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 PROPERTY OF 
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 MY CHOLERA EXPERIENCES 
 
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 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 I.— rii<)Li;i?A rx india. * 
 
 II.— CHOLERA IN K(JYrT. « \ 
 
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 MY CHOLERA EXPERIENCES 
 
 1!Y 
 
 JAMES DEAXH, 
 
 Fairville, 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 I.— CIIOLKHA IN INDIA. 
 
 II.— CIIOLEKA IN KCVl'T. 
 
 III.— 'I'lIK I'TOMAINK TIIKOKV oF DISKASK— rili: VKNTI TI V i: 
 KHMKDIES— CIloLKKA INFANTIM. 
 
 nK-rJ!IXTEI) FliOM THE ST. JOIIX DAIf.Y Sf.V 
 
 ST. .JOHN, N. B.: 
 Tin; Sin Puixting (.'(jmi'axy (Li.mitkd), ("antehihkv Sthki:":'. 
 
 '].S92. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
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 ■MMUi 
 
 My Cholera Experiences 
 
 I.-OHOLEK,^ I3Sr IlSTDIi^. 
 
 Several years af;;o I was eogasicd ia India, 
 brewicg for the ADglo-lndian troops in the 
 Deocao; the proprietor of the brewery was 
 absent on ill health, I was left in charge of 
 over one hundred and ioity five native 
 laborers, coopers, carpenters, iron fitters 
 and stone masons. With the exception 
 of the architect's clerk, there was not a 
 white man to be found for several miles. A 
 government brewing contract was on hand; 
 building, though behindhand was satisfac- 
 torily progressing, when one well to be te- 
 mtmbered afternoou, my interpreter, a 
 bright young Mahratta, said: "Sahib, an- 
 other cooper just gone ill." These coopers 
 and carpenters were not Mahrattas as were 
 the other np^tive workmen, they were high 
 caste Hindoos ; some few were Putjiubees, 
 but the majority were Sikhs. Coopers did 
 not exist in Ind'a fifty years ago, the estab- 
 libhment of breweries consequent on the fall 
 in the value of silver created coopers as a 
 section of the carpenter caste: these men 
 were thoroughly reliable, they were sprci- 
 ally brought down from the PunJAub, 
 A country as ijkt distant as 
 is Detroit from St. John; their dress, 
 their dialect and their race were dis- 
 tinct from those of the other workmen. 
 Though now the most loyal of Indian sub- 
 jects, they were of that race, who, not a gen- 
 ation previously bad strained to its 
 utmost the power of the British 
 forces in India. I had received 
 special instructions from the proprietor to 
 leave these men alone; they were reliable, 
 their foreman pocaeased some religious in* 
 
 fluence over them; in all they numbered be* 
 tween fifty and sixty. These Sikhs, soma 
 three Mahrattas, the architect's clerk and 
 myself constituted the local population liv- 
 ing upon our own estate, the workmen living 
 in outside villages. Towards evening a few 
 words addreseed to my interpreter in 
 Hindustani evidently perturbed even bia 
 Oriental, expresBionleee face, "What does he 
 say?" I abked— "Sahib,, one cooper dead, 
 one cooper very sick, another cooper just) 
 ill." "Fetch me the foreman,"— from him I 
 could get no information. I satisfied my- 
 self that one man was dead, that two men 
 were dying, but of what I could not say. 
 Accordingly I drove into the neighboring 
 military cantonment to ask as a favor that 
 one of the regimental doctors would coma 
 over quickly, no other doctor was to be found 
 within eight miles. The doctor arrived. 
 We visited the dead and dying. "What is 
 it, doctoi?" I asked. "Well, its cholera, aad 
 that, too, cf a malignant type, and I don't 
 think, Mr. Death, that you've got suffijient 
 experience of this country, situate as you are, 
 to meet this emergency. I know these fellows 
 well; they are not like the local natives, 
 they ara quiet enough now, but let them 
 lose several more, as ia most prrb^ble, and 
 you will have a rebellion. Keep on moving 
 yourself about amongst them, send for 
 troops if necessary, but don't on any ac- 
 count leave the premises yourself." A few 
 hours afterward a letter arrived from the 
 doctor— more misfortune — he was confined 
 to his own house away from barracks by 
 his oolonelj be was forbidden to enter our 
 
iMk.. 
 
 .M&Mi' 
 
 CHOLERA IN INDIA. 
 
 premiBes also, bat he aent tnedioine and the 
 course of treatment I was to adopt. Next 
 day brought further disaster; three Sikhs 
 were dead, others were evidently dying, 
 and a military guard was placed upon the 
 river bridge to prevent the Sikhs entering 
 the cantonment. The Sikha had money and 
 insisted on going back to their homes, to 
 lose them was fatal to our building opera- 
 tions; the terrified creatures were under the 
 belief that "a devil was on our premises; he 
 had put his foot on their neck" — so they said 
 -—"and they died;" return to their homes 
 they insisted upon, hence I at once went 
 to the Great Indian Peninsular station and 
 put an Interdict on their travelling. Nv3W8 
 travels mysteriously and quickly in the 
 east; even before my return from the sti\- 
 tion every Sikh knew what had been done. 
 The disease took strong hold of these 
 simple-minded, frightec^d creatures; they 
 may never have seen it before in their native 
 province, although it ocoasionally.troubles 
 Lahore, and the death of each man appeared 
 to them a mystery. To show the frightful 
 rapidity which cholera in its acutesb stage 
 progresses at, the following will sufiBce: 
 Every morning I made an inspection of the 
 huts. A Sikh first entered and prepared for 
 my arrival; it was necessary to remove all 
 cooking and drinking vessels from contact 
 with a Christian; I have seen a dying native 
 in almost the last agony of cholera endeavor 
 to rise to prevent my shadow contaminating 
 his copper water vessel;— it became neces- 
 sary to purchase some antiseptics, at eight 
 o'clock I left for the city of Poena, at three 
 in the afternoon I returned, to find that my 
 attendant was a heap of ashes; he had 
 been attacked at eight, he died about noon; 
 the corpse was wrapped in new calico and 
 burnt according to the Hindoo custom at the 
 riyer side; the four cords of worsted sur- 
 rounding the tew still smoking embers of his 
 funeral pyre alone remained to mark the 
 existence of my attendant of that morning. 
 Sixty years ago,before the abolition of Suttee 
 by the British government, that man's liv- 
 
 ing wife would have been tied to his body 
 and both would have boen burnt. If only 
 for the abolition, or rather partial abolition 
 of this custom, for if; still sec- 
 retly exists, the mild despotism ef 
 the British rule in India will have j^roved a 
 blefcsing to millions. 
 
