The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-05-05
FIRST CASE WAS
NOT DISCOVERED
CHOLERA PROBABLY rInsT on1o.
MATED ng TUE GOLD
MINE.
CFrom Wednesday, Advcrtiser.)


for some time previous 70 its discovery
in the case az Hustace lane is pointed
ont in the report Of DR.. Donald II.
Currie to the board Of health, not a.
yet published, and probably about four
cases are shown to have occurred be-
fore the supposed commencement Of
the short-lived epidemic.
According TO present theories It is
extremely probable that the gold mine
which is now slated for absolute de-
struction since the known case broke nit
there, was the center from which this
infection originated. The first death
supposed to have been caused by
cholera was that Of Hawaiian living
in one of the tumbledown shanties
little to the right of the main settle
ment at this place. The man was a
watchman at Japanese fishing camp
and was living with his wife only.
He was found dead by the police in
his house, am autopsy being held by
Doctor Emerson. Doctors Currie and
Sinclair both viewed the body and
casually remarked that it looked some
thing like cholera and that IL cholera
were here the case might be put down
to it. The matter was in the hands of
Doctors MacI1all and Emerson, however,
and the federal officials simply dropped
in on a plague hunt. After the pres
enee of cholera was confirmed the two
met and exclaimed simultaneously that
this must have been a cholera case that
they had casually examined.
A search of the mortality records
afterwards resulted in the discovery
that the wife of this man had died
in the hospital, the death certificate
describing her symtons. Doctor Currie
states that the attending physician
could not have described the clinical
symptoms of cholera better than he had
done here, but also calls attention to
the fact that when the presence of a
disease in n city is moe known it Is
very seldom that the thought of it oc-
ours during attendance ON the patient.
Doctor Lii, who reported the first
known cholera cases, and who from his
wide experience in China, is said to
know the clinical symptoms of cholera
better than any other physician in the
city, also believes that these early gold
mine cases were cholera. In another
part of his report. Doctor Currie says:
The Report.
"First-That it is impossible to state
just when cholera was introduced here,
but the mortality statistics indicate
that few, if amy, cases occurred prior
to February "a.
"Second-That it is equally impos-
siblc to determine in what way cholera
was introduced here. The probabilities
are that it came from tcholera car
rier' to this port either from Japan
China or the Philippines Islands, all OF
which countries have or have had
cholera recently. From experiments
conducted by me something over two
years ago, it is, in my opinion, improb
able that cholera was introduced here
through the medium Of oriental food
stuffs from China or Japan.
FThird-An the evidence we have
secured tends to indicate that most Of
the cases of cholera here were in
fected through the medium of poi, pre-
pared in certain poi shops in this city
All of our evidence, however, thai
bears on this subject, is, as before
mentioned, circumstantial. Neverthe
less, it appears to me to be quite strong
and / personally believe that it woulC
be most unwise for yonr board to await
positive evidence (Which will probably
never be securely before continuing
active measures in this matter.
The Infected Ponds.
s'Fourth-As stated in 'III', tn
evidence we have secured pointed Il
infected poi being the cause of th
cholera cases; the poi shops suspecte'
of selling this supposedly infected ma
terial had, as far as we could deter
! mine, no connection with one another
except that they all secured their tar
, from q common source, namely, th
: Manoa taro ponds. We therefore SUI
pect those ponds as being the sourc
, of the infection of most of these caseI
, and in forming this opinion as to tn
possibilities of infection coming froI
, these Manoa ponds, we have considere
the fact that about one.half Of the tar
supply of this city comes from tha
district. But even that, plus the el'
, ment of coincidence, hardly explain
: the data we have secured.
, efThe tarO is carried from theH
4 ponds to a number OF poi shops;
! these poi shops the uneooked materii
! is handled by the Chinese workmen en-
: ployed there. These woTkmen the
! handle the cooked material, after
I has cooled. 1t is easy to see how frol
: time to time the infection may thu
: be carried, by means Of the workmen
: hands, from the uncooked TO the cooke
! material. This indirect method Of i
I lection may also account for the rel
lively small number Of cases that hay
! occurred here.
n The Beginning.
! s'Fifth-Aside from the eireunstai
J. tial evidence, leading from cholera ca
2 to poi shop and from poi shop to Mano
: there is the positive evidence of wi
!. nesses that AIanana' 's clothes we
!. washed in an irrigation ditch Of Il
y Manoa stream, and that Manana use
y , up to q few minutes before his deaf
= the privy situated on the bank Of Il
same irrigation stream. There ID ]
= question that this event must ha'
= infected these waters at that tin
y (whether they had been infected befo
- A. snotN aud fhia fffiOatiOn ditch An