practice hkeIy TO % iniSiea a.'
tho vulgar. Nobody, as NJ. Is. very
~" COWS talks of an epidemic of acei-
dapfs /" hut so far as the death-fate ~
concerred. the phrase would be quite as
lecitimate as that Of an epidemic OF
cholera" when applied TO such an out
break as that of 1866, and high deatii-
rete ia the distinctive features when the
word epidemic" connotes in the popular
mind Ii was officially announced on
Saturday that not one single case Of 2
Asiatic cholera now exists in England.
There is every reason to feel the fullest
confidence that, even should the disease
occur amongst US, the death-rate VIII no not
be so high as it was even IN Ieoo'
Should however. that ngure Se
preached or even exceeded. we snail d2 s
we'll to bear In mind the cool reasoning OF
M B." and TO remember that even the
highest death-rate ever known IN this
island. in the days when sanitation was
in its infancy, was something very
different from that which ordinarily
accompanies epidemic cholera IN the
filthy cities of the East.-London lines
Tho Largest Dam In the World.
The great dam just completed IN far