 The condition of affairs on the estate 
 was getting desperate, a panic prevailed 
 amongst the 8ikhs— they cried, they scowled 
 at me, what they actually said I did not 
 know, they refused to work (this latter 
 was an especially bad feature, 
 their unoccupied minds were prone 
 to mischief:)— I, in turn refused them wood 
 for their funeral rites; this compelled them 
 to cut it and so occupy their attention. 
 Although it was undoubtedly dangerous to 
 leavedecomposing bodies about the place,firm- 
 ness was necessary and this occupation tend- 
 ed to prevent the open outbreak of mutiny. 
 How many men were really attacked I do 
 not know, they suppressed some of the 
 oases from me, about ten died, almost the 
 whole of them frightened themselves ipto 
 believing that they had it. The authorities 
 were meanwhile watching events; "if you 
 only get them to take brandy, things would 
 right themselves" said a personal friend to 
 me. "With our Mabrattas it would be eary, 
 but those infernal sikhs are so high caste, 
 they would die sooner then pollute them- 
 selves.'' "Well I'll have a try," I replied, 
 "Dutch courage is what they wan t" — "You'll 
 never got them to take Christian drink," 
 said another;— Next morniog, accordingly, 
 I tried to induce them to take brandy and 
 camphor. Every one positively refused. 
 All were sullen, scowling and da^gerous. 
 None would even hold my drinking vessel. 
 I Itft; the bottle in one of their huts— but 
 terror and persuasion had done its work; 
 an hour later my interpreter called upon 
 me with the^astonishing and pleasing news 
 that the Sikhs were wanting to see me (the 
 first time by the way that they had ever 
 done so); they were asking for more brandy. 
 Telling my interpreter that I was offended^ 
 
CIIOLEEA IN INDIA, 
 
 s 
 
 I would not come, I staid in my bungalow. 
 Half an hour elapsfd when in all humility 
 entered the chief of the uaate accompanied 
 by the iuterprcter. Would the sahib come 
 and speak to hiB men; they wuuld work if 
 he gave all of thtm some brandy ? Some of 
 them had tasted it, they told the others 
 that the evil spirit was gone, all of them 
 wanted to do the same. Here was the op- 
 portunity, and I embraced it: "Call your 
 men together; in a few minutes I will see 
 them." On leaving the bungalow the 
 change which had occurred was noticeable, 
 the dull, dark scowl had vanished, hope 
 once more had entered their souls; they 
 gathered round me, talking quickly, pointing 
 at the same time to several of their com- 
 rades who evidently had been the fortunate 
 householders of the hut vrhere I had left the 
 bottle. Brandy and camphor had pretty 
 well changed their theological views about 
 the luoal devil. These men were courageous, 
 they deliod disease, and they called on t^e 
 others to do the same — there was no desire 
 for stimulant iu men who had nevek yet 
 tasted alcohol in tb::) whole of their exis- 
 tanoe— life seemed once iriore before them if 
 they could but drink that medium which 
 had made the others socouragecua "(iive us 
 brandy," was their one supplication — "we 
 will work by nifi;ht and by day if 
 you will save our lives" — then 
 in the very sternest tones of reproof I 
 told them that not only myself, but the 
 great sahib (the proprietor) was offended — 
 why should I give them anything? They 
 had disobeyed, they would not work, their 
 huts were not cleaned, my sanitary rules 
 were disobeyed; they deserved to die. The 
 interpreter ceased, and a cry of alarm, sup- 
 plication and disappointment went up— a 
 sharp interrogative to the interpreter, who 
 for once spoke the truth, elicited that they 
 were submissive. With a further reproof, 
 a promise that they would work after they 
 had immediately burnt their dead and had 
 made an offering to some angry Qod of an 
 oblation ooDBistiogofthe white man's bread, 
 
 wine and cigar floated upon the river, I 
 gave brandy and camphor to as many ai 
 would take it. Even then several declined to 
 pollute themselves. But the terror was 
 past, che evil spirit had been banished, 
 their superstition was qualmed, fear van- 
 ished and the disease practically ceased; 
 they resumed work, worked well and never 
 again asked for brandy; but two monthi 
 later the whole of them left to joarney some 
 1200 miles to purge themselves by orawlinx 
 on their hands and knees, as I subsequently 
 learned, to some temple, and, of course, to 
 pay the Brahmin. In their condition of 
 outcasts, their own wives would refuse to 
 recognize them. 
 
 One feels a sensation of pity, to see snoh 
 a noble race of men, as were these Sikhs, 
 for they are one of the finest races of India, 
 lay down mysteriously one after another, 
 to vomit and to die. Pity and sorrow are 
 foolish in an emergency; stern, strong, and 
 instant action, however arbitrary or non< 
 sentimental, is necessary, especially so 
 amongst Orientals— and it saved their livei* 
 Throughout this essay the western reader 
 may notice an arrogance of manner such ai 
 would not be tolerated on this continent — 
 it is the custom in the east— the natives ex- 
 pect it; pusillanimity never made the won- 
 derful empire of England in the east. The 
 advice given me to keep constantly amongst 
 the semi-mutinous Sikhs was not without 
 good reason. Ignorance of the Hindnstani 
 language prevented me fully knowing what 
 was going on around— I had a strong 
 suspicion, but not until some time had after- 
 wards transpired, was I fully told that in the 
 knife, and not in the cholera, lay the danger 
 to myself. 
 
 The woodworkers resumed work, build- 
 ing was satisfactorily progressing, when a 
 few days later in came my interpreter, 
 "Sahib, stone mason, very sick, very bad 
 indeed." Here was a new development — 
 this was a Mahratta, none of whom 
 lived (as did the Sikhs) upon the 
 estate} if he died in the oomponnd, 
 
1 
 
 :t^. 
 
 'mmmm 
 
 ■i 
 
 CIIOLr.KA TN INDIA. 
 
 I should lose the matocB, iroDtmith*, labor- 
 ers, etc. Were my troubles to be revivtt? 
 A motneDt's ({lance at the unfortuDate suf- 
 fernr whu lay writhing on the grass con- 
 vinced me that this was an extreme case, he 
 could not poBsibly survive, and die upon 
 the premises I was determined he should 
 Dot. I gave him a larger quantity than I 
 bad yet employed of an opiate to assuage 
 the tertible agony of his last hours — nothing 
 further could humanity do. 
 
 The military guard stopped the roadway 
 only against the Sikhs, not againat the 
 ^lahraltas, hence I rieked the tremendous 
 responsibility of smuggling this dyine man 
 through a military guard. His moiher 
 wanted him home. She believed that he 
 could never recover on such an accursed spot 
 as was our estate. Diplomacy was necess- 
 ary. I replied to her, 'I refuse to let him go.' 
 Orientals study ' the face and the 
 tone of voice more than the words. 
 (Id the Hindustani language the 
 interrogative and the command are 
 identical). My interpreter knew what was 
 in my mind, and probably interpreted what 
 he knew was welcome to me. "His mother 
 insists on taking him away," said he. As a 
 fact she never dared to siy such a thing to 
 me. I well knew, as I was afterwards 
 sharply cold, that as a European manager I 
 was far more than a magistrate. I con- 
 ceded and even urged his departure by lend- 
 ing our hay cart with some hay for him to 
 lie upon. He will pais the guard, thought 
 I, he must die, and he will then be burnt in 
 one of the numerous little villages surround- 
 ing our estate and there the matter will 
 cease. Little did I dream of where he was 
 going to die, nor of the importance of the 
 result. He left the place. (rfae later 
 stages of collapse usual to extreme cholera 
 had already set in), he passed the military 
 guard without difBculty, and the next in- 
 telligence that I heard, was, that he had 
 died within two hundred yards of the 
 barracks at Kirkee, the health station 
 of India, where a case of cholera had not oc- 
 
 curred for three years, and where two regi- 
 nients of troops were stationed on health 
 probation, one about to start for the Bur- 
 mete war, ths other awt>iting transport to 
 England as time-expired ni6ii. Over the 
 details of the inanrnis iptatl d hturc which 
 I Buberquentl,/ paised with Lieut. Colonel 
 
 I will puiposely draw a veil. No fear 
 
 of cholera which I might ever ft el will in any 
 way fqnal the terrors of that awful inter- 
 view, The soldiers wtre contiaed to bar- 
 rack, and loudly they cursed me, too; the 
 transportation of troops was dtferred, and 
 I found that I had committed an oGftince 
 which might cansign me to Poona prison. 
 This death, fortunately for all, proved to 
 be the solitary one. l*>ery preoiution was 
 taken to avoid the disease spreading, but I 
 yrAt not & ]icrsoiia i/rnfa to the mililaty au- 
 thorities by any means. 
 
