1 88 



The Review of Reviews. 



AN ALARM OF CHOLERA. 



The present menace of cholera is earnestly urged 

 in the Fortnightly Review by Adolphe Smith. He 

 reports that in 1910 cholera had already invaded the 

 Adriatic coasts of Italy, and created such a panic that 

 30,000 of the population of Leghorn fled. Genoa and 

 neighbourhood was infected. In 1911 two international 

 congresses to have been held at Rome were postponed 

 because of the risk of cholera. From Italy persons 

 sickening with cholera have travelled in all directions. 

 But these facts are carefully concealed. 



AMONG us AT ANY MOMENT. 



The writer maintains that we are face to face with a 

 danger similar' to that which beset us in 1892. The 

 trouble is that the public is deceived, and the existence 

 of cholera is sedulously concealed. During the twenty 

 years of respite that we have enjoyed, the writer 

 maintains, a Ministry of Public Health should have 

 come into existence, with a budget of its own. The 

 cholera might at any moment be introduced by the 

 thousands of passengers crossing over from the Conti- 

 nent to this country, or still more probably by .sailors 

 in some of the smaller vessels that frequent our smaller 

 .ports. Detection on the frontier is a policy that should 

 be absolutely uniform in every part of the country, 

 and should be directed and paid for by a national 

 authority. Cases have been known of cholera patients 

 arri\-ing in a small harbour, and the medical officer of 

 health being some nine miles away. As to precautions, 

 the frontier services should be improved and the 

 number of inspectors increased. 



Clean, large, well-aired bedroom<, giving on to an 



l0F. H^^^ !£^ -A ^. ^: J ^fgl^ 



open space, constantly purified by direct rays of sun- 

 shine, is the ideal which has not yet been attained in 

 any country. In Spain, though a re.spite of a quarter 

 of a century has been granted, very little has been 

 done. Poverty is one of the principal obstacles to the 

 removal of the conditions that favour disease. The 

 condition of the subsoil is also most important. 



" ABDUL THE — BLESSED ! " 



An unexpected fact is recorded from Constantinople. 

 The writer says : — 



When I visited these places and inquired if there were any 

 cases of cliolera, I was surprised to note with what regret the 

 inliabitants confessed there was no more cholera. Had I been 

 able to discover a case these poor people would evidently have 

 been delighted. The fact was that when cholera was present, 

 police were placed at the door of the //a«, and no one 

 allowed to go in or out. The inhabitants, therefore, could not 

 be blamed for remaining idle. Then every day the Sultan sent 

 an ample supply of oil, lentils, onions, rice, bread, and other 

 food, together with some carefully boiled water, so that ail 

 could eat and drink safely and to their hearts' content,'without 

 any anxiety, and without having ajiything to pay. Tliese 

 labourers and other poor folks liad never in all their lives 

 enjoyed such a rest, such good and ample food, and such free- 

 dom from an.xiety for the morrow. With this excellent treat- 

 ment the cliolera was nipped in the bud ; it was all too good to 

 last. In England I had heard a great deal about " Abdul the 

 Damned " ; but here, in the poorest part of his own capital, I 

 only heard about "Abdul the Blessed." Now that cholera is 

 in Constantinople again I wonder whether the poor are as well 

 off under the new n'gimt; i 



" ■ ;,' '. 



Hindi Punch. \ [Dojiiluy. 



In the Grip of Death t 



Cholera is rampant in Uombay, the majority of victims being 



Mahomedans. 



"DAYLIGHT SAVING." 



The scientific aspects of daylight saving are discussed 

 by Professor Turner in Bedrock for July. He says 

 the proposal to put the clocks one hour forward on 

 April ist and return them to the usual hour on 

 September ist has met with extraordinary favour. 

 He points out the arrangement that has been come to 

 for adjustment of time by altering clocks one hour 

 every twenty-fourth part of the globe's circum- 

 ference. He proceeds :^ 



Now Mr. Willett is not asking either more or less in the 

 way of change in our clocks than is cheerfully accorded by 

 everyone who has crossed the American Continent. At certain 

 points of the journey the travellers are directed to pvit their 

 watches forward or backward one hour ; and the inconvenience 

 is insignificant. Even the accumulation of several such changes 

 within a few days is of no consequence. And there is no 

 essential dilTerence between making such a change at a [jarticular 

 point in a journey and making it at a particular time of year. 

 So long as it is tmiversal, and by common consi-nt, it will be 

 forgotten almost as soon as made, since almost everything will 

 go on as usual. 



The claims of science, thereforCj should not be 

 advanced against these proposals if they are judged 

 to be for the general public benefit. The writer 

 declares either voluntary or partial movement, or a 

 universal change of habit, impracticable. 



One wonders that the more radical suggestion of 

 dividing the sixteen hour waking day into equal 

 parts at noon, which would affect the whole year and 

 oh\iate any playing tricks with clocks, has not been 

 advocated. 



