The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-15


words. In this sense it Is, to use the Ian
guage of Prof. virchow, less dan
gerous than diphtheria. This express
sion implies no over-con6dence. It
lies within each individuals power to assure
his own personal safety almost beyond pre-
adventure. He has but to drink no water
and no milk except such as has been
thoroughly boiled, and to eat no food that
has not been thoroughly and freshly cooked !;
he VIII abstain from butter and cheese, and
may then possess his soul in serenity.
CHOLERA WILL PASS HIM BY.
Ever since the Moravia arrived in port as
harbtnger OF this dreaded plague, state
and local officials have been straining
every nerve to prevent its gaining
foothold In this city and being
spread by various channels 60 the
country at large. How did it get ina is the
question on every ones lips. The health
officers faces wear a puzzled expression
when asked to solve this problem. Disin-
fecsants have been used with lavish hand,
both at quarantine and in the
city, baggage has been disinfected,
passengers have been detained even on
healthy ships, and in the city stringent
rules of cleanliness have been laid down and
| acted upon. The houses Of the dead are not
under quarantine In the sense OF being shut
up, or Of its tenants being prohibited to 60
and come when and where they please; but
mono goes or comes without the knowledge
OF the doctor on duty. The medical senti-
mel never loses sight, for many hours at a
time, Of his charges. His
INSTRUCTIONS ARE MOST MINUTE,
and his duties In the tenement full of pso-
pie most arduous. He Is to registe' in the
first place, under the orders of his superior,
the name and age of every person in the
house, what they work at and where, IL
they go out Of the house. He
is. to keep the sharpest kind
Of a lookout for the first symptom Of diar-
rhoeal trouble and upon its appearance put
the patient in bed, keep him there and pre-
scribe for him, while hurrying word around
TO the health board. He is also to superin-
tend the sanitation of the house, watch over
the people In the house, superintend disin-
fectiop, etc.
A CHOLERA SQUAD.
The summer corps Of fifty tenement doc
tors was recently turned into an expectant
cholera squad. The idea is to overwhelm
and stamp out the disease in each house, as
was done with typhus upon its first ape
pearance. That this could be done
was successfully demonstrated in
1865. Two doctors now on duty In each in
footed house will remain there until all
danger OF further outbreak has finally
passed. The health officers fully believe
N~~N NN~~ - ONs@NN NNASN
ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
from scattered centers of coutagion, but
none In the same buildings That is the
way the health officers propose to drive the
cholera from the city, now IL has got In,
and if the citizens will use reason and not
get into a foolish and needless panic they
are sure they will succeed, though they by
nc means undervalue the danger.
Everything is ready for the attack. The
a. k-a, Al L. L. <-1N n.I H.
posed cholera camp, the site Of which is yet
departments secret, can be occupied on
briefest notice. There Is no panic, and no
undue hurry at sanitary headquarters.
HOW 1T SLIPPED IN MYSTERY.
Every possibility, every feature Of the
cholera epidemic has been discounted and
provided against. How the disease slipped
through the quarantine and got in, 10, as
before stated, q mystery which the doctors
are trying to solve BY tracing each case as
far back as possible. 1t is hard 70 do that,
because all the victims are dead. OF none
of them had the department any
notice until they had died The situa-
tion is Identical with that OF
1866. when the cholera suddenly ap-
peared In three or four widely
separated places in che city. in
Ninety-third street and in Mulberry
street, quite five miles apart, after II had
been successfully Quarantined out the pre-
vious fall. Then as now feet Of plague
ships lay In the bay. But the cases of
cholera that broke out in New York had no
connection with the quarantine. The real
origin Of the plague
WAS NEVER DISCOVERED.
In THAT epidemic the first case was
that of widow who lived on the rocks in
Ninety-third street. above Third avenue.
The first case this year was that of Charles
McAvoy, who died at $40 Tenth avenue.
He was plasterer, aud the only possible
clew may be found in the statement that
he had been working about the steam
boat wharves, yet none OF the pest
ships have come up TO its wharf.
He was seized with cramps In the legs on
Monday evening, but felt better in the
morning and went to his work, At IL
o'clock in the forepoon he came home and
said he was sick. He went to bed and had
fresh attack of the cramps. The pain ex~
tended to the abdomen and kidneys and
violent diarrhoeal troubles and vomiting
followed. DR.. Robert Desson diagnosed
the case as
AsIATIo CHOLERA,
and called DIR. II. Robinson in consultation.
He confirmed the diagnosis. In the evening
McAvoy died, and the doctors advised the
board Of health. An autopsy was made upon
McAvoy's body, and the house vas disin-
fected as a measure OF precaution. The re-
suit of the autopsy was declared by
DIR. Blggs TO be "not at ell suggestive Of
Asiatio cholera, while showing familiar
signs of cholera morbus." However, some
of the intestinal fluid was taken to sanitary
headquarters and an attempt made to raise
comma baccilli in it by cultivation In a sort
of gelatine and beef soup. A fine crop
was the result The germ had beed found.
The nature of the disease was
NO LONGER OPEN TO QUESTION.
Eight days have elapsed since McAvoy's
death. What has caused the long delay in
ascertaining the exact facts OF his death is
not stated.
Sophia Wigman was next seized and
died after an illness of several days Be-
fore she was dead her husband fell
Ill and died two days later, while
she lay yet unburied. The Beck and
LovInger cases quickly followed. 1t was
said at the police headquarters this after
noon that the disease had been brought into
the city by butchers taking meat to the
qusrAntined Hamburg steamship, but this
could not be supported.
1t was determined to keep children in in
footed houses away from school and TO dis
infect and fumigate, the premises daily.
AN EPIDEMIC INDICATKD.
One of the doctors formerly attached to
the board of health, speaking OF the proba-
bility Of the spread OF cholera in this city.
said tonight: present indications