 The t urse of cholera upon 
 Sikhs and Put j iubees seemed to 
 m^ to be dififerent to that on other races; 
 the Sikhs apparently died without intense 
 agony, they were prostrated, they vomited 
 the usual porridge colored matter, etc , etc , 
 cramps and a cold pallor seizjd them, they 
 became weaker, exhaustion set in, then 
 complete collapse and tiaally death, but 1 
 never heard any of them groan or exhibit 
 any symptom of piin— perhaps it may have 
 been the stolidness of this splendid race of 
 men. The K'ahratta and Egyptians showed 
 great suilering; the body was contorted, the 
 face denoted pain, loud and deep groans 
 with shivering tits showed the terrible 
 agony of their death struggle. Cholera in 
 Europeans I have never eeon. 
 
 la India, cholera is endemic. Europeans 
 do not alarm themselves ub jut it, not more 
 in tact than do people about scarlet fever 
 here; they simply avoid streets known to ba 
 infected and pay attention to the water 
 supply. Cholera in the army, although nob 
 by any means so frequent or so pernicious 
 as in the olden days, is still a serious mat- 
 ter. The enforced idle life of the soldier 
 induces him to too largely concentrate bis 
 
riTOLERA TN IXDIA. 
 
 thoughts on this fear iuapiring bubjdct. 
 Amongst the two hundred and eighty four 
 million natives of India (oontrolled, mar- 
 vellouB spectacle ! by astute diplomacy and 
 a little K igliHh army of six'y or seventy 
 thousand men) the disease is frequent and 
 slays its tens of thousands; the routes of 
 pilgrimage to sacred cities, idols, etc., are 
 speciiilly affected: this feature also holds 
 good in other countries., the continuous 
 stream of pilgrimages to the Kiaba and the 
 shrine of Mahomet at Mecca, makes its sea- 
 port, Jeddah, the distributing focus of 
 cholera throughout lalamiam iu the east. 
 The wages paid to workmen in India'may 
 be of interest; they were as follows: La- 
 borers (cooliep), §3 p^r month; iron fi^jters 
 (riveters, drillers and tilem), $5 to $5.50 per 
 month, a good workman oomm'inded $7 to 
 $S, while $S to $9 conrninded a sub fore- 
 man. Stonemasoas and bricklayers were 
 ptid $G to $8 par month; these were the en- 
 tire piyments, no extras such as board or 
 lodging w»8 given them. Hours of work- 
 ing from 7 to 5 or 6 (I forget which.) The 
 coopers, who were also carpenters, obtained 
 $12 per month as well as the huts they lived 
 in, upon the estate; the foreman got $17. 
 What price was pud to Mihratta carpenters 
 I do not know; oar own Sikhs vvould not 
 work alongside of Mihratta carpen- 
 ters. In B)inbivand the cities, labor is 
 m ich dearer than in the country; our rate of 
 $'^ per month was a fair one. Coolies work for 
 K iropoans ia preference to native employers. 
 I should add that at religious festivals native 
 Ubirers cannot be got to work at all. Mn- 
 twaen harvests and in dull times many 
 laborers earn money by the bounty on 
 snakes (the terribly deadly cobra is the com- 
 mon snake of India). Kiropeans allege that 
 they kill and breed them as well; in India 
 the (Tovernnnent returns show an annui^l 
 mortalityof from 18,000 to20,000human lives 
 destroyed by snakes per annum. About one 
 hundred small cotton mills are located in 
 Bombay, obit fly owned by Paraees; the 
 
 appallingly small rate of wages paid 
 to the women workers is now just- 
 ly occupying the attention of the 
 government. Amongst the nktivea them- 
 selves in the country districtp, coined money 
 is not used; payment is made by barter and 
 by silver rings, anklets, bracelets, etc., the 
 work of the numerous and expert native 
 jewellers who abound everywhere. With 
 silver continually falling in price, and Eng- 
 lish importers paying gold to the States and 
 Canada i)t wheat, whilst the importer pays 
 silver and rings, etc., to the Indian ryoO 
 ({ieasant farmer), the Indian export wheat 
 trade ( vhich was unknown in 1870) had ar- 
 rived in the year 1890 at an amount almost 
 ((|'ial to that of the United States. This 
 feature ( f the Indian ryot accepting orna- 
 mental silver in payment for wheat, the con- 
 tinual fall in the value of silver, and the 
 enormous absorptive power of India to take 
 more silver in payment of wheat for export, 
 constitutes the gravest danger which men- 
 aces Manitoba and the western states. 
 
 Twenty years of beneficent Anglo-Indiaa 
 rule has altered the f^on of India and the 
 markets of the world. Wheat owes its fall 
 in value to the products of the two or three 
 annual harvests in the valleys of the Indus 
 and the sacred (Unges. Cotton quoted at 
 seven instead of seventeen cents per pound 
 in New Orleans Hads its chief competitor in 
 the tibre grown under British rule in 
 India and latterly in Kgypt. E iglaud no 
 longer holds her markets in the cotton 
 cloths of the Kist, the Uimbay tnilU 
 supply India, China and the Straits settle- 
 ments with all but the finer varieties. 
 China teas are fast being ouiited by those of 
 India, Assam and Ceylon. Peru Quds that 
 in ({'tinine and cinchonine it is no longer the 
 sole gardener of the world. Hundreds of 
 times on this continent have I been remind- 
 ed of the future glories of the West; the 
 child is but the father of the man: India 
 awakening from her sleep of centuries ia tba 
 growing infant of the East. 
 
— "i*" 
 
 H.-OECOLERA. IN" EO-YPT. 
 
 I was residing in London when a telegram 
 from Paris requesting my attendance at a 
 ■hareholders' meeting of the French brewery 
 of Egypt was handed in. Like many other 
 Franco-Egyptian enterprises launched when 
 loans were easily raised, the establishment 
 was non- remunerative, now that Egyptian 
 credit was nil. I was asked to see whether 
 the non-paying lager brewery could, not be 
 made to pay as an ale brewery, now that 
 the English army was established in Egypt. 
 The affair was next to a hopeless task from 
 the first; prohibitive duties,on raw material, 
 ai I afterwards found, was one of the chief 
 Items against its success. The ice plant was 
 old and almost useless, I agreed to under- 
 take its management for a short period. 
 The oonoem has now been closed.f or several 
 yean. 
 
