CHINA. 



CHOLERA. 



143 



Chinese repaired the fortifications, and placed 

 a barrier across the river. 



In the beginning of September the French 

 bombarded Kelung again, but did not occu- 

 py the place, as the Chinese had flooded the 

 mines. On the 1st of October operations were 

 begun, with the object of capturing and hold- 

 ing the port. During the night eight ships 

 shelled the height of St. Clement. The Chi- 

 nese in the end fled into the interior. The 

 works on the west of the height were occupied, 

 and on the 4th those on the southeast. The 

 French then fortified the principal positions, 

 and destroyed the other works. The Chinese 

 losses in killed and wounded numbered 220, 

 the French 18. The city was bombarded sev- 

 eral days, and a number of actions were fought 

 on land. The citadel finally capitulated. The 

 Chinese then established themselves on the 

 neighboring hills, from which they harassed 

 the French and menaced their positions. The 

 French surrounded themselves with a girdle of 

 blockhouses. 



A simultaneous operation against Tamsui 

 was begun the 2d of October by Admiral 

 Lespes. This port is on the northwest coast, 

 30 miles from Kelnng. The four ships silenced 

 the forts. The ships could not enter the port, 

 on account of a line of torpedoes near shore. 

 The positions from which these were com- 

 manded were out of range. Attempts were 

 made on the succeeding days to take these 

 positions by landing-parties. On the 8th the 

 Chinese suffered 600 to land and awaited them 

 in an ambuscade. The Chinese, hidden in the 

 underbrush, opened fire at close range, and, 

 when the French fled in confusion, the Chinese 

 attacked their rear. Their loss was 70 men. 

 The French finally established themselves on 

 the shore and threw up earthworks. 



On the 2d of November the block-house 

 commanding the road to Tamsui was attacked 

 by 1,000 Chinese, who were repelled with 

 severe losses. On the 13th and 14th another 

 engagement took place, in which both sides 

 claim the victory. On the 13th of November 

 the French suffered another defeat at Tamsui. 

 A Chinese cruiser was captured and taken a 

 prize to Kelung. 



The blockade of the northern and western 

 coasts of Formosa between Cape Nansha and 

 Sooan Bay went into force October 23. The 

 measure was ineffectual, as the Chinese were 

 able to run into the ports with steamers and 

 junks, and land troops and munitions. Before 

 the announcement of the blockade, complica- 

 tions arose from the overhauling of English 

 steamers at Tamsui and of English and German 

 vessels in the river Min. During the operations 

 in the Min the Chinese fired upon an English 

 gunboat and a German man-of-war, mistak- 

 ing them for French vessels. During the rainy 

 season there was much sickness and mortality 

 among the French troops. Little could be 

 accomplished in the way of naval action or the 

 erection of fortifications during the monsoon, 



nor could any important military operation be 

 undertaken before the arrival of re-enforce- 

 ments. Pursuant to the August vote of credit 

 a naval force of 5,530 officers and sailors was 

 maintained in Chinese and Tonquinese waters, 

 in 34 vessels, including 18 specially constructed 

 gunboats, and a military force in Tonquin of 

 10,000 Europeans and 5,000 Asiatics. The Oc- 

 tober vote increased the forces by four cruisers, 

 1,994 sailors, and 5,000 soldiers. 



CHOLERA. It is impossible to overestimate 

 the importance of the discovery that has been 

 made during the past year with reference to 

 the cause of cholera. The name of Koch has 

 become familiar in this connection, not only 

 to the medical profession, but to the general 

 public. Soon after the outbreak of cholera in 

 Egypt, in 1883, Koch was sent out at the head 

 of a German commission to investigate the 

 causes of the disease. He had already become 

 famous through his discovery of the tubercle- 

 bacillus (see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1883), 

 and was eminently fitted, by his intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the minute organisms of dis- 

 ease, to undertake the work. From Egypt he 

 went to India, where his most valuable inves- 

 tigations were conducted. The late epidemic 

 in the south of France also furnished him with 

 an opportunity of verifying the conclusions to 

 which his studies had already led him. Though 

 reports of his progress were issued from time 

 to time, the brilliant results of his labors were 

 first made known to the scientific world in an 

 address presented at Berlin in July of this year. 

 We shall gain the clearest idea of the subject 

 by following his own paper and its deductions, 

 after which it may be interesting to note some 

 of the objections that have been made to his 

 theory. Soon after arriving in India, Koch 

 heard of an outbreak of cholera in a certain 

 neighborhood, whereupon he immediately took 

 up his residence there, and proceeded to study 

 into its causes. That there was some connec- 

 tion between this disease and the water-supply 

 had long been recognized by the Indian doc- 

 tors. It will be remembered that in India the 

 natives obtain their drinking-water from tanks, 

 which are often polluted by sewage. Koch no- 

 ticed that the cases of cholera were confined to 

 certain huts, the inhabitants of which obtained 

 their water from a certain tank. Moreover, 

 their infected linen was washed at the same 

 place. This circumstance, apparently trivial, 

 led to a most important discovery. On exam- 

 ining, with the microscope, specimens of the sus- 

 pected water, Koch found in it a certain pecul- 

 iar organism which, from its shape, he named 

 " comma-bacillus " ; this was identical with the 

 forms that he had previously discovered in the 

 excretions and dead bodies of cholera-patients 

 (see " MICBO-ORGANISMS "). These bacilli were 

 only found in the water during the epidemic. . 

 As it declined, they became fewer, and finally 

 disappeared. This circumstance seemed to es- 

 tablish a direct relation between the bacilli and 

 the disease. 



