CHOLERA. 



CLEVELAND, GROVER. 145 



general stampede from Toulon took place to- 

 ward the close of June. The Italians tried 

 to make their way toward their homes, and 

 the French scattered themselves through the 

 neighboring region. On July 1 the Italian 

 Government sent a transport- ship to carry 

 away such of the Italians as still remained at 

 Toulon. But all the roads leading from France 

 to Italy were blocked up by fugitives from the 

 pestilence, and a rigid system of quarantine, 

 or rather of detention for a week or so, was 

 established. On August 3 there were 8,000 

 persons in quarantine in Italy ; 3,200 on the 

 borders of France, and 4,800 at various ports 

 along the Mediterranean coast. 



Large numbers of fugitives made their way 

 from Toulon to Marseilles. These quartered 

 themselves all through the city, and the chol- 

 era broke out simultaneously in many parts. 

 By August 3 the reports showed that 322 

 Italians had died of cholera in Marseilles alone. 

 In France, however, the disease was quite 

 local, only twenty-one places being set down 

 as "infected," and in nearly all of these it was 

 clearly shown that the pestilence had been 

 brought by fugitives from the two great cen- 

 ters, Toulon and Marseilles. As an epidemic, 

 the cholera in France may be said to have 

 fairly ceased about September 15. At Mar- 

 seilles and Toulon the deaths had fallen 'to 

 three or four a day, and so continued during 

 the month following. The whole number of 

 deaths from cholera up to the 15th is officially 

 given at 1,618, of whom 427 were Italians, 

 mainly in Toulon and Marseilles, although for 

 another fortnight the deaths in all France 

 were about 100 a day. Other accounts more 

 than double the entire number, making the 

 number of cases 12,000, of deaths 6,000. 



Italy suffered far more severely than France ; 

 the seaports of Naples and Genoa being the 

 chief seats of the pestilence. On July 11 a 

 steamer arrived at Naples, having on board 

 125 refugees from Toulon. At Naples all the 

 conditions were favorable to the spread of 

 cholera when it had been once introduced. 

 The pestilence developed itself rapidly after a 

 week or ten days. Up to September 14, the 

 number of deaths in that city was 3,297. The 

 disease there readied its height during the 

 week from September 9 to September 15. On 

 the 8th there were 451 cases and 154 deaths ; 

 on the 9th there were 638 new cases and 275 

 deaths; and during the ensuing week there 

 were 5,649 cases and 2,262 deaths, an average 

 of 323 a day; the extreme height of mortality 

 was on the 12th and 13th, the number of 

 deaths in those two days being 825. During 

 the next week the disease gradually abated, 

 the average number of deaths being about 200 

 a day. The decline was continued during the 

 next week, though with considerable fluctua- 

 tions; thus, on the 25th there were 105 deaths, 

 on the 26th only 25, and on the 29th 100. Up 

 to October 2, the number of cases in all Italy 

 was reported at about 15,000; of deaths, 

 VOL. xxiv. 10 A 



something more than 10,000. The Italian rec* 

 ords appear to have been kept with great care, 

 and this is probably a close approximation to 

 the actual numbers. Of the deaths, fully 8,500 

 were in Naples alone. The type of the disease, 

 especially in Naples, was more than usually 

 virulent, as fully two cases out of three re- 

 sulted fatally ; and, as far as can be judged by 

 the reports, death usually occurred within a 

 few hours after the symptoms of cholera first 

 appeared, although it is impossible to say how 

 long the germs of the disease may have been 

 lurking in the system. The disease was mainly 

 confined to the poorer classes, dwelling in the 

 most filthy portions of the city. 



Next after Naples, Genoa suffered most se- 

 verely. The disease appeared there almost 

 simultaneously with its manifestation in Na- 

 ples, and was traceable with equal certainty to 

 refugees from Toulon or Marseilles. Genoa 

 has a population of about 130,000. We do not 

 find a daily report of the cases there until Sep- 

 tember 8 ; on that day there were 31 cases 

 and 20 deaths ; and the number did not vary 

 materially for three weeks. It increased with 

 considerable rapidity after it had sensibly de- 

 clined in Naples. On September 28 there were 

 39 cases and 25 deaths ; on the 29th, 95 cases 

 and 55 deaths; after which the deaths fell 

 back to 20 or 30 a day for some time. The 

 whole number of deaths in Genoa was not far 

 from 600 ; or, in proportion to the population, 

 about one fifth as many as in Naples. The re- 

 maining deaths in Italy were principally at a 

 few minor seaports, and in the quarantine sta- 

 tions on the French frontiers. A very consid- 

 erable number of cases occurred among the 

 cordon of soldiers who maintained the quaran- 

 tine. The smaller Italian villages along the 

 line suffered more than the larger towns, be- 

 cause the refugees from France reached them 

 by the by-paths through the mountains, thus 

 escaping the quarantine that kept them out of 

 the towns on the main roads. It is satisfac- 

 torily established that the cholera did not 

 originate spontaneously in any place in France 

 or Italy, but was always introduced by refu- 

 gees from Toulon; and that the disease was 

 brought to Europe by a single vessel from Ton- 

 quin, which arrived in Toulon in April. 



The cholera spread to some extent in por- 

 tions of Spain that have water-communications 

 with the infected districts of Italy ; but in no 

 district did it assume the proportions of a gen- 

 eral epidemic. The entire number of deaths in 

 all Spain was not many hundreds; but the de- 

 tails are not sufficiently minute to warrant 

 more than a general approximation as to the 

 number of cases. In no other part of Europe 

 did Asiatic cholera make its appearance. The 

 20,000 deaths undoubtedly originated in the 

 single infected vessel at Toulon, for there is no 

 record of any other cases having been brought 

 from Asia or Africa. 



CLEVELAND, GROVER, twenty-second Presi- 

 dent of the United States, born in Caldwell, 