 Some time after my p;rival, my old enemy 
 cholera broke out, and terrible havoc it 
 played, too, amongst the fellaheen. Cdiro 
 was then the most evil smelling city in the 
 world : the French portion, situate in its 
 centre, was well paved and clean, but out- 
 side this small aristocratic centre, filth 
 abounded. It is impossible to describe in 
 your columns the beastlinos of Cairo (and I 
 use this phrase with deliberately considered 
 meaning). In the poorer quarters the stree^ 
 dogs and the crows were the only scavengers' 
 in the surrounding villages the hoga per- 
 formed a similar service. When one sees in 
 eastern cities the ofial, the carrion, etc., 
 thrown to the dogs to be devoured, the in- 
 ■nib to an Oriental Queen conveyed in the 
 
 sentence, "and the body of Jezebel was 
 thrown to the dogs" becomes apparent. 
 
 On the outbreak of cholera I determined 
 to leave it severely alone; this, however, is 
 a resolve which employers of labor find diffi- 
 cult DO fulfil. Exceptional difficulties existed 
 in my case. Workmen in a brewery, each 
 trained to do his own work, cannot easily be 
 replaced. The question of languages alone, 
 quite independently of the new hands ignor- 
 ance of working requirements and of the ap- 
 plianceB of the building, compelled me to take 
 precautions to preserve my working stafif as 
 far as possible intact. The Egyptian fel- 
 laheen ^is a different laborer to the Hindoo; 
 the former plays truant and wants constant 
 supervision ^and looking after; the latter 
 conscientiously, although slowly, does his 
 work; cholera consequently became an ex- 
 cuse for a day or'an afternoon off— some of 
 my men must have had the afternoon or 
 daily form of disease some seven or eight 
 times and yet appeared with a cheerful 
 countenance the.next day. 
 
 I was the only Englishman upon the pre- 
 mises (and the name of England was then 
 hated with a deep intensity by every one 
 of the mixed nationalities which populate 
 Cairo), dissensions in the establishment were 
 rife, not a single man could I rely upon; 
 hence I was reluctantly compelled to look 
 after the truants at their own houses. Fre 
 quently with Oriental cunning and excuses 
 I have been purposely deceived by being 
 shown into other houses, sometimes to cover 
 deoeit, sometimes to give backuhtcnh —that 
 
 1 
 
CnOLF.RA IN EGYPT. 
 
 ever preaent form of importunate beggiag, 
 to lome one aiok of disease, no matter what 
 ■ort. Tourists reoolleot their experiences 
 of Cairo by memories of the Pyramids, the 
 tombs of thii Khalifa (those unique marvels 
 ot beauty) the innumerable Mosques, the 
 return of the sacred carpet from Mahomet'a 
 tomb, and the art in brass, damask and 
 needle work displayed in the baz^^ars. I 
 very vividly recollect, in addition, my 
 visits to some of the lowest slums ot the city. 
 The stopping of wageawasnu dernier resort. 
 A box on the ear was frequently given by 
 the engineer to his ice machine men, the 
 people had been used to the lash and cour- 
 bash for centuries, such was mild treatment 
 and was unnoticeable, but touch their re- 
 ligious fanaticsm, or their wages, and a 
 atoiyn might be provoked— and I was strange 
 to the babies of the people— not easy to allay. 
 Eventually I was compelled to this course 
 in truant cases ani it proved auocessful. 
 To exhibit Eastern character, let me 
 give two instances. Ac some periods there 
 was a mere handful of British bayoneta in 
 the city, yet revolt was quelled by one 
 circumatance; there happened to be an ex- 
 ceptionally holy mosque in Cairo, the 
 nativea were led to believe that a cannon at 
 the Citadel waa conatantly pointed at thia 
 venerable, thought aomewhat dilapidated 
 8truoture,and on the alighteat sign of revolt 
 the British army would blow it to pieces. — 
 British policy is of course far too astute, 
 it preserves, not destroys, sanctuaries; the 
 destruction of a single one is a memory to 
 entail centuries of bitterness and regret. 
 The other instance relates to,manufacturing; 
 I had to regulate the hour of brewing ac- 
 cording to sunrise; the muezzin sounded 
 from the minaret "to prayers"; and as the 
 Orb of day appeared above the horizon, 
 every Mahommedan on the premises knelt 
 upon his oarput with forehead and knees 
 bended in adoration to the eaat. "Allah 
 Akbar; God ia great; there ia but one God, 
 «nd Mahommed ia hia prophet. ' 
 In theae hunting expeditions after the 
 
 men I came aoroaa aeveral aad oaaea of dia^ 
 euse. Only two of my men died, and I 
 never troubled about doctoring them. I 
 had given some money and goods to the 
 widuwa of the two dead men, when it wai 
 announced that Riki, a Greek Egyptian, 
 waa ill. Now, Riki waa one of the very 
 few nativea on the place who underatood a 
 little French, and aa ordera given by myaelf 
 in decidedly bad French had to be inter- 
 preted from French into Arabic (the native 
 language), the three or four men who under- 
 stood French and Arabic were very uaeful. 
 Riki waa alao civil, obliging, and wm uot 
 worse at thieving than the reat of the men; 
 he waa a little bit of afavorite,ao I promptly 
 called on him to render auch aaaiatance ae 
 lay in my power. Riki was on the bed 
 groaning with pain, but there waa an ab< 
 sence of the sunken eye» and withered face 
 with which I waa too familiar. A .luspioioua 
 odor of recently smoked Haaheeah alio 
 floated in the atmoaphere, while hia breath 
 had a amell decidedly anggeative of maatio, 
 the favoHte Greek cordial. 
 
 "Etez-voua bien malade?" I aaked auspici- 
 ously. 
 
 "Eh, oui, oui, monsieur. ' 
 
 "Le cholerel" I rejoined. 
 
 "Oui- Donnez-moi de I'argant, monaiear, 
 un franc." 
 
 That aettled it; two whaoka from the 
 atiuk which it ia neoeaaary to carry to over- 
 awe the atreet dogs and Riki promptly van- 
 ished through the doorway. An hour later 
 he was highly busy polishing the refriger- 
 ator. 
 
 About 150 funerala pasaed the door every 
 day, the weeping and ahridking of the wailing 
 women— and in E^ypt wailing women are 
 paid to weep — became exceaaively mono- 
 tonoua. The reader will amile at the idea 
 of the paid mourners; my own countrymen 
 employ "mutes.' The practice ia directly 
 oppoaite to the Egyptian custom, the 
 Canadian muat decide for himaelf which ii 
 the moat or leaat aenaible. Mutes are un- 
 known in thia country, heace, by way o| 
 
1 
 
 m 
 
 8 
 
 CHOLERA IN EGYrT. 
 
 parenthesis, I interrupt my narrative to des- 
 cribe the oomical side of EagUsh funerals. 
 A seedy looking individual, usually with a 
 very red nose, dressed in black garments, 
 which like their owner have seen better 
 days, stands at 'order arms' holding a broom- 
 like arrangement dressed up in black; two 
 of these human ornaments are necessary — 
 one on either side of the door. There they 
 stand on 'sentry-go' for two or three hours 
 before the funeral, frequently worked up to 
 a pitch of intense and suppressed excittment 
 by little boys askiog impertinent questions 
 and offering suggastive remarks. This beau- 
 tiful spectacle of grief at a shilling an hour 
 is dying out in England. A generation 
 hence the loss of this tiae old custom will be 
 regretfully mourned and laughed at; in this 
 country it seems to be unknown. It would 
 become expensive Ijere; at sixteen degrees 
 below zero the red noses would want fre- 
 quent refreshing round the corner, and this 
 isn't respectable at a funeral. One more 
 observation before I resume; the Egyptians 
 do not bury the coliia; they employ a three 
 sided box covered over with cloth to carry 
 the dead, the box is conveyed by hand to the 
 grave. Although anxious to sao a- Mahom- 
 medan funeral, I never dared venture near 
 to the grave; in Mahommedan countries, 
 where fanaticism reigns, care is necessary. 
 A Christian leisurely handling some books 
 at a street library in the bazaar, is sudden- 
 ly beaten, stamped upon and stoned by a 
 howling mob; the unfortunate man had 
 touched (defiled) the sacred Koran. Simi- 
 larly with the Hindoos, I once took a sample 
 of rice out of a Img, — the man instantly 
 threw it into the street, a crowd began to 
 collect, and I was only too happy to pay a 
 few annas for feeding the neighborhood's 
 fowls. 
 
