Suggestions in reference to the present cholera epidemic, for the purification of the water supply, and the reclamation of east London : with remarks on the origin of cholera poison, proofs given in facts connected with the sources of water supply in India, with illustrative incidents descriptive of successful preventive measures, and curative efforts / by William Sanderson.

  • Sanderson, William, C.E.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Suggestions in reference to the present cholera epidemic, for the purification of the water supply, and the reclamation of east London : with remarks on the origin of cholera poison, proofs given in facts connected with the sources of water supply in India, with illustrative incidents descriptive of successful preventive measures, and curative efforts / by William Sanderson. 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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    observing the progress of the malady, and of which I have had much sad experience ; and acting on the desire to make a communication to the public, I do not presume to appear in the character of a member of the grand fraternity of the literati of this age and day, but humbly to “ say my say,” and leave it to work its effect if it has any weight: with this deprecative remark I proceed, by repeat- ing that there is no doubt that Cholera is caused by polluted water, but it depends upon the matter by which it is rendered impure, and then to adduce proof from record, tradition, and experience in India, CHAPTER I. Cholera is known to have originated in India, which has long been well populated, even in the prehistoric period. Cholera could originate only in dense masses of population deposit- ting excreta and other animalized matter over surfaces, from which it is carried by the percolation of the rainfall to the sources of the water supply, and in a measure by surface drainage into the rivers and reservoirs natural and artificial. From the prehistoric period the populations of India have been constantly congregated in and around large armies. Cholera was first known to Europeans in the eighteenth century in Indian armies ; but the malady had devastated various parts of India for centuries, returning at various periods. The Indian name for Cholera, “ Murree,” meaning “ The death,” is found in some of the puranas, or theological writings of a later date than the Brah- minical Shastur; the word is not derived from the Sanscrit, and although adopted and used by Brahminical Hindoos, is derived from a primitive language; uncouth dialects of which are spoken by the Tharoos and the Booksthes of the Turai, the Bhils and Ghonds, of Central India, and the various aboriginal tribes scat- tered over the more inaccessible portions of the mountain and the Ghaut districts of India generally. A little more than a century before the Greek invasion of India, Budha, the great reformer of the Brahminical religion, appeared, and devoted his life to the instruction of the people, and the intro- duction of a new system, with a view of lessening the power of the priesthood. One of the disciples of that great reformer departing from the simplicity of his doctrine and manner of dealing, sought to lower the priesthood by detraction, and seizing upon the dread “ Murree ” as a subject, he caused to be cut in tire stone or Mono- lith before a temple, then ancient, near Vizianuggur, a distich