584 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



of the aperture for the introduction of mischief than when the 

 punctures are made by the lancet. 12 A, June 15, 124. 



THEORY OF CHOLERA. 



Mr. Alpheus Cholmeton, of the Department of the Gard, in 

 France, republishes his theory in regard to cholera. This, he 

 thinks, is occasioned by the development of animalcules aris- 

 ing from dead bodies that have not been properly buried. 

 These animalcules, in floating through the atmosphere, are 

 inhaled by mankind, which results, under certain circumstan- 

 ces, in producing disease. We are especially advised, there- 

 fore, m cholera times, particularly when in attendance on 

 cholera patients, to wear a veil of a very thick texture, and, 

 perhaps, to breathe through cotton, so that the parasites can 

 not pass. He maintains that these organisms can be seen in 

 the atmosphere as a visible column, especially at about the 

 time of the risinsr and setting of the sun. One conclusion to 

 which Ije arrives is that it is very important that dead bodies 

 be buried to a sufficient depth, and that it would be still bet- 

 ter to resume the practice of burning the dead, as was done 

 to so great an extent by the ancients. Letter of Alpheus 

 Cholmeton. 



CHOLERA. 



Our readers are well aware of the varying opinions enter- 

 tained by men of science in regard to the cause and propaga- 

 tion of cholera as a disease, and are familiar with the persist- 

 ency with which it has been asserted by some that the disease 

 arises from the development of a particular kind of fungus. 

 An elaborate report has just been published by Dr. Lewis 

 upon the microscopic objects found in cholera evacuations in 

 India, and, after a careful inquiry, under very favorable cir- 

 cumstances, he comes to the conclusion that the cryptogamic 

 theory must be abandoned. He finds that the so-called chol- 

 era cells of Dr. Swayne and others are of various kinds, some 

 of them certainly not fungoid in their nature, while others 

 are ova of acari and of intestinal worms. The cysts upon 

 which Dr. Hallier dwells with so much weight Dr. Lewis 

 could not find in fresh cholera discharges, although he had 

 repeatedly developed them. Other unusual bodies proved to 

 be either fragments of tissues or ova, none of them peculiar 



