Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-03-30
HOW CHOLERA KILLS.
An Expert Microscopic Gives Some Inter
estins Facts.
Especial Correspondence

rs who have not in some corner of the
mind a little nook or pigeonhole labeled
Cholera" where ~ have stored a mis-
cellaneous and more or less fearsome
collection of facts and fancies relative to
the plague which has been promised US
as a feature of life's variety performance
years / have studied this and kindred
diseases, with the aid of the microscope,
and have grown to terms of intimacy
with the little scoundrels which are just
now disturbing our peace. / want to
tell you in a plain English way just how
it is that cholera, typhoid fever and the
rest Of that family of diseases bring
about the dread result of death.
Upon my table stands q row of little
phials containing a rich preparation of
meat jelly, or beef tea. all tightly stopped
with cotton wool. Upon looking closely
it is easy to see upon the surface of
each of the jellies small patches of va
rious colors looking not unlike the mold
which sometimes collects upon the
housewives preserves. These patches
are living and growing colonies of the
organism which we know as bacteria"
which are the so called ''germs" of many
diseases. Each colony is made up of but
one kind of bacteria-the seed of one
particular variety of i'll. You might
pick and choose your death. From this
bottle you could draw cholera; that
holds typhoid fever; the next, consump
ton.
The bacteria are almost infinitely lit
tie. 1t would take a congregation of 5000
or 1000 of n of the larger species to
make a speck large enough to be even
dimly discerned by the straining of the
sharpest eye unaided. The creatures can
hardly be said to be organized" for in
their truly infinite simplicity they are
made up Of but a single cell-the very
simplest form in which life can exist.
The bacterium has, though, a truly won
derful capacity for growth and increase.
1t does not multiply in the orthodox
ways, but a tiny wall will appear TO
form through the middle of the body, a
division takes place where this wall
formed, and presto! where we had n
we now have two, then four, then eight,
until. if there is food and warmth and
nothing to interfere with the process, a
single cell will SO increase that at the end
Of even "A hours there will be 10, 000, 900
or more of descendants. 1t is this that
makes the epidemics of disease so dread
full, and which makes them spread and
run their hideous course with a rapidity
and certainty which it has seemed al
most beyond the power of the physician
IN rnntrn1 ,,,,+i1 ,ry,tI,, 4, ,I~,I @s-,o
Now that W. begin to know something
about the bacteria we are not without
hope.
The real seat of operations of cholera
or typhoid fever is the bowels. where the
specific bacteria of the disease must find
an actual Judgment before the trouble
can possibly begin. 1t makes no differ
ence how much of the disease there may
be around you, it cannot possibly affect
you in any way unless the bacteria
which cause it enter your W system
and take up their residence in the intes-
final lea to grow and multiply. There
is nothing ethereal about the bacteria
They are actual entities. These diseases
are not communicated by a miasma '.in
the air." as malaria seems to be. You
cal no more die because your neighbor
has cholera or smallpox than you could
as a result of his having taken prussic
acid unless the germs of disease from his
sickroom are permitted to become your
tenants.
Now, suppose that the bacteria pecul-
lar to cholera have entered the system
and taken up their abode in that chosen
seat Of activity, the bowels: what comes
of it? How does the disease act to pro-
duce death? The process is simply this:
The functions of life in the bacteria re-
suit in the production of a poison known
as '.ptomaine," much as the process of
life in the human body results in the
formation of carbonic acid, etc. This
''ptomaine" attacks the delicate lining
of the bowels, destroying the cells and
breaking down the tissues, and is alb
sorbed anu carried to various other parts
of the body to create the local disturb
ances which we have leafned to recog-
nize as symptoms of the disease.
When this destructive operation be-
1 gins, nature is quick to be on hand with
her ~sa~cr:te process of repair and heal
ing by sending a myriad of new cells
from the ever ready blood to build up
new tissues and make new walls and lin
ings for the injured regions. If you cut
your finger, the process of repair is tho
same. If the bacteria present are not
too many or have not obtained too much
Of a start, SO that the '~'ptomaine" is toe
rapidly evolved, and if prompt measures
have been taken by the physician to head
off ne ~.'varlnints," nature will accom-
plish her purpose; otherwise the tissues,
both old and new, continue to give way
until they are reduced to almost a sieve
like condition, and hemorrhages make it
another case for the death cart and the
mortuary column. Medicines a hardly
be said to cure the disease. All the ply
stefan can do is to put a stop to the
growth of the bacteria; nature will 'do
the rest"
Nov. VIXEN you know that the bacteria
can only live and carry ON their business
in the actual presence of decomposition,
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