756 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



haves very differently from cholera. "VYe shall pass in review an in- 

 stance of a severe epidemic of cholera on board ship, notwithstanding 

 that it favors the views and theories of the contagionists. The fol- 

 lowing specimen is chosen, for the reason that it occurred on a man-of- 

 war, and as there are many such vessels the advantage of comparison 

 exists : The Britannia was in the spring of 1852 equipped as an admi- 

 ral's ship, and was generally stationed off Malta for the first year ; in 

 August, 1853, it went to Besika Bay, and in October to Constantinople, 

 where it remained the whole winter ; and, after the declaration of war, 

 went in March, 1854, to Varna. With the exception of a brief expe- 

 dition to Odessa and Sebastopol, it remained at Varna all through the 

 summer. In August cholera broke out, and first of all among the 

 troops on shore. The ship and the whole fleet were up to this time 

 perfectly healthy. It was believed that the French had brought the 

 cholera with them from the Dobrudja, whence some regiments had 

 been sent from Varna. A few of these returned, but the majority met 

 with their death either from cholera, typhus, or marsh-fever in the low 

 country of the Danube. After the cholera had begun to subside on land 

 it appeared in the fleet, among which it was, however, unequally dis- 

 tributed. At Varna there were assembled fifty-four ships-of-the-line, 

 belonging to the English, French, and Turkish fleets, without reckon- 

 ing the smaller craft. The Britannia lay, on August 20th, in the Bay 

 of Cavarna, fifteen miles by water from Varna. About one hundred 

 paces from it were lying two other English three-deckers, the Trafal- 

 gar and Queen, both, like the Britannia, manned by 1,040 sailors. The 

 Britannia lost one hundred and thirty-nine from cholera, the Queen 

 and Trafalgar four and six respectively. On the French and Turkish 

 ships it was the same. Strange to say, the French admiral's ship, the 

 Ville de Paris, like the Britannia, was most numerously affected ; there 

 were one hundred and sixty-two deaths, of which three were of officers. 

 During the disease the French vessel lay at anchor off the coast with 

 the rest of the fleet. The Britannia went to sea in the delusive hope 

 of staying the course of the disease. That cholera should rage on the 

 Britannia without causing the death of, or even attacking, one of the 

 sixty officers on board, is for the contagionists an inexplicable circum- 

 stance. We must now inquire into the reason why cholera was so rife 

 on the Britannia while the Trafalgar and the Queen were so mildly at- 

 tacked. If the oiitbreak were due to the presence of cases of cholera, 

 or to the linen from cases of cholera, on the ship, it might be urged 

 that this circumstance was common to all the ships. Dr. Milroy has 

 attempted to explain the epidemic on the notion that it was not due to 

 the specific infective material, but to the individual predisposition to 

 cholera. In the night it was found necessary, on account of the cases 

 of diarrhoea and cholera, to close the hatchways on the lower decks 

 while the ship was at sea. Dr. Milroy says : " The men appeared to 

 be poisoned by the foul air which they had to breathe at night. . . . 



