The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-05-12
FOR THE PEOPLES HEALTH
DIR. Hibberd Explains the Pre-
cautions to BE Taken Against
Cholera.


Cholera.
The third annual conference Of the
health fficers Of the State he'd in sthe
Board Of Agriculture rooms of the State
house u very interesting session in
April. The roll call showed sixty-eighn
secretaries present and about forty-fivel
counties represented.
PREVENTION OF cHoLEBA.
DR.. James +. Hibberd, Of Richmond,
read q paper on the necessity for pre-
vention against cholera. as follows:
"Asiatic cholera is indigenous in q cer-
tain part of maritime India, and is sn-
nually transported to other parts Of the
same country. and at longer periods to
regions outside of India, aud occasion
ally spre .ds over the civilized world,
wherever travel aud commercial traffic
extends.
Among the pilgrims who visit the
shrines, TO them holy, situated where
the cholera always exists, almost all the
visitors are seized with the disease, and
80 per cent. OF those attacked die in the
same year. and even in more enlighten-
ed countries where the inhabitants are
negligent and filth sbounds. 80 per cent.
Of those seized perish, while at other
times and places where more care exists
or the epidemic is milder, 30 per cent.
is the limit Of fatality.
A few hours often suffice to carry Q
stout individual from apparent good
health through the tortUres Of cholera to
death. and in all fatal cases few days at
most cover the issue. IL direct.
T. e..
year it has existed in western Asia and
nearly all over Europe, but especially in
those parts abroad where commercial
traffic, travel and emigration have had
their higher development, making il
altogether probable that the shores of
America will be reached through some
Of these channels in the near future.
Within the last decade our knowledge
of cholera, its cause, how its cause be-
comes disseminated aud impregnates
its victims, and bow the dissemination
OF its cause may be sverted and its i'm.
pregnation Of persons prevented has ad-
vanced SO rapidly as to be now almost
perfect.
I. is the .ulness Of our recognition of
the cansc Of cholera; Of its ready trans
portation and the channels through
which it travels; OF the lines and meth.
DDS by which II invsdes new territory !;
and OF its easy arrest and destruction BY
measures within our reach, that places
upon us an imperious necessity to exert
ourselves for its prevention. To pre-
vent cholera we must emasculate its
cause, and 10 be able TO emasculate its
cause we must study the nature, attri-
butes and power of that cause. Time
does not admit of an extended discussion
OF this subject on this occssion, and II
will therefore content myself BY pre-.
senting my views In the similitude of
. series Of aphorisms which, while
seemingly severely dogmatic, are in my
estimatio" fully supported by the latest
Investigations OF competent observers.
Bacteria are immense numbers OF micro.
scopic vegetables, so small that the high.
est magnify ing power has found speci-
mems too minute for correct description.
Medical bacteriologists for convenience
distribute these microscopic plants into
three classes "A round one is . microco-
Gus, a straight filament is q bacillus, an
aspiral flament is spiviIlum. These
signify nothing, but form
aid are simple aids to reference, but
other attributes are many and important
to sanitarisns. Bacteria are found ev.
cry where, in the water. in the atmos-
phere, In the soil, on and in man and ell
animals, and on everything man and
animals eat. Most OF them are harm.
less. many Of them salutary and contrib
ute TO animal health and longevity, 10.
Guiding man, aud only fifteen Of them
have so far been satisfactorily proven toI
be the direct cause OF disease in man.
each Of which excites . specific disorder
that .as no other origin. II 10 on these
lines that physicians and ssnitsrisns in
vestigste aud consider bacteria, but
botanists make extensive subdivision n
Of them into genera. species ana varie-
ties according 10 the rules Of botanical
science.
The essential factor In the genesis oil
cholera is the spivilum cholera Asistic,
almost universally kno wn by the name
bacillus given ii by Koch. II is
q small microbe about the 1-2500O Of an
inch in length aud one third OF that in
transverse diameter. We can hardly
conceive Of living thing so minute. IL
would require 1000 Of them, placed end
to end, TO extend LES OF "a inch, and a
sphere Of the size OF drop OF ordinary
fluid wonld contain 523 800 900 OF them.
This microbe entering the alimentary y
canal Of man finds in the email intestine
the conditions suitable for its develop.
ment and reproduction. and 1t at once
enters into an active and prosperous CO.
rcer, multiplying 50 rapidly as to be al
most beyond conception. II breeds by
each spivillum dividing Itself into two
spivilla aud each Of these into two more
aud so on. This division has been seen
to take place Ia the laboratory In twenty
minutes after q spivillum had been
planted. placed In a suitable culture me-
dium; but let US suppose such division
To be complete once an hour, q simple
calculation will demonstrate that 1t the
end Of twenty-four hours the descend.
ants Of this one microbe would
number l6,777,2ls. As II must
be a rare thing for pcrson who
swallows such = micr0bc TO swal-