The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-09-20

ent ones will do if honestly and vigi-
lantly maintained
The fact, that during our civil war,
Wnen, II ever, the conditions were favor
apie TO the existence OF cholera, the coun-
Try was exempt from lis ravages, was
pretty satisfactory proof that the disease
requires something besides local causes.
Mere tIthy living viii not produce it,
though 1t helps TO propagate it. The
speclnc germs must be present, and those
germs come invariably, as the course OF
every epidemic shows, from the far East,
from India, in fact, and usually from the
RlVer Gauges.
PILGRIMS PIoUS But IMPURE.
And thus it was thatthe epidemic which
began IN 1864 was born among the pill
grims to pious Mecca. 1t was December
when the trouble began. By Mayor the
IoiloWlng year 1t had travelled to AleXan-
ora; before the end OF June it was at
Smyrna, Malta and Constantinople, and
during July it had made its appearance in
! Spain and Italy and at Marseilles. Sep
| TENDER 18th it had reached Southampton,
and by November Sd New Hork. 1t was
| here again in 1866, having been brought
! down from Halifax in troop ship, and
| thence by the same means it was dissem-
mated through the South and West, while
| in 1867 it made second but less fatal cir
cult OF the country.
Since this time the United States have
| been comparatively free from cholera,
although the poisonous breath of India
mas more than once reached out this way,
and the dirty pilgrims to Mecca have been
gathered IN by the great harvester by the
thousand at a time.
| In the last visitation of the disease it
was not infected immigrants but their
baggage which brought the seeds of the
| disease. The latter was not properly
1umigated, and when it was opened in
Carthage, Ohio; Crow River, Mimi, and
1ankton, Oak, the owners were quickly
| Frustrated and many Of them died. This
! was in 1873.
| In 1885, and at various other times,
| there have been cholera scares owing to
| the prevalence Of the disease in the East,
| Dut each time has found our people better
| prepared to meet and ward OFT the mala-
| dy. More stringent rules by the Board of
| Health, greater vigilance at quarantine
| and better knowledge Of the disease and
| It's prevention have been the weapons
| used to prevent its reception and spread
in the United States.
ENGLAND's LESSON.
| The English learned their lesson in
1888. The year before they were carrying
on war with Egypt, and very rigorous
sanitary measures were adopted. To
| them was doubtless due the success in
keeping the cholera, then raging in
| Mecca, from devastating their country.
! The next year the vigilance was relaxed,
| when 10! the cholera broke out at Damiet-
ta,and soon afterward at Port Said, Rosetta
and Mansourah, and later at Cairo, where
it was peculiarly fatal. For several days
| the daily mortality varied between 500
and 600, and $4,000 Egyptians altogether
| paid with their lives the penalty for that
relaxation in vigilance.
At the end Of June 1884, great cpl
| Il 20
| sea captain. who believed that it was his
vessel which brought in the infection,
| committed suicide in his despair, but it.
was afterward concluded that British
| crafts were the guilty ones. Thousands
died at Toulon and MarseiIles and Vari-
Gus Italian cities along the Mediterranean
were among the sufferers. 1t was at this
! time that the British were first hauled
over the Goals for their carelessness in re-
| spect OF the passengers they consented to
carry and their guilty conduct in hiding
| from the quarantine authorities knowl-
| edge of deaths from the scourge which
| had taken place on board of their ships.
| DR.. Koch of lymph fame is one of those
! who have called attention to this fault
AT our own quarantine the same pecca-
| dillO has been discovered more than once
on the big immigrant carriers, but few
| wholesome fines and some very whole
some advice to ships doctors and ships
captains have made the latter more care
full in this respect.
TRIED TO FOOL THE PUBLIC.
Of the present outbreak of cholera in
| Europe Ineed not dilate, as the news col
umns have been filled with them so re-
Gently, that all may remember. For a
| long time it was not ''real cholera" but
sort Of imitation, which was just like the
real in its effect, but not so bad in charac-
ter. So said the doctors anxious to as
suage the fears of the people.
This was no new cry. 1t had sounded
before. Nor did it deceive the public
much. What matters it if it be called
Asiatic cholera Or English cholera if one
| die of it? In course of time, however.
the physicians ceased their Discrimination;
and now in Paris, in st. Petersbu burg, in
Antwerp and in Hamburg there is no
longer any attempt to conceal the fact that
the great plague is upon them, and that
only the most ceaseless vigilance and the
sternest of sanitary measures can keep it
out of New York.
Friend and brother, if your house be
not in order, see that you put it so at once.
| New York Herald.