Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-09-10
NOTES ON CHOLERA.
DR.. Wright Gives Valuable In.
formation on the Disease.
An Able Paper on Subject That is Now
Attracting Much Attention and
Thought.

To the Tobacco Leaf Chronicle.]
Doctors are now so constantly az
costed with questions about the eI
idemic now prevalent in Europe tina
think 1t we'll to answer a few Il
print. / will make my answers a
brief as possible, but querists viii
please remember that answers ar
necessarily longer than questions
Here comes one for instance, "Doc
tor, what is,best to do about chol
era?" There at once is question
the answer TO which might fill tn
paper several times over. shal
give a shorter one which will b
hardly more satisfactory. "The bes
thing is to have nothing to do will
It," And that had better be the enc
of the method by questions and an
sWers.
/ will endeavor the difficult task O
telling you how to have nothing Il
do with It so far as possible.
/ pass by the treatment of the
United States and also the State o.
Tennessee and prefer to consider
what the people of a town like
Clarksville can do to protect them.
selves.
Clean up, says somebody, says
everybody. But how to clean up!
that is seldom prescribed; and YET
the way this is done by uninstructed
people would better be called the
way not to do it.
A police officer or two are instruct
ed to see that the town shall look
tidy by means of some sweeping and
scraping and then by plentiful
spreading of lime, and then we are
ready for any epidemic that may
come along; the thing is done and if
that does not make us safe it is no
use talking.
Alas! even for the temporary clean
ing indicated this is, almost nothing.
The lime covers a multitude of sins,
but cures none, for lime does not neu-
tralize filth, it simply dries it up till
the first shower. But moreover a
town may be absolutely clean to-day
and hopelessly infected with cholera
tomorrow. Dirt is not productive
Of cholera, it is only the manure
which promotes its growth. The
seed which alone can produce that
crop is found in the contents of the
bowels of choleraic patients, and un-
less these are prevented from being
scattered abroad there is no security
for the people.
Have the city clean then by all
means, but that is only the begin
nlng. The destruction of these con-
tents as soon as they are discharged
is the one security, and how is that to
be effected :?
There are only three ways, burn
ing, boiling and chemical disinfec-
ton.
Burning. This is much the most
effective, but can ordinarily be only
applied to clothing and bedding,
which has been soiled with choleraic
discharges.
BoiIing.-This is applicable to
clothing not only, but to the actual
discharges from the vessels IN which
they are received, these discharges
being highly fluid in character. In
times Of cholera epidemics every
family ought to be provided with a
two gallon IRON pot for this purpose.
CHEMICAL DIsINFECTIoN.
1t had better be stated at once that
disi'Vection means killing, Just as the
burning and boiling kill. The cause
of disease and death is living
growth originating within the body,
but capable of life after being dis
charged from it, and even of self
multiplication and indefinite de-
velopment, provided it has fitting
soil to grow in, and that soil is filth.
1t must be killed before it reaches
such soil, or its growth be-
comes thing beyond control.
Its principle of conservation is life
independent of the body in which il
originates, its only cure is death, the
germ must be killed.
The agents for killing the germ
then are the only true disinfectants,
and the most reliable are chlorine
and sulphur, the chlorine being ad.
ministered in the form of its com
pounds called the chlorides, especi
ally those of mercury, soda and lime
though in its elemental condition il
is of greatlvalue, but requires scien
tific management. And the greatest
of these chlorides for these purpose:
is the chloride of mercury, commonly
called corrosive su6limdte.
For the application of these by non
professional people, the following pre-
parations should be kept on hand
each in gallon jug:
Solution No. 1-Corrosive subli
mate, 4 or; sulphate of copper, ID.
water, l gallon. Label poison. TC
be diluted when used as follows