 The brewery proved extremely useful to 
 the better class of inhabitants and to the 
 British army. The Nile water la very bad 
 io quality and of a peculiar eruptive charac- 
 ter, even bathing in it produces blains and 
 boUi} filtered water alone u used by the bet« 
 
 ter classes and this in its turn is re- filtered 
 through the natives ohatteea. Brewing is 
 proverbially a profitable occupation, but its 
 profits fade into absolute insignificance when 
 compared witH those of selling boiled water. 
 The English army demanded it. I con- 
 trolled the only brewery in Egypt and night 
 and day I was boiling and refrigerating 
 water and making ice from boiled water 
 with Pictets antiquated machinery. The 
 water, sent out in pitched lager beer casks, 
 was eagerly bought by wealthy Pasbas, 
 Beys and by the Europeans; that its steri- 
 lization by boiling saved scores of lives I 
 have little doubt. 
 
 Eaough has been written to show, even 
 from this limited experience, how cholera 
 disturbs trade; in a western country such a 
 disturbance would be magnified intensely. 
 I sincerely hope that I have seen the last ot 
 it; it upsets the harmony of manufacturing, 
 everything wants re-arraoging; one goes 
 to bed with the feeling that tomorrow 
 may bring worry and trouble about 
 some unexpected detail. It always disor- 
 ganizes the workmen. My experiences may 
 sound strange and novel to western read- 
 ers, but any of the not over-nameroua 
 manufacturers in the east would aay they 
 are only common occurrences, the excep- 
 tional feature was getting high caste Sikha to 
 break their caste. The one solitary aatia- 
 taction that I have gained from the disease 
 has been, that indirectly it became the 
 means of an introduction to native rulers 
 and enabled me to witncaa some of thoae 
 displaya of oriental magnificence which 
 constitute % part of the fascination of the 
 east. 
 
 The reader will trace many points of re- 
 semblance in the narrative to those he reads 
 of in the newspapers. In Russia the 
 disease is regarded by the semiorieutal 
 ignorant peasantry as a mystery, a apeoiea 
 of witchcraft; the doctors are accused aa 
 inatigators, poisoners, etc. If the history 
 of the east ia studied, how much of it is not 
 evolved from hidden and terror-itriklna 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
CIlOLltnA tX ECYT^T. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 plague»? la the Bible their influence is fre- 
 quent and notable. Thedisaater tothe host of 
 Sennacherib, when opposing the allied 
 forces of Hezekiah, Tirhakah and Shabaoo, 
 near Pelusium in, 710 B. C , and immortal- 
 ized by Byron's magniflcent ode, 
 
 "The A'' 7riancamedown like a wolf on the 
 fold," 
 
 may have been the result of pestilence, or of 
 the engulphing of Sennacherib's army in 
 the Serbonnean Bog. A similar disaster 
 befell the army of Artaxerxes, the Porsian, 
 two hundred years later. The occurrence 
 of plagues has also commenced the birth of 
 nations. For over three thousand years, 
 and to the present day, the superbly beauti- 
 ful jommemorative ritual of the passover 
 has annually told the deliverance of the 
 Hebrews from a pestilence which was the 
 means of founding Israel as a nation, and 
 which paralyzed the power of Meneptah, 
 
 the coDquerer of Lybia, the son of Rameses 
 the Great. 
 
 One only kid, ore only kid (God's selected 
 ppople) which my f ither (Jehovah) bought; 
 for two zuzim the Mosaic Tablets*. 
 Oae only kid, one only kid. 
 
 And a cat (Babylon* came and devoured the 
 kid which my father boiigh«i for two zazira. 
 One on!y kid, one only kid. 
 
 And a dog (Persia dfstroyed Babybn) came 
 and killed the cat, wnich devoured the 
 kid. which my father bought for two 
 zi:zim. 
 
 One only kid, one oaly kid. 
 
 And a Btick (Greece Ihe conqueror of PerRia) 
 came and smote the Tog. which killed ihe 
 cat whii h devoured 'he kid, which my 
 father bought for tvvo zuztm 
 One only kid, one only kid. 
 
 And a fire (Ancient Rome the conqueror of 
 Greece) camn and bu ned thi stick, which 
 smote Ih-i dcg, which killed the cat, 
 which devoured the kid, which my lather 
 bought for two zuzim. 
 
 One only kid, one only kid, etc., etc. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
■ayiuidk 
 
 -i 
 
 III.--THE PTOMAINE THEORY OF DISEASE-PREVENTITIVE 
 REMEDIES-CHOLERA INFANTUM. 
 
 What oauseg disease ? Id ancient times 
 the infliotion of pestilenoes was attributed 
 to evil spirits; later on, to some offended 
 deity— still later, magicians and witches 
 were alleged to curse a nation. Faith in 
 ' the divinity which doth hedge a king ' has 
 cured many from the fris^ht which con- 
 tribes four-fifths to a pestilence— that very 
 undivine monarch, Charles the Second, was 
 "touched" by thousands of believers and so 
 soared away the demon of panic. Oar fore- 
 fathers of a recent period attributed disease 
 to a variety of causes — meteorological and 
 astronomical (storms, comets, etc.), but 
 chiefly to air, food and water. Within the 
 last thirty years the germ theory has been 
 firmly established; the doctrine that the 
 higher life of animals in many contagious 
 and infectious diseases is destroyed by germs 
 (aggregations of the minutest and lowest 
 forms of life) is now universally accepted 
 amongst men and women with the slightest 
 pretense to education. The germ theory 
 teaches that every infectious disease is pro- 
 duce 1 from the growth of livinglorganismB 
 so infinitely small, that ten thousand germs of 
 the largest varieties placed end to end would 
 be required to reach one-eighth of an inch, 
 these germs are supposed to be conveyed 
 into the system in various ways; by drink- 
 ing water as in the care ot cholera and 
 typhoid fever; by contact with the blood or 
 open wounds, as in the instance of gangrene 
 (hospital fever); from the inoculation of 
 cuts, eto., as occurs with anthrax (wool 
 ■orteri diaeaae) or by oontaot of the germ 
 
 with the outer skin of a healthy person, as 
 occurs with the dried up scales, or peeling 
 of the skin in smallpox; this latter is fre- 
 quently known as the graft system of dis- 
 ease. Qerms multiply with excessive ra- 
 pidity; some of the bacteria grow and re- 
 produce their species in a quarter of an 
 hour. Some of them dry up, retaining life 
 for twelve months; others encyst themselves 
 by sexual conjugation, the cyst on bursting 
 scatters spores, — countless as are the stars in 
 the milky way. It was once believed that 
 the direful tffdct of cholera germs was due 
 to lesion of the intestines, in other words, 
 the germ eat away or honeycombed the mem- 
 brance, so causing pain and death. 
 
