The record-union., 1893-08-15
SOURCES OF CHOLERA.

A few days ago we referred to the holy
well near Mecca, the Zemzem, as the seat
and source of the present cholera scourge,
and expressed the thought that the civil
lied nations have a right to not
only protest against the nuisance, but
10 enforce the protest with arms, since no
nation has a right to imperil the lives of
the people of all other nations by making
a nuisance of itself
Some question has been raised by
correspondent as to the correctness of our
charge. The fact is that we did not state
it sufficiently strong. 1t is of record that
in 1866 over 10000 pilgrims to Mecca died
OF cholera at that point. Why? Because
Of the most filthy of customs which pre-
vail among them. For instance, they
travel long distances in intolerable heat,
on insufficient food, and arrive by the
hundred thousand exhausted and unclean
in person, many of them covered with
sores, and others afflicted with diseases
of the most loathsome character.
These ali go to the we'll. In turn they
stand naked by it, and bucket of water
is poured over each one. Then a quantity
OF the water is given to the pilgrim to
drink, and what he cannot swallow is
turned upon the ground and with that
which has washed his body, flows back
into the well. OF course such a practice
eontaminates the water, and when DR..
Frankland analyzed it he found it to be
reeking with disease germs. The pill
grims make three or four visits to the
well, and rest at and in the vicinity of
Mecca, and as there is a multitude of
these people the whole region becomes
one of unremoved filth, and as result the
cholera breaks out, beginning with those
loose conditions of the bowels due to ex-
haustion and insufficient and improper
food.
In 1866, within a few days after the be-
ginning of the ceremony of ablution at
the well, the road for twelve miles to the
foot of Mount Ararat was so thickly
strewn with the dead that the camels had
to forsake the beaten path. The dis
patches within fortnight have told US
that this scene is now being repeated, and
that thousands of dead pilgrims lie rot
ting under the blazing sun, while cholera
stalks over the country, and, taking
wings, reaches routes of European travel
and then waters become infected where
ever the conditions invite breeding Of
the germs, and so the disease spreads.
This explains why last year the pest
ravaged Hamburg. The city was using
river water that was in a condition to re-
ceive and breed the germs of the plague.
This year the water defect has been rem
edied and Hamburg is free from the
cholera.
In 1891 DR.. Simpson, says Mr.. Hart of
the British Medical journal, who was
Health officer of Calcutta many years
made report upon two pilgrimages he
had witnessed in two sections of India.
one of these was for the purpose of bath
ing in the holy waters as religious rite
The gathering took place at Kalighat, on
Tolly's Nulla, a small tidal creek held to
be sacred. 1t is so small that it can be
waded across. 1t is so foul that it reeks
with unspeakable filth of all kinds.
There is no good drinking water at hand.
no drainage Of the region, no method of
disposing Of human excreta. The horde
of pilgrims were crowded in huts of the
rudest character, since Kalghat is not a
large place. and has not accommodations
for strangers, many of whom 60 into
Calcutta for accommodation. Around
the settlement are numerous polluted
tanks at all times. and when the pilgrims
came they were the breeders of disease
among these tanks. while the Nulla be-
came foul sewer and nothing more.
The spot is suburban to Calcutta, and
here the doctor saw hundred and fifty
thousand pilgrims assemble and battle in