The cholera, no judgment! : the efficacy, philosophy, and practical tendency of the prayer by the Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered to be used during the prevalence of cholera : examined in a letter, addressed to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carlisle ... / by Sensus Communis.

  • Sensus Communis.
Date:
[1849]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cholera, no judgment! : the efficacy, philosophy, and practical tendency of the prayer by the Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered to be used during the prevalence of cholera : examined in a letter, addressed to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carlisle ... / by Sensus Communis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of its preying peculiarly on the poor in their half-fed misery, and on the intemperate amidst their excesses ? Is it nothing that it is known to steal along the course of such receptacles of filth as the river Thames, and its fragrant metropolitan tributaries ? Is it nothing that it seems to take especial delight in hovering over our church-yards ? Is the Registrar-General’s daily Report an altogether useless document, while it shows that in the squalid abodes of filth, and sinks of beastly immorality, which abound in the eastern districts of the metropolis, the mortality from cholera, in proportion to the population, nearly trebles that of the north of London ?* This is a fact beyond the reach of controversy ; is there, then, I repeat, nothing to be gathered from it, but that we must sit down in despair, and say, “ It is God who smites, therefore who shall resist His will ? ” My Lord, this would be a deadly sin ! I am certain there is a lesson we may know, if we choose to learn ; and the unborn millions of future ages will witness whether, or not, we shall have heeded it as we ought. This eventful year of 1849, if we respect the warning that is now offered to us, will for centuries be looked back to with something of the same feeling that we now regard that of 1666. The fearful calamity of fire which then destroyed half London turned out in the sequel to be an inestimable blessing. It destroyed those wooden breeding-places of disease that man in his folly would have retained. Doubtless, at that time men called it a terrible infliction of the wrath of God; now we thank Him for that merciful act of His kind and loving care. What, then, let us inquire, is the lurking secret beneath the stern exterior of this grievous disease ? To my mind this pestilence illustrates one important fact, which we shall do well to give good heed to. It seems to warn us that, wondrously accommodating as our physical constitution may be, there is yet one point beyond which its elasticity cannot go. Let us think well over this. Is our present mode of living exactly as Nature intended that it should be ?—or have we perverted the laws of our nature, and thereby habitually run counter to our best interests ? Are the habits and customs of society in accordance with the knoivn dictates of our physical necessities ? Man, though an animal of hardy growth, cannot afford to bid defiance to the laws of his constitution, for facts are now telling us, that he does so at his peril. Like the stately palm-tree, he will thrive in majestic beauty in those fair regions where his Creator placed him ; but like that # According to the 'Report of tho Registrar-General as given in the “Times,” the number of deaths from cholera and diarrhoea in tho east and west and north districts of London were respectively as follows:— During the four days, front the 10th to the 13th September inclusive:— East districts, popidation in 1841, 392,000, deaths 272, average 1 in 1,441. West do. „ „ 301,000, „ 149, „ 1 in 2,020. North do. „ „ 370,000, „ 100, „ 1 in 3,547. During the twelve days, from the 10th to 21st inst. inclusive:— East districts, population as above, deaths 584, average 1 in 071. West do. „ „ „ 298, „ 1 in 1,010. North do. „ „ „ 244, „ 1 in 1,541. Assuming the increase of population up to this time (1849) to be the same as in the ten years from 1831 to 1841, at tliis rate the whole of the present numbers would, in (lie east districts, be destroyed by this disease alone in less than t wenty-six years; while the same calculation shows that, in the northern districts, the time required would be upwards of sixty years.