 Within the last five years, scientists of an 
 advanced school have recognized that 
 typhoid fever, cholera, etc., was not due di- 
 rectly to the action of the germ, but to an 
 animal poison produced by the germ. Hence 
 has arisen the i tomaine theory of disease. 
 Medical authorities require further proof be- 
 fore conclusively accepting this theory. 
 Dr. Ojler, author of the Principles and 
 Practices of Medicine, dated 1892, says: 
 
 "It Is quit« possible that the leucomainos (a 
 class! (leation term).the basic substances formed 
 in the living body, may undor certain circum- 
 stances be capable of producing di-toase. Pro 
 duct>4 aldo of tho bacterial deooniposilion in the 
 ini eatines may be absorbed and act as poidons. 
 Our knowledge on these poln's is as yet scanty 
 and uncertain. A suggestive chapter upon the 
 Buhj ct li to bo found in the work of Vaughaa 
 and Novy upon Ptomaines and Lcucomalnes ' 
 Lea Btothers, publishora, Philadelphia." 
 
 The ptomaine theory is of such recent 
 origin, that it la as yet seldom heard of 
 
 f 
 
 if 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
^Hlukui 
 
 'IjiiiiiililiiiiinwiBill'i 
 
 il 
 
 TrtE PTOMAINK TireORY OF DISEASTl. 
 
 11 
 
 outside of the medical profasaion, biologists, 
 analytioal and soientifio chemists. It maia- 
 taias that the germ, probably during its 
 multipUoation, produces a small quantity of 
 an intensely poisonous alkaloid, similar in 
 many oases to the alkaloids strychnine, 
 aconitine, etc. These ptomaines (putrid 
 poisons) which in disease are formed inside the 
 veins, inbestine8,etc.,of the aiUicted animal, 
 are absorbed into the system, producing 
 pain and death, in precisely the same man- 
 ner as do strychnine, atropine and 
 other medicinal poisons. The biologist 
 has as yet isolated only a tew of these 
 endo-animal (pardon the term), poisons : they 
 can be obtained by cultivation and multipli- 
 cation of one single germ id Alkaline Beef tea 
 Gelatine, Milk etc. ; Crystals of the putrid 
 poison of Tetanine, of Typhotoxiue and of a 
 few others have been obtained from the culti- 
 vated solutions by chemical extraction; these 
 poison crystals closely resemble the vege 
 table alkaloids, strychnine etc. in appear- 
 ance and properties; they are in their 
 crystalline condition of course free from 
 any living germ. Solutions of them inject- 
 ed unJer the skiu of Gruinea pigs etc., have 
 produced the (symptoms characteristic of 
 Tutanus, and Typhoid fever. In other in- 
 stances crystals of the poison have been 
 extracted from the bodies of men and ani- 
 mals who have died from tetanus, anthrax, 
 eto. 
 
 Science as ye*', is only on the entrance 
 to an enormous tield of phyniologiciil re- 
 search, which rtquiesthe aid of the njiuios- 
 copist and the chemiat, submitted to the 
 final proof ot the Vtviaectionist. In Eugland 
 a set of foolish sentimentiiliats have practi- 
 cally stopped the operatiuns of the latter; 
 futurity will have to pay to Franco, (Jtr- 
 maoy, Austria and America, the homage, 
 due to the rcmediers of the greatest evils 
 which btlht not only mankind, but the 
 whole of domeatic animal life. 
 
 The ptomaine theory, which although not 
 universally accepted has never baen con- 
 futed, is as yet in the embryotio stage of 
 
 knowledge. Are cholera and other dis- 
 eases contained in the air? is a constantly 
 asked question: Certain leuoomaines have 
 been proved to exist in respired 
 air and have proved poisonous to 
 birds and animals after freeing the air 
 from carbonic acid. Doea then the atmos- 
 phere of the close, ill ventilated cholera den 
 re-produce disease by the multiplication of 
 wind-borne germs, or by the presence of a 
 specific gaseous poison? These questions 
 scientists cannot answer, this much is prac- 
 tically known: 1. That sewer gas has 
 claimed thousands of victims. The Prince 
 of Wales' illness at Lord Londesborough's 
 house twenty years ago was only one m- 
 stance. 2. Tnat the untrapped water closet 
 of modern civilization is as much a source 
 of enteric fever as is the drinking of germ- 
 laden water. L\at autumn St. John suffered 
 severely from typhoid fever; to the water 
 supply the cause was attributed. I have 
 a suspicion, however, that St. John has not 
 yet recognized (jib have the English) that 
 when improperly fixed, the modern water 
 closet is a reservoir of sewer gas dangerous 
 to health, whereas if properly arranged it 
 constitutes a household blessing. The so- 
 lution ot the sewer gas problem is involved 
 in a knowledge to be gained at some future 
 day from the ditfijult study of giiseous leu- 
 oomaiaes. With all our knowledge we 
 know next to nothing wich any positive de- 
 gree of certainty of the actual methods by 
 which dis(a<ies are spread ; our experi- 
 ments are not positive proof; they merely 
 serve to coufirm inferences made from 
 aualyais. 
 
 What is the best preventittve to take 
 when cholera is about? a score of readers 
 will probably ask. What is the prophylac- 
 tic used in India and the east where the 
 disease is so frpqiient? Europeans seldom 
 trouble to take any precautionary meas- 
 ures beyond boiling drinking water. The 
 Anglo-Indian, it must not be forgotten, con- 
 stitutes by far the most aristrooratic society 
 to be found outside of Europe. There ar« 
 
■MtaMMHii'inHw; 'i^it^l 
 
 \i 
 
 THE TTOMAINE THEORY OF DISEASE. 
 
 no poor EiropbanB in India, the only rebi- 
 denta of small Baancial means are the sol- 
 diers, and these are housed and fed by the 
 government. Some few female domestic 
 servants are to be met with here and there. 
 The manners and habits (nepecially at the 
 dinner tablt) seen oaCanard'u Hoe of steam- 
 ers would appear strange (co use a mild ex- 
 pression) amongst the well bred, highly 
 educated and retined travellers who con- 
 stitute the bulk of the passengers on the 
 mkgnificent P. and 0. (L'dninaular & Ori- 
 ental) liners. Anglo-Indians live in good, 
 wellventilttbed houses or bungalows, they 
 take their pleasure, their minds are well 
 occupied, they regard cholera as a disease 
 prevalent amongst the dirty, insanitary 
 natives. They are not frightened of it to 
 the pinio extent which previils amongst 
 the inhabitants of Europe and America; 
 this is their chief saffguard. Alaraiiats 
 are to be found in all communities; both in 
 the east and in the west all sorts of preven- 
 titives have been tried; ancient, super* 
 Btitious ideas and beliefs have handed down 
 to us a host of ridiculous nostrums and 
 absurdities. The preventitive usually 
 adopted in ladia is diluted sulphuric or 
 hydrochloric acid added to the drinkables. 
 It seems to me that there is a strong scien- 
 tific argument in fdvor of a faint aciditiea- 
 tion of the stomach. The biologist who 
 'cultivates' typhoid and cholera geim^ in 
 the bicteriological laboratory, uses gelatine 
 or beef tea solutions ?Ka^Zfi a/kaline with loda, 
 to propagate the growth of the germs; he 
 avoids an acid solution, because ex- 
 periment has told him that acidilijation 
 of the growing medium, retards or paraly/es 
 the free growth of the organism. Some 
 fungi, on the other hand, live better in au 
 acid medium. Hrewerb's yeast, for instance, 
 will hardly re-produce itself in an alkaline 
 wort. Malt and sound beer, as also wine are 
 always faintlyacid. Theuse of diluteacidmay 
 beofsuoh importance to the community that 
 I prefer to corroborate my own statement by 
 thMs of other putiei. la the New York 
 
