Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1911-08-23

Although it is believed that the ordi
nary period of incubation Of cholera
Is from one to five days, recent in
vestigation has conclusively shown
that an indefinite and prolonged pc
riod may intervene between the time
when the specific organism is taken
into the system of person and the
appearance Of the symptoms Of the
disease. Furthermore, persons known
as carriers, in whose intestinal tract
the organism is present, may act as
media of infection and transmit the
disease to others and still remain well.
The existence Of cholera carriers has
recently been very effectively con-
drmed and 1t is explained that the
organism may not be stirred into ac-
tivity so as to produce cholera in
some of these carriers unless excited
thereto by a debauch or some other
irregularity of conduct.
The danger of the introduction of
cholera from one port to another is
not so much by typical cases as the
mild or irregular ones, which often
pass unrecognized. Cholera may ap-
pear in the form Of simple diar-
rhoea, which exciteS little or no sus-
pieion or It may d in7a more OBJ
scure, manner. and Simulate some
other affection. While certain articles
of food or drink brought from an In
fected district may contain he spe-
cific organism of cholera and may
subsequently act as media of .nfec-
ton, there is reason to believe that
this is not of very frequent occur
renee.
There was some agitation in New
!! York last year as the result of the
presence Of a few cholera cases at the
quarantine station. but the last real
cholera scare was late in the summer
of 1892
In the 60 years preceding 1892 there
were five epidemics of cholera in this
country, resulting in $4,000 deaths.
The first outbreak was in 1882, the
second in 1884, the third in 1S4S, the
fourth In 1854, and the fifth in 1865
Asiatic cholera attacked with great
virulence the LOCO soldiers stationed
at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in 1892.
the first year in which the East In
dian destroyer appeared in North
America, and 200 of them were ad-
mitted to hospitals in eight or nine
days. The troops at this point were
young and in good physical condition,
but the poison germs had been brought
to the country in immigrant ships and
they had found victims in many Cana
dian and United States cities. Fatal
tiles at the fort were large, but physi-
clans by hard work got some 700 Of
the men on their feet again. and in
September of that year they were or
dered to march to the Mississippi
river in the neighborhood of the pres
ent city Of Dubuque. They had not
travelled so miles, however, before
cholera broke out in their ranks again
and before the command could reach
the river the percentage Of deaths
was as great as it had been at the
fort
Frances cholera death roll in 1882
was 10000. and Of this vast number
1000 passed away in Paris in 1s days.
The disease crossed the channel to
Great Britain in the spring and sum-
mer Of that year and sent thousands
to their graves in England, Wales and
Ireland. From Liverpool. Cork, Linn
erick and Dublin there sailed five
steamers filled with emigrants, many
Of them having taken fight from the
epidemic. Cholera broke out on all
of them and 179 Of their passengers
died on the voyage to Quebec. The
living and the dying were hurried by
the steamer Voyageur to Montreal,
where those who were able to travel
were scattered up the St Lawrence
and to half hundred inland Canadian
and United States towns. Almost in
the time that it takes to tell the story
cholera broke out at Kingston. To-
ronto and Niagara Falls, and com.
pany of United States soldiers aboard
the steamer Henry Clay took the
death-dealing epidemic to Detroit
whence, 1t spread along the great
lakes to almost every place of 100
people as far as the $780,"
Eternal vigilance is the price Of
human life in the battle with the first
assistant to the undertaken. CleanIi.
ness and alertness should be the
watchword of everybody Hygienic
measures should be studied and dis,r.
fection practiced wherever there
seems possibility for the disease 20
break out.