CHOLERA. 757 



A more striking example of the deadly effects of impure air during tlie 

 period of an epidemic, and of the most infallible means to check the 

 evil, can not be imagined. The immunity of the officers was, on this 

 occasion, unquestionably due to the greater space for breathing pur- 

 poses which the officers enjoyed." That is an explanation which must 

 satisfy the practical physician. I also believe that imj)ure air is harm- 

 ful, but I do not think impurity of air sufficient to explain such an ex- 

 plosion of cholera as that above referred to. It must not be forgotten 

 that the Britannia went to sea on account of the general poverty of its 

 hygiene. We ought to inquire into the condition of other ships also 

 attacked with cholera, but in which the hatchways of the lower decks 

 were not shut. My witness, who was on board the Britannia, assured, 

 me that the air was by no means so impure as Dr. Milroy made out. 

 Another mistaken notion which I had taken up was also set right. I 

 thought hitherto that the closing of the hatchways of the lower decks 

 was occasioned by the stormy weather. On this point my informant 

 writes to me thus : " The matter was not quite as you seemed to have 

 imagined, and it will perhaps be best if I give a brief description of 

 what actually took place. The day following our departure from Ca- 

 varna Bay a calm overtook us, and instead of the desired cool breeze 

 a burning sun poured down on our sick ship. Then there came a swell 

 on the waters, but no wind. In consequence the ship was so violently 

 tossed that the hatchways of the lowest deck, where the crew slept, had 

 to be closed, and then followed the worst night, during which fifty- 

 eight men died, a night without wind, and without the slightest move- 

 ment of the superheated air. Nothing was said of a storm. If we 

 had but had one ! That the shutting of the hatchways had any influ- 

 ence I do not believe ; for, owing to the heat, the men were allowed 

 to lie about where they pleased, and most of them betook themselves 

 to the uppermost deck in the free air, and slept on the floor. The 

 physicians had consented to this arrangement, and under the canopy 

 of heaven the bulk of the fatal cases occurred. In this connection it 

 must also be observed that the Ville de Paris, which did not go to sea, 

 yet suffered as much as we did, in spite of the fact that the hatchways 

 were not shut." So much for the explanation which regarded the 

 shutting of the hatchways and the impurity of the air as the cause of 

 the epidemic. The view of the contagionists meets with no better 

 fate. That a cholera-patient should arrive on board with his stools or 

 soiled linen explains nothing, since this circumstance was common to 

 many other vessels without being followed by such consequences. If 

 the infective material were brought in the food and drink on to the 

 Britannia, how is it that only the crew and not the officers suffered ? 

 On this point my informant says : " Provisions came daily from the 

 shore, even during the time we were fifteen miles away, but the officers 

 ate the same meat, the same vegetables and fruit as the crew. The 

 only difference was that the crew drank rum-and-water, while the 