 Herald, Sir lvl«vin Arnold, autnor of ' The 
 Ligh*; of Asia,' a traveller with >;xten8ive 
 Chinese and Japanese experience, has m^in- 
 tioned that dilute hydrchloric acid (spirits 
 of salts) waa the preventi^^f* usually eio- 
 ployed. The follo^virg from the same paper 
 of Sept. 17ch, is further corroborative from 
 medical experience: 
 
 Dr.Reil'y his areat fni^h in sulpburio ac'd aa 
 a pieveoiive of Asiatic cuolcra. havinp; seen ib 
 nssd wi h the best of eiroois during epid )mic9. 
 
 In speaking of thii preventive Dr. Reilly 
 UMi": '"In 18:4, togofhar wi^h Surgeon Kly Mc- 
 Ck'l an. I '. S. A., now on duty u>t General Mili's' 
 headquarters at OhieaKO, I was detailed (being 
 Mien A h u geon of ihe marine hospital servlco 
 under Supervising Surgeon Wojd worth) lo in- 
 vtstJgate and report on the cholera epidemic 
 of 1873. Soon nf rer beginning my inves' igation 
 I learned of the experience of Dr. Curiin Hesi- 
 rient Ph' sici in of tne insane dcpattm^int of the 
 J'hiladelphi* Hospital. DuriUK tlie epi iemic of 
 1860 the diaeas 1 was introduned into the alnn- 
 house and hospita), h-t was Anally eradicated 
 from all but three of the seven female wards. 
 
 "iCvery means was tried to banish the dis- 
 ease, suuh as voniil>iting and cleinsing ha 
 wards, spreadirg disinfectants, scattering tho 
 patients, Mttention to diet. &n., but without 
 ilfect. Day after day now cases con- 
 linued to develop in these three wards. 
 In the latter part of August, at a time 
 when from two to flvo new cases worn 
 developing every day, Dr. Curtin'a attention 
 was c.Hiled to an art iiilft in a Briti h newnpaper, 
 in whinh ihe writer s^ld that Ihe workmen and 
 and ilici • fain 1 es connected with a la''Ke fac- 
 tory li rt been treated will) sulphuric acid as a 
 pr-ophyla ;t c during an i-pidnniic of choL^r i. 
 wilh I ho result tnat nor, a single man or any of 
 tli'f <milio3 wore attnclced, wnile around thrm 
 doath took iti owncour.ie. 
 
 KILLFIJTHK KinnKMIC. 
 
 "Caching at this as a drowning man at a 
 straw. Dr. Curtin, the afternoon of August 25, 
 begin the administration of sulphuric acid 
 lemonade in tlio iafecti^d wards, and it wai 
 (iontinued without intf rmlofiion until August 
 31, After twelve hours from tho time when 
 the acid was first given only one case occurred, 
 a-^d that in tho person of one of tho iosane pa- 
 t ients, who refused to sw.illow tho mixture. 
 The acid was discontinued August 31, and 
 forty-eight hours la'^^er two newc.isos ocouned, 
 both of which proved f.vt-il. The use of tho 
 prophylactic was then resumed and cjntinued 
 until the el ise of the epidi mic, and no now 
 cises occurred among iho inmatos, all hough 
 ohole'a patients cont nued to bo admitted from 
 tho city until November 1." 
 
 Any attempt to kill the germs inside of % 
 human being's stomaih would inevitably 
 kill the man before the Gferm. Life in the 
 single cell of the germ is far more tenaoioua 
 than in that aggregation of cells called man. 
 The preveotitive seems to act as an obataola 
 to the multiplioatioa of the diseaae germ| 
 
 I 
 
 ) 
 I 
 
'4wiibiD.' ■„f0iki^ 
 
 ■;:;*wfew'' 
 
 THE PTOMAINE THEORY OE DISEASE. 
 
 if 
 
 net as an antisfptic to efftctuallv deetroy 
 it. The addition of diluted sulphuric or 
 hydroohloriu acid forms resptctivtly glau- 
 bers tails and common salt (uhlorido of 
 sodium) within the stomach. 
 
 To some extent the foregoing iheoiy olFors 
 an explanation of the greater sueuiptibility 
 of the temperatcu per pie to epidemics. Al- 
 though they may live lunger in years, it is a 
 matter of frequent comment that au unduo 
 proportion of their numbers fall victims to 
 zymotic diseases. This may poEsibly be due, 
 not to the circumstance of their refusing 
 alcohol, but becAUse the drinkables consumed 
 by them are nearly all ulkaline, thus Hffurd 
 ing an encourag-Miient tu the growth of dis- 
 ease and especijlly of the typhoid germs, If 
 there is solid foundation for this acid theorVi 
 the alarmist; who desires to regulate bis 
 dietary can do so as follows: 
 
 1. Avoid the use of biuarboualo of soda in 
 conking. 
 
 2. Bill and cool all dribking water, especi- 
 ally that from shallow wells. 
 
 3 Drink naturally acid drinks only, viz : 
 ale, betr and wine. Temperance people, 
 who cannot drink these, can use the temper- 
 ance winee, many of which consist of un- 
 fermented grajte juice and are const (jueutly 
 acid. 
 
 4 Add a few drops of very dilute sul- 
 phuric acid to tea or ccflFcc. (.Sir E. Arnold's 
 recommendation). 
 
 5 Avoid milk with an unknown history. 
 There is no better gorm cultivator than is 
 milk ; its most fnii'icnt article of adultera- 
 tion is water, often impure. The very con- 
 ditions necessary to disease cultivation txist 
 in contaminated, non-rifiigcrated milk held 
 over in summer weather. 
 
 Years before the germ theory was di?c<)V- 
 erod, cholera was believed to result from eat- 
 ing sour fruit. A fow school boys who stole 
 unripe apples ustd occasionally to get a 
 good something to be remembered for a long 
 time stomachache. Sour, indigestible fruit 
 doei produce pain in the stomach, but ib 
 sever yet has been attended with the rice 
 
 water evacuations of choleraic diarrb<^ra and 
 Asiatic cholera, or with the comma bacillui 
 of the latter disease, discoveied by Dr. 
 Koch. 
 
 The preventitive virus of Drs. Hjiflkina 
 and Pasteur consititB of inoculation with a 
 niodifiud (weakened) cholera bacillus, with 
 the oljectof giving a milder form of dis- 
 ease and so procuring inununity from the 
 greater disease, similar to vaccination. The 
 success of the process remains to be proved; 
 but whereas smallpox, scarlet fevjr, yellow 
 fover, etc , themselves give an immunity 
 agtinst a second (Attack, with cholera an at- 
 tack and recovery has been succeeded by 
 0. second attack. Pasteur's inoculation 
 virus is a "cultivation" from cholera germs 
 which have been enfeebled by heating them 
 to 120° (about), 
 
 lu India it is sometines alleged that per- 
 sons liable to diarri n-Jk are also liable to 
 contract cholera. 
 
