CHAPTER VII 



ASIATIC CHOLERA 



History. We have no positive knowledge of Asiatic cholera before 

 1816. It is assumed by some that it had long existed in endemic 

 form in the region about the delta of the Ganges and it is reported to 

 have appeared in the Goa district (Portuguese Settlement) as early 

 as 1543 and in the Pondicherry (French Settlement) in 1768, but 

 there is no positive knowledge of these facts. In 1816 this infection 

 began its first recorded travels and reached countries so remote that 

 it could be regarded as pandemic. The time assigned by Haeser to 

 the first great excursion of this infection extended through seven 

 years (1816-1823). It traveled slowly at that time, before the gen- 

 eral use of steam transportation, and did not get beyond the confines 

 of Asia and Africa. To the east and south it visited Borneo, Java, 

 the Philippines and China. To the west and north it spread through 

 Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt and Northern Africa. It lingered in 

 various localities for some years, after which it was known only in 

 its home until 1826 when the second visitation began. This continued 

 for eleven years, terminating, according to Hirsch, in 1837. This 

 time it spread over the greater part of Europe and America. It broke 

 up into parties which traveled different routes, some by sea and some 

 by land. The faithful from further India brought it to Mecca where 

 it found ready but slow transportation to all points of the compass. 

 Nothing more was known of the infection outside its own domicile 

 until 1846. The third pandemic reached the farthermost parts of the 

 earth and lasted until 1862. It killed in France alone, in 1853-54 nearly 

 one hundred and fifty thousand and it pursued the gold seeker on his 

 way across the plains to California. The fourth pandemic was well 

 in evidence by 1864 and continued until 1875. As the records show, 

 it found 114,683 victims in Prussia alone on this trip. The fifth pan- 

 demic began in 1883, spread over the eastern hemisphere and reached 

 New York harbor, but was refused admission. This time the number 

 of victims in European Russia alone is given at 800,000. The notable 



