On the mode of communication of cholera / by John Snow.

  • John Snow
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the mode of communication of cholera / by John Snow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/214 (page 9)
    other case had occurred previously in that neighbour- hood, and none followed for about a fortnight. Hedon. (Dr. Sandwith, reporter.) Mrs. N. went from Paul, a village close to the Humber, to Hedon, two miles off, to nurse her brother in cholera; the next day, after his death, went to nurse Mrs. B., also at Hedon ; within two days was attacked herself; was removed to a lodging-house ; the son of the lodging-house keeper was attacked the next day, and died. Mrs. N.’s son removed her back to Paul; was himself attacked two days after- wards, and died.” It would be easy, by going through the medical jour- nals and works which have been published on cholera, to quote as many cases similar to the above as would fill a large volume. But the above instances are quite suffi- cient to show that cholera can be communicated from the sick to the healthy ; for it is quite impossible that even a tenth part of these cases of consecutive illness could have followed each other by mere coincidence, without being connected as cause and effect. Besides the facts above mentioned, which prove that cholera is communicated from person to person, there are others which show, first, that being present in the same room with a patient, and attending on him, do not neces- sarily expose a person to the morbid poison; and, se- condly, that it is not always requisite that a person should be very near a cholera patient in order to take the dis- ease, as the morbid matter producing it may be trans- mitted to a distance. It used to be generally assumed, that if cholera were a catching or communicable disease, it must spread by effiuvia given off from the patient into the surrounding air, and inhaled by others into the lungs. This assumption led to very conflicting opinions respect- ing the disease. A little reflection shews, however, that