 The acid theory is given for what it is 
 worth; of all the numerous preventitives, it 
 seems to be the only one with a really scien- 
 titic basis. Personally I have never troubled 
 aboutpreventitives beyond emukingcigars at 
 the bedsides of the natives, a oommon eastern 
 custom. Indirectly I carried out the acid 
 theory, since from the nature ( f my busi- 
 neBS I always had the command of ale (*n 
 acid drink) at my disposal. 
 
 Fear and panic add largely to the dan- 
 ger of infection; medical writers agree that 
 the nmtion affects the nervous system and 
 so enhances the rii^k. In India the military 
 authorities regard panic amongst the sol- 
 diers with dread, the latter are a class of 
 men who (unlike the civilians) have much 
 unoccupied time, instances of where one- 
 third of a whole regiment have been swepb 
 away arc known. In such terrible havou 
 tear has doubtless been a predominating 
 factor. As a matter of fact, dysentery ia 
 far more to be dreaded; where one Euro- 
 pean dies of cholera in India, from ten to 
 twenty die ot dysentery. 
 
■i 
 
 M. 
 
 L 
 
 «•« tJVkK \-H 
 
 l-igll.,. 
 
 N V \ 
 
 \ 
 
 . ^ > .■• • 
 
 >s^ What WAS thef/Oour^|i of treatment which 
 ^ the lodian aviAy-,Bui<geon confided to you, 
 will be aaked. I must decline to say. The 
 St. John medical proftiSBion will I am cer- 
 tain austain me in withholding Che name and 
 tk'eatment of a powerful drug, which, should 
 an outbreak next year occur here, might bo 
 dangerously uaed in times of panic. I do not 
 find mention of it in Dr. ler'a work on 
 medicine. The medical profuasion will 
 recognize it under its chemical symbol of 
 C CI 3, C H (0 H) 2 —There w iS another 
 treatment recommended to me by my Anglo- 
 Indian friends. 'If you ever ge- a touch of 
 it,* said they, 'you do such and L-uuh,' and 
 here they indicated what I may call a vulgar 
 method— Brown at Delhi was ( "d that 
 way, said one, so was S nith at i^uoknow, 
 said another. I did not p»y much attention 
 to what I regarded as a piece of ignorant 
 fully— judge of my astonishment, then, when 
 years afterwards, on perusing the chapter 
 "methods of extracting ptomaines" in 
 Vaughan and Novy'd work before men- 
 tioned, I find that what I have called the 
 vulgar process is in part used by Hrieger, 
 the greatest authority on the ptomaines, 
 by Staas-Otto, by Sulmi and other biologists 
 in the extraction of these animal poisons 
 from cultivations and from dead bodies. 
 
 la concluding this chapter, I should add 
 that it has been necessarily written with 
 only an approximation to accuracy in order 
 to avoid entering into minute, complicated 
 details, too scientific for the general reader. 
 It has, however, been carefully considered 
 before I ventured to place it before the 
 public. The recent cholera attack in scien- 
 tific Europe cannot fail to promote a better 
 knowledge of the nature of the disease, as 
 well as of its treatment. There already 
 •eems reason tobelieve thatby aoomparative- 
 ly new process of surgical (not medical) 
 treatment, that relief, if not recovery, has 
 been obtained in a disease which, rightly or 
 wrongly, ranks as one of the most terrible 
 which afllicts mankind. 
 
 [The prooesB referred to conBists of 'irriga- 
 
 CHOLERA INFANTUM. 
 
 tion of the bowels,' also called cuieroclysls. 
 The ptomaines and bacilli are ejected from 
 the intestinal tract by copious washing with 
 water mixed with either soap or laudanum.] 
 
 Cholera infantum, the summer disease so 
 prevalent amongst infants, does not legiti- 
 mately form part of my subj ct, nor does ifa 
 of my experiences — a single man who has 
 never yet summoned up suifioient courage 
 to fttca the ordeal of marriage, is nob 
 usually much of an authority on babies — 
 neverthfless, as I have explained the 
 ptomaine theory and recollecting that 
 cholera iofaatum hiS already killed more 
 children in St. John than cholera Asiatioa 
 ever has or ever will kill, I add a few re- 
 marks, perhaps of more absolutely practical 
 value than are contdkined in the foregoing 
 chapters. 
 
 Milk turns acid by the lactic acid fer- 
 mentation; although unpleasant to the taste, 
 sour milk is harmless. There is, however, 
 another fermentation of milk which 
 developes a stran£;e, bitter, unpleas- 
 ant fi^vor; this is the deadly tyrotoxine 
 fermentation. Milk exposed for a few 
 hours (<vkthout removal of its natural heat 
 by cooliau;) in old decayed wooden dairies, 
 and especially where the slush and washinsa 
 are allowed to collect and putrify beneath 
 fi)or8, etc., in summer weather is especially 
 liable to contain this virulent ptomaine. 
 Hut water destroys the poison. Poisonous 
 milk added to hot tea or cofiee is harmless, 
 the tyrotoxine is rendered inert by the heat. 
 On the other hand the same milk if con- 
 sumed raw miy throw a score of people 
 into hours of agony. 
 
 Many adults have died after partaking 
 of poisonous milk, ice cream and some- 
 times cheese. The mortality amongst in- 
 fantB Is alarming. The dirty tube of the 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
1 
 
 CHOLERA IXTANTUM. 
 
 15 
 
 
 Infant's feeding bottle Is often a mass of 
 the tyrotoxine ferment; good milk, slightly 
 warmed, is placed in the bottle, baby sucks 
 the tube and gets the milk mixed with the 
 ferment germ, in ar^ analogous manner to the 
 brewer, who purposely 'sets' his wort with 
 yeast to commence the alcoholic fermentation. 
 The poison can be formed inside the child's 
 stomach, or it may be introduced from milk, 
 itself impure. Symptoms of gastro-en- 
 teritis commence, the child recovers or the 
 ohild diss. If the careless mother had only 
 placed boiling water inside the tube and then 
 immersed the full tube in boiling water for 
 a few minutes, the ferment would have been 
 destroyed and the child's life saved. 
 
 After a return from a six weeks' tour at 
 various seaside resorts, I became subject at 
 
 night to period« of insomnia; during thesa 
 spells of wearisomeness these articles were 
 commenced, at first to ojoupy the mind. 
 They were written to show the needlessnesa 
 of a scare in a well ordered community. They 
 could further be made agreeable reading, by 
 detailfog the troubles of a manufacturer with 
 native laborers in the east, a subject per- 
 haps, never before writteu upon. They even- 
 tually grew so long, that they became tire- 
 some, tv.o chapters have consequently been 
 put into the tire. The personal narrative 
 style of literature renders the egotistical pro- 
 nouns «'I" and "my" a matter of necessity. 
 It has been the author's lot to reside in 
 Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia; 
 to have seen more of this planut than has the 
 average of man, but prominent amongst the 
 wonders of nature, the industry of man, and 
 the works of art, stands vividly in his recol- 
 lections the picturef quely ancient and simple 
 life of the inhabitants of the Eist.