The St. Johns herald., 1893-12-14
CHOLERA IN INDIA.
How tho Scourge Is Spread Among
 the People.
An Utter Lack of Sanitary PrecaCtion Makes of the Villages . Perfect Breeding Ground for the
 Disease Germs.

 4 plain story of the conditions that
 prevail in India for the spread of the
 cholera was told lately at the New
 Century club by Dr. Pauline Root of
 the Woman's medical college, who has lived for eight years in southern India, says the Philadelphia Ledger. Dr.
 Root began by describing the condi- tions under which people live in soutA ern India in order to show exactly
 what circumstances generate the cholera. There is absolutely no san itation there. as we have it. Drainage. with the exception Of Q fever breeder in the way of an open sewer, is un- known. In the villages the people live in low mud huts, where all the family congregate in one room, the di- mensiOns of which are likely to be four feet by ten CT twelve feet. As there are TO outbuildings at all there is no way in which persons can protect themselves against the cholera if it once appears in such a household. Sometimes. if the well runs dry, stag nant water must be used. A high caste parsonage will not allow a low caste to use his well.
 Commonly people go to the river for water. As the water is frequently not On the surface tub is dug in the river bed and the water allowed to col lect. At this tub, or at the well, all the functions of bathing are per- formed. First the jar is filled, and the water being dashed over the person 4-.io 40 %- T-, the case of certain religious enthusi- asts water is poured over the body fifty times. Next the seely, the single piece of silk or cloth which is worn as a garment, must be washed. This is dipped into the pool. Finally the jar is reflled and carried home. The quail ity of the water by the time the jar is reflled is promising indeed when cholera is in the air. In these river tubs the clothes are washed. The cat tie are taken there to drink.
 Dr. Root said that in sending man to the river to fetch water there was never any certainty that he would not fill his jar with the water standing in one of the pools, instead of digging fresh hole. The very cleanliness of the people, and they are extremely clean, tends to the spread of cholera, because their method of bathing is so unintelligent In southern India there is always more or less cholera. It is gious festival-of the marriage of two divinities-which is celebrated by an encampment in the river bed for four or five days
 As for facilities in caring for the sick in India, Dr. Root graphically showed how forlornly poor these are by de- scribing her experience in the house of the vice president of the municipality of Madua, wealthy man, who arrayed himself resplendently when he came to ask her to visit his wife, thus showing his soliCitude for his wife's condition. Undoubtedly he meant to do the best he could for the sick woman, for the doctor found her in room adjacent to her husband's-a position of honor. The woman was badly crippled and only able to crawl down from her cot. Beyond playing with the children and polishing the jewels nothing relieved the monotony of her day. She was en- tirely uncared for. A hole in the wall for refuse was cleaned only once a day. The woman died of blood poisoning And this is the way sick person fared in one of the better houses! Usually a sick person is placed in room that is reached from the house by crossing $ court and passing through an alley. The alley usually has black, slimy wa ter in it. The room is seven feet square. In the court are often found the cow, chickens and . number of per- sons. No wonder that, under such conditions, cholera spreads like wild fire. But cholera is always brought. It never starts of itself