1867.] and the Cholera. 315 



girl in the little village of Farrington, in Lancashire, eats a quarter 

 of a peck of green apples ; within twelve hours she is seized with 

 cholera and dies. Another girl does precisely the same thing in 

 Pimlico, and a like result follows. Such are the causes of the so- 

 called sporadic cases of cholera. It is scarcely conceivable that the 

 cholera poison was present in the apples more than in any other 

 article of daily food, but the fruit supplied the only condition 

 wanting to enable the poison to vivify and propagate itself in the 

 system. Now if, during the prevalence of cholera, all the inhabitants 

 of a town, or of one particular quarter of a town, were to eat daily 

 this excessive amount of apples, can it be doubted that the disease 

 would assume what is called its epidemic form, and would attack 

 such of the fruit eaters as were unfortunate enough to be capable of 

 vivifying and propagating the poison ? 



Communities do not, however, thus consume inordinate quanti- 

 ties of apples, or other fruit capable of affording a congenial soil for 

 the cholera germ ; but it is evident that if the necessary material 

 were present in bread, milk, butter, or tea, the disease would at 

 once assume its epidemic form throughout the country. Now of 

 all materials which have been observed to determine an attack of 

 cholera there is one which stands pre-eminent. Evidence of the 

 most conclusive character from numerous independent and trust- 

 worthy sources points to one material as that best adapted, when 

 introduced into the human stomach, to vivify and develop the 

 cholera germ. This material is sewage. Whether sewage forms 

 a congenial soil for the cholera spores supplied to it from the air 

 or from cholera patients, and thus introduces those spores in an 

 already vivified condition into the stomach, or whether it merely 

 supplies the material for their growth and propagation in the 

 intestines may be disputed, but, divested of all theory whatever, the 

 fact still remains clear and incontrovertible that amongst the mate- 

 rials which, during the prevalence of the disease, produce cholera 

 when taken internally, sewage is the most effective; and this 

 property sewage preserves, although in a diminished degree, even 

 when largely diluted. In the supply of a family with water 

 contaminated with sewage, the necessary condition for the produc- 

 tion of sporadic cholera is provided, and in the supply of such a 

 water to a community we furnish the necessary condition for the 

 establishment of epidemic cholera. 



The history of cholera epidemics furnishes abundant evidence 

 in support of both these propositions; I must content myself, 

 however, by quoting the following cases. On the 18th day of 

 August last a family from London went to reside at Upper Marine 

 Terrace, Margate. On the evening of August 26th a heavy 

 thunderstorm visited the town, and an unusually large quantity of 

 rain fell. The hot water that was brought to the bedrooms the 



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