Year: 1866

Pasic Makers-AHe Cholera.


The efforts made by cerhsin journals OF TINS
city to get up Q cholera pa mic offer about a.
bad an example Of the abuse Of the power Of
the press as any that has been witnessed. For
the sake Of pushing q circulation which nothing
but exciting influences can stima late they un'
scrupulorsly work on the fears Of "a timid and
keep them in state Of causeless alm IN. They
are aided, we regret to say, by portA,n OF the
medical profession, who have their oN-n inte-
rests to subserve by keeping up the scare. We
cannot conceive anything more abominable
than this playing upon the public nervousness
with view to profit by it. II exhibits human
nature in its worst aspect, and is especially to
be condemned in the members of professions
which claim to be regarded as the guardians
of the public safety. II a4


There never was anything more senseless or
ridiculous than this alarm about the Asiatic
cholera. We are satisfied that up to the
present time there has not been single
well authenticated case of it. The reports
Of the Board of Health prove nothing, for
they confound with it in their returns all cases
ofcho.era morbus, billions dlarrhna and cholera
infantum. To show how unreliable they are,
we may mention the fact that the day before
Yesterday we heard one of the doctors con-
nected with the Board assert that out of twenty
cases Of declared Asiatic cholera which he
had been sent 10 visit he could not recognize
one which had any of the real characteristics
of the disease. If the other medical men en-
ployed as inspectors were as we'll posted on
the symptoms of the disease, there is no doubt
that the returns daily given to the public
would be divested of all grounds for alarm.
We question very much if three-fourtLs Of
them really know what Asiatic cholera is.
They arc mostly young men without practice
and who have had but little or no experience
of this dreadful scourge. How, then, can they
be expected to distinguish between 1t and the
cognate summer maladies which annually at
this period of the year carry off SO many Of
our city popuIations


In determining upon the presence Of Asiatic
cholera there is one thing that should always
be borne in mind--it spares neither age nor
sex nor condition; the rich, the well fed and
the oleanly are just as liable to it as the poor,
half starved and slovenly. What are the facts
in regard to the disease or diseases set down
in this category by the Boardf In almost every
instance the persons attacked belong to the
very poorest class Of our population, and there
ID in their habits Of life sufficient to render
them subject to contagion of any description.
If typhoid fever had manifested itself as the
prevailing epidemic they would just as surely
have been taken down by it as by bilious diar-
rhoea, which is simply what the reports of the
Board Of Health style Asiatic cholera, bnt
which has no more claim to be considered SO
than dysentery or cholera infantum. 1t true
that two or three medical men are included In
the list Of mortality from this cause; but it is
notorious that not a season passes without one
or more of that portion of the medical pro-
fession whose attendance Is confined to the
poor falling victims TO the fevers prevalent
among them during the summer heat af


We repeat that not only Is there no founda-
tion whatever for the panic excited about the
Asiatic cholera, but that the alarmists are per-
sons who have direct interest in creating It.
We question very much whether the Board OF
Hcalth and Its officers are not entitled to be
classed among them. They have certainly
done everything in their power TO deserve it.