ZYMOTIC DISEASES. 



799 



daily number of new cases reported through- 

 out Spain was fewer than 40. In Madrid the 

 only wealthy citizens attacked were the offi- 

 cials who were compelled in the discharge of 

 their duty to visit infected localities among 

 the poor. 



On Jan. 5, 1885, the first cases were re- 

 ported from France, cases occurring on an 

 island off the coast. For several months sus- 

 picious cases occurred in the south of France, 

 but it was not until July that the authorities 

 of Paris began operations for the protection of 

 the citizens. Posts of observation to prevent 

 the introduction of cholera from Spain were 

 established on roads leading into France, as it 

 was acknowledged that the disease had crossed 

 the frontier. In the early part of July cases 

 were discovered in Marseilles ; and, as the num- 

 ber increased, a panic resulted. The local press 

 was ordered to preserve silence respecting the 

 ravages of the disease. The sanitary condition 

 of the city was bad. The heat, which since 

 May had been great, became oppressive, Aug. 

 18 being the hottest day experienced in Mar- 

 seilles for years. The cholera assumed a most 

 virulent form, its victims dying suddenly, with- 

 out the occurrence of diarrhoea or vo*miting, 

 their bodies becoming black shortly after death. 

 The most fatal day at Marseilles was Aug. 21, 

 with a death-rate of 69 ; that of Toulon was 

 Aug. 27, on which date 42 deaths were record- 

 ed. The subsidence of the scourge was gradual. 

 The epidemic in Marseilles, from its outbreak 

 to Oct. 1, had claimed 1,230 victims. 



In the early part of August, cases presenting 

 allied symptoms to those of cholera were re- 

 ported from points in Italy. A commission to 

 examine the hospitals and take precautionary 

 measures against cholera was appointed. The 

 disease did not exist to any great extent 

 in the Italian provinces prior to Aug. 29, at 

 which time there were a few cases in Liguria. 

 Within three days, however, persons were 

 stricken down in Penzone, near Acqui, province 

 of Alessandria. The contagion here had been 

 conveyed by a family coming from Marseilles. 

 On Sept. 1 the disease appeared in the province 

 of Genoa, at Turo, Voltri, and Borgo Taro. 

 Suspicious cases were also reported from Parma 

 and Caccia ; and, notwithstanding that precau- 

 tionary measures were ordered immediately, 

 146 cases, with 86 deaths, appeared in the in- 

 fected districts within a week. Cases occurred 

 at Palermo in the second week of Septem- 

 ber, 10 being reported in one day. The sani- 

 tary condition of this town was such that 

 the disease ran riot among the people, and in 

 one day there were 258 new cases, with 175 

 deaths ; 30,000 persons fled from the city in one 

 day. All the shops were closed, the streets 

 were deserted, and there was a great scarcity 

 of food and water. The sanitary officials were 

 attacked by the people every time they at- 

 tempted to disinfect the houses where the dis- 

 ease prevailed. The epidemic seemed at its 

 height about Sept. 20-23. The most accurate 



reports show that in Palermo, between Sept. 

 13 and Oct. 20, there were 1,872 cases and 

 1,016 deaths. 



During 1885 cholera appeared also in Eng- 

 land and at Odessa. The cases reported in 

 England appeared at Durham ; but the disease 

 did not spread, on account of the precautions 

 taken, and there were no fears of an epidemic. 

 At Odessa, six cases were reported on Aug. 12. 

 Cholera appeared on board the United States 

 man-of-war "Ossipee," off Nagasaki, in the 

 latter part of August. The disease raged in 

 Japan with considerable virulence. In Octo- 

 ber there were 1,208 cases and 628 deaths in 

 Osaka and vicinity, and in Hiogo and Kobe 

 there were 354 cases and 227 deaths during the 

 same period. During November there were 58 

 cases and 47 deaths at Kobe. 



The year 1885 was memorable in the history 

 of researches in regard to cholera. The vari- 

 ous governments were represented by able in- 

 vestigators at the International Conference held 

 at Rome. Able papers have been read before 

 the medical associations of America, Great 

 Britain, France, and Germany, and the views 

 of Koch are still disputed to as great an extent 

 as at the beginning of the year. The majority 

 of investigators hold that Asiatic cholera is a 

 specific disease, due to the agency of a specific 

 cause, which attacks the human being always 

 by way of the alimentary canal ; that the cause 

 of the disease acts primarily upon the epithelial 

 lining of the mucous membrane of the small 

 intestines, which it has a tendency to destroy, 

 and secondarily uprn the blood and nervous 

 system ; that this cause is essentially of a liv- 

 ing organic nature, endowed with the power 

 of multiplication and propagation within the 

 intestinal canal of the human being, under cer- 

 tain favorable circumstances not as yet well 

 known ; that it passes in a living, active state, 

 by means of water, food, or other substances 

 that contain the active cause and are intro- 

 duced into the alimentary canal. The power 

 of multiplication and propagation of this spe- 

 cific cause is limited and finally destroyed by 

 certain not yet well known unfavorable con- 

 ditions. These unfavorable conditions exist 

 over the whole world, except possibly in the 

 province of Bengal, Ilindostan. Science has 

 shown that much, if not all, can be done by 

 individuals, by municipalities, and by states, to 

 avoid an attack or an epidemic of cholera. 

 The Section of Medicine in the Congress of 

 the French Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, held in August, 1885, unanimously 

 declared that cholera should be arrested at its 

 entrance at the Red Sea, and that the various 

 governments should insist upon the proper pre- 

 cautions upon the frontiers, medical inspection 

 of travelers, together with the inspection of 

 wagons, the disinfection of bedding, garments, 

 and other miscellaneous objects, by moist heat. 

 The recommendations of the International 

 Conference at Rome, as regards maritime 

 quarantine, were also approved by the Con- 



