152 
which held Ali Baba and his forty thieves, and amongst 
well-to-do people it is customary to keep a year’s supply 
in hand; that is to say, the water is allowed to repose for 
one year before use in a reservoir or “algibe,” con- 
structed on purpose, or in some of these large jars sunk 
up to their necks in the ground; by this means it be- 
comes perfectly clear, cool, and palatable. The poorer 
classes are, as a matter of course, not able to take these 
precautions, and have to drink the water from the canals, 
or after a few days’ repose only. 
The epidemic raged principally amongst the little 
cottages scattered thickly over the plain or garden, as it 
is called, but the disease never developed itself in Murcia 
as it did in Granada, and the city itself escaped better 
than might have been expected. May this not be attri- 
buted to the fact that the greater part of the people in the 
city were drinking water collected in the foregoing year, 
before the cholera had appeared on the sources of their 
water-supply? And if this be so, may we not anticipate 
a fresh outbreak this year, if the choleraic poison or 
germs are capable of outliving a year’s repose and dark- 
ness? 
In reference to water-supply and cholera, no case is so 
instructive as that of Valencia. This city is fairly well 
drained, as drainage goes in Spain, and as regards 
cleanliness is certainly in a better situation than Malaga 
or Granada. The water-supply is derived from the River 
Turia; it is taken from the river near the town of Man- 
ises, about three miles and a half above Valencia; it is 
passed through sand filters situated between Manises and 
Mislata, and is stored in a covered reservoir, from 
whence it is conducted by iron pipes, a distance of about 
one mile and a half into the city. 
In one of the interesting letters written by the special 
correspondent of the 77es during his tour of inspection 
of the cholera districts, a very clear description is given of 
the track taken by the cholera from its starting-point in 
Alicante, where it had broken out at the latter end of 
1884, to Valencia in 1885. During the course of the 
year 1884 the disease had crossed the frontier of the 
provinces of Alicante and Valencia, and established itself | 
at Jativa, a somewhat important town, situated on one of 
the affluents of the Jucar—this and the Turia being the 
two rivers whose waters are used for the irrigation of the 
wonderful ‘‘ Huerta,” or Garden of Valencia. During the 
winter the disease lay dormant, but it broke out in the 
spring of 1885, and travelled rapidly down the river to 
Alcira, attacking the various towns situated on the river 
itself, or on the canals derived from it. 
The epidemic was severe at Alcira, but, as the Zzmes 
correspondent suggestively remarked, it ceased so soon 
as the inhabitants gave up drinking the river-water, and 
took their supply from a spring situated at a considerable 
distance from the town. From Alcira it travelled across 
the network of canals till it reached the river Turia. The 
Times correspondent says :— It came very near Valencia, 
and yet never touched the capital till it had worked right 
round.” 
At last, in the middle of May, having crossed the 
water-supply of the city and thoroughly infected the river, 
it attacked the city right royally, and by the end of June 
the number of cases had risen to 700 daily, out of a popu- 
lation of 143,861. The disease died out in September, 
having, according to the official accounts, attacked during 
the four months 4234 people. 
We will now turn to Saragossa. Saragossa, the capital 
of the ancient kingdom of Aragon, is situated on the 
right bank of the River Ebro; it contains 84,575 in- 
habitants, and is an important city. Like most Spanish 
towns and cities it has no sewers; fcecal matter is col- 
lected, as in Seville, in cesspools, which are periodically 
emptied. 
Its principal water-supply is derived from the Canal de 
Aragon, which in its turn draws its supply from the Ebro, 
NATURE 
[ Fune 17, 1886 
near Tudela. This canal was intended principally for 
navigation, and is now used for this purpose, and also for 
irrigation. It passesat a short distance above Saragossa, 
and the town supply, after being drawn from the canal, is 
stored in reservoirs, and, after depositing its mud, is then 
passed through charcoal filters. Some of the inhabitants 
of the city drank the water from an irrigation canal taken 
from the River Jalon; some used the waters of the Ebro, 
which flows close past the old walls of the city. 
The disease broke out in Saragossa shortly after the 
middle of July, and the number of cases during the time 
the epidemic raged was close upon 10,000, The propor- 
tion of deaths was small, thanks to the heroic and 
energetic conduct of the authorities and the people. Some 
time before the commencement of the disease in the city a 
number of small towns on the banks of the Ebro and the 
Jalon had been attacked by the cholera; there was there- 
foreample opportunity forthe infection of the water-supply. 
Against such contamination the only protective measure 
as regards the general supply was the filtration through 
charcoal; as regards the Jalon water, there was no pro- 
tection. This source of supply was, however, ultimately 
stopped by the authorities, who prevented the water 
reaching the city, with a notable result as regarded the 
decrease of the epidemic in the quarter served by 
them. 
It would be interesting to follow out still further the line 
of inquiry I have adopted, but the examination would be 
too prolix for the present purpose. Thecases I have pre- 
sented are typical ones; they might be increased ad 
libitum, but I think they are sufficient for my purpose. 
From an examination of them it would appear as 
though, in the case of cholera, drainage and sewerage is a 
secondary subject, the primary one being the water- 
supply. We have seen that the cities of Toledo, Seville, 
and Malaga, although in bad conditions as regards their 
sewerage and general sanitary arrangements, yet escaped 
from any serious attack of cholera, whilst Murcia, 
Valencia, and Saragossa suffered most severely, although 
in their case the sanitary arrangements were certainly not 
worse, but if anything better, than the three former cities. 
But, in the case of the three first-named cities, each one 
enjoyed a supply of water drawn from springs situated at 
a distance from the city, and carefully watched and 
guarded to prevent any contamination, and the exclusive 
use of this water was rendered imperative by the 
authorities. 
In the case of Valencia, Saragossa, and Murcia we have 
a supply drawn from rivers subject to contamination from 
various sources, against which the only protection was 
that furnished by the doubtful process of filtration. 
There can be no doubt that the cholera attacks in pre- 
ference those who live under unsanitary conditions, and 
whose habit of body is by this means prepared to receive 
the germs of any disease that may be prevalent. 
There is no doubt that the virus can be conveyed about 
from one place to another, like small-pox, typhus, and 
various other diseases, either by clothes or in the human 
body, and where it finds a proper medium it will develop 
itself and extend ; but, like these other diseases, it can in 
these conditions be isolated, fought, and conquered, but 
without doubt the medium far excellence for the spread 
of cholera-poison is water, and more particularly so when 
water so infected is used for dietetic purposes. 
When it gets possession of the water-supply of a city, 
no bounds can restrain it ; there is but one resource, and 
that is the cutting off of the water. 
We do not yet know in what the choleraic poison con- 
sists ; it is in all probability a micro-organism of some 
sort which is capable of very rapid development in water, 
but it cannot be yet said what is the particular micro- 
organism which produces cholera. The “comma Ba- 
cillus” of Koch has not been accepted by the scientific 
authorities; on the contrary, very high ones deny 
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