Observations on spasmodic cholera : its origin, nature, and treatment : with remarks on epidemic diseases generally / by Henry M'Cormac.

Date:
1832
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on spasmodic cholera : its origin, nature, and treatment : with remarks on epidemic diseases generally / by Henry M'Cormac. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    habitual; hence, at such periods, equal liability. Tfy.e wealthy, and the exacted, therefore,’ do not wholly escape; and their humanity receives an additional impulse from this considera- tion, to labour in the expulsion of destitution and misery, and consequently of pestilence, from the abodes of mankind. It is not easy to know what the exact circumstances are, which lead to the development of epidemic diseases, or how they produce them when they do exist. In modern Egypt we see the filthy state of human habitations, and the care - less, brutal manner of inhuming the dead ; and when we wit- ness a disease of tremendous virulence springing up under such circumstances, we are reasonably entitled to refer this disease, which we call the plague, and which was unknown in ancient times in that country, to this, condition of things. In certain districts of America, and in most of the West India islands, at particular times of the year, there is a hot, burning sun, with a rank, moist, and sometimes marshy vegetation. Exhalations are produced, which lead to a disease called the yellow fever, which sometimes, when these causes are peculiarly active, becomes, epidemic. Other instances might be mentioned, but these will probably suffice. The Cholera is said to have commenced at Jessore, in the delta of the Ganges ; and it is known that there prevails in that district a rank, marshy soil, and an exuberant vegeta- tion under a sultry sun. Ail the epidemic diseases of which we know the history, have had a similar origin. The virulence with which an epidemic breaks out, and even its existence, depend upon the general condition of the indi- viduals submitted to the influence of the circumstances al- ready spoken of. If they be well supplied with the neces- saries of life, and are cleanly in their habits, the pestilence will not break forth. Now this is a most important law ; for it seems, I think, to be ascertained beyond the shadow of a doubt, that pestilence will not arise where the people are well off. Sporadic or scattered cases will indeed, happen; but they will not spread. Of course I except those places which are unfit for human existence. Henge, it will, be seen, in virtue of the preceding, that when a people are sub- jected to famine, a very slight cause is sufficient to kindle a pestilence : war, famine, and pestilence, are, therefore, seen frequently following in each other’s train. Way leads to famine, and famine to pestilence, in inevitable succession, as if denouncing each other and the causes which have pro- duced them. Abundance of speculation has. taken place as to the man- ner in which Cholera arose; but the simplest view of the. case seems to be, that the unusually putrid emanations of an unhealthy soil, acting upon the enfeebled organs of a debilibated andempQverished people, of impure habits, in a manner which