The cholera epidemic of 1873 in the United States.

  • United States. Surgeon-General's Office.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cholera epidemic of 1873 in the United States. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    641 cnn’Gtl, in wliicb tbe disease died out at sea; but convalescent patients, soiled clothing’, and perhaps contaminated bilge-water, introduced the disorder into other cities and harbors. ARABIA AKD PERSIA. In 1821, cholera first extended to the West beyond the confines of Ilisdostan, viz, to the islands of Kishtneand Ormuz and to the city of Muscat, on the Arabian side of the foot of the Persian Gulf. It was said to have been brought to Kishme by a convoy of English troo])S from Bombay to Muscat, both by slave-ships from Zanzibar and vessels from Bombay. Cholera recurred in the Bombay Presidency and City in 1819, 1820, and 1821, over one hundred and fifty thousand country and town people having died of it. Whole villages were depopulated, and the terror was so great in Bombay that the crews of many vessels loaded with cotton deserted and fled in the night. Cannons were fired to shock away the supposed aerial pestilence, although the southwest monsoon had been blowing against the disease for nlonths from the Indian (.icean and Arabian Sea. Tar and sulphur v ere burnt in the streets, in place of thorough cleansing, ventilation, and disinfection of persons, clothing, and houses. Then in 1821 eight hundred British troops, under Captain Thompson, went to the island of Kishme, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, and from there were sent to the north and rear of Muscat to co-operate with the Iman of that place against the Wahabees from Central Arabia. Kext, three thousand more troops were forwarded from Bombay, under Sir Lionel Smith, to the island of Ormuz, near Kishme, and cholera broke out on both islands before June, 1821, having first appeared in the English garrison. Slave-ships from Zanzibar, which had lost many by cholera, now began to arrive at Muscat, just below the Persian Gulf. Tlie usual disputes about the origin of the disease of course occurred, although cholera had been raging in Bombay from September, 1820, to May, 1821. In February, 1821, it was prevailing at Surat and along the borders of the river Indus, and about one hundred and twenty British ships and seven hundred and thirty country vessels were going annually from the infected ports to Muscat; so that opportunities for the convey- ance of the disease existed in such abundance that, if transportable at all, it had to arrive jper/orce at Muscat. And it is distinctly stated that in July, 1821, through the intercourse maintained by shij)s trading be- tween Bombay and Muscat, the infection was transi)orted to the latter. Besides, the harbor of Muscat is so completely inclosed by rocks and mountains that persons unacquainted with its location maV easily sail by it, without ever suspecting its existence; so that it is very difficult for the winds to blow cholera into the harbor. By July 8, 1821, the tq)idemic had cost the Iman of Muscat at least ten thousand of his sub- jects ; and Muscat had by no means suffered the most, as it had ex- tended over the great part of the Arabian province of Oman, and had utterly destroyed several tribes and races of Arabs toward the interior. In July it was raging at the island of Kishme, and Mr. Fraser’s party and many of the inhabitants fled to Gomberoon and to Menab, just be- low it, to find the disease still fiercer in those localities. By this time it was at Bander Abbassee, on the north side of the Persian Gulf, and Bahrein, on the south side, where thousands of pearl-fishers congre- gate. On August 20, 1821, it prevailed in Bushire, the only Per- sian port of any importance on the Persian Gulf. Bushire, in addition to being very dirty, has many low wells along its streets and suburbs,