The Portland daily press., 1893-03-18
HOW CHOLERA KILLS.
An Expert Microscopic Gives Some Inter-
esting Facts.
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
OMAHA, March 16.-There are few OF
us who have not in some corner OF the
mind little nook or pigeonhole labeled
"Cholera," where we have stored mis-
cellaneous and more or less fearsome
collection Of facts and fancies relative to
the plague which has been promised us
as feature of life's variety performance
for the coming summer. For many
years I 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 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 a row of little
pitfalls 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
rieus 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 'sbacteria,"
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 ill. 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. It would take congregation of 1900
or 1900 of one 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 single cell-the very
simplest form in which life can exist.
The bacterium has, though, truly won
derful capacity for growth and increase.
It 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 one
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 IL, 000,0
or more Of descendantsl It is this that
makes the epidemics Of disease SO dread
full, and which makes them spread and
H. <<x,,reo
and certainty which it has seemed al
most beyond the power Of the physician
to control until within a short time.
Now that we 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. It 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 cal1se it enter your own system
and take up their residence in the intes-
final canal to grow and multiply. There
is nothing ethereal about the bacteria.
They are actual entities. These diseases
are not communicated by miasma SIN
the air." as malaria seems to be. You
can no more die because your neighbor
has cholera or smallpox than you could
as 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 poison known
as ssptomaine," 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 abb
sorbed and carried to various other parts
of the body to create the local disturb
ances which we have learnf to recog-
nize as symptoms" of the an5ease.
When this destructive operation be-
gins, nature is quick to be on hand with
her favorite process Of repair and heal
ing by SEEMING 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 the
same. If the bacteria present are not
too many or have not obtained toomuch
of start, SO that the 'sptomaine" is too
rapidly evolved, and if prompt measures
have been taken by the physician to head
off the "varmints," nature viii accom-
plish her purpose; otherwise the tissues,
both old and new, continue to give way
until they are reduced to almost sieve
like condition, and hemorrhages make it
another case for the death cart and the
mortuary column. Medicines can hardly
| be said to cure the disease.s ALI the ply
stefan can do is to put stop to the