CHOLERA. 623 



assertion, because they had always boasted of their immunity from 

 cholera ; they replied : " What are 500 deaths out of a population of 

 400,000 ? It is absurd to call that an epidemic ! " Of course, it would 

 not be right to speak of an epidemic of all Lyons, but most assuredly 

 there existed an epidemic in a part of it. The higher-lying districts 

 had enjoyed their usual immunity in 1854. In the times of cholera 

 which followed 1854 Lyons preserved its freedom. In what respect 

 did 1854 differ from all other years ? In nothing but in the fact of its 

 greater dryness. I availed myself of the observations of the meteoro- 

 logical station, and found that in this year the amount of evaporation 

 was greater than the rainfall. Observations on the subsoil water were 

 not to be obtained, but there was the register of the condition of the 

 Rhone dating as far back as 1826. From 1826 to 1854 there was no 

 lower register so lasting as that of the last year. These facts were 

 sufficient to lead me to understand how the lower-lying parts of Lyons 

 could be brought into a condition susceptible of an epidemic of cholera 

 by the partial or total removal of the influence of the Rhone. 



That too much as well as too little water in the soil is unfavorable 

 to cholera is vouched for by a large mass of facts. As I watched the 

 cholera in Bavaria during 1854 I was surprised to find that the marshy 

 districts, where, as a rule, the poorest dwelt, were exempt from epi- 

 demics. The great Donau bog, which lies between Neuburg and 

 Ingolstadt, was surrounded by the epidemic, but the disease did not 

 enter the villages on the fen. On the Freisinger moors an epidemic 

 occurred at Halbergmoos. On going thither the affected houses were 

 found to stand on a tongue of land composed of quartz, which tongue 

 reached inward on the moor. Reinhard had proved the same thing 

 for Saxony. The northern part of Saxony, which lies on the Spree, is 

 a highly malarious district. For the eleventh time that cholera visited 

 Saxony it shunned this region of fever. I will not say that cholera 

 can not be epidemic on a fen, but I do believe that when such an oc- 

 currence takes place we ought to ask ourselves what relation it may 

 have with the state of moisture of the soil. The theory on the soil and 

 subsoil water requires that a knowledge should be obtained of what 

 takes place in and over the soil on the outbreak and on the cessation 

 of cholera. It requires, as Port has said, a continuous record of facts. 

 That cholera should very seldom be met with in the neighborhood of 

 and on mountains is also in harmony with the disposition of cholera in 

 respect of time ; so that, as the frequency of cholera in these regions 

 diminishes, the rainfall increases ; the weather and cholera are equally 

 capricious. Towns among mountains which are refuges for fugitives 

 from cholera are but seldom situated on a soil which in and of itself 

 would exclude cholera. Salzburg and Innsbruck have, for example, 

 never yet been visited by cholera. Further, in 1866, these towns es- 

 caped, although a considerable influx took place from the seat of war 

 where cholera raged. Salzburg, but still more Innsbruck, stands on 



