Part 3 (1/2)

Already has the problem of the contagious or non-contagious nature of this disease been solved upon our own land; and as sophistry can no longer erect impediments to the due distribution of the resources of this pre-eminently humane nation, it is to be hoped that not an hour will be lost in shaping the arrangements accordingly. What now becomes of the doctrine of a poison, piercing and rapid as the sun's rays, emanating from the bodies of the sick--nay, from the bodies of those who are not sick, but who have been near them or near their houses? In the occurrences at Newcastle and Sunderland, how has the fifty times refuted doctrine of the disease spreading from a point in _two_ ways, or in one way, tallied with the facts? We were desired to believe that in India, Persia, &c., ”the contagion _travelled_,” as the expression is, very slow, because this ent.i.ty of men's brains was obliged to wend its way with the march of a regiment, or with the slow caravan: now, however, when fifty facilities for the most rapid conveyance have been afforded every hour since its first appearance, it will not put itself one bit out of its usual course. And then what dangers to the attendants on the sick to the members of the same family--to the washerwomen--to the clergymen--to the buriers of the dead--even to those who pa.s.sed the door of the poor sufferer! Well, what of all this has occurred? Why it has occurred that this doctrine, supported by many who were honest, but had not duly examined alleged facts, and by others, I regret to say, whose interests guided their statements--that the absurdity of this doctrine has now been displayed in the broad light of day. Make allowance (even in this year of great notoriety for susceptibility to cholera in the people at large in this country) for _insusceptibility_ on the part of numbers who came into contact at Sunderland and Newcastle, with the persons of cholera patients, with their beds, their furniture, their clothes, &c., yet, if there had ever been the slightest foundation for the a.s.sertions of the contagionists, what numbers _ought_ to have been contaminated, in all directions over the face of the country, even within the first few days, considering the wonderful degree of intercourse kept up between all parts. But we find that, as in Austria and Prussia, ”_la maladie de la terre_” is not disposed here to accommodate itself to vain speculations. _Now_ the matter may be reduced to the simple rules of arithmetic, viz.:--if, as ”contagionists _par metier_” say, the poison from the body of one individual be, in the twinkling of an eye, and in more ways than one, transmitted to the bodies of a certain number who have been near him, &c., how many thousands, or tens of thousands, in every direction, should, in a multiplied series of communications and transmissions, be now affected?

Those who have watched the course of matters connected with cholera in this country, have not failed to perceive, for some time past, the intent and purport of the a.s.sertion so industriously put forth--that the disease might be introduced by people in perfect health; and we have just seen how this _ruse_ has been attempted to be played off at Sunderland, as the history of such matters informs us has been done before in other instances, and public vengeance invoked most _foully and unjustly_ upon the heads of guiltless persons in the Custom House or Quarantine Department, for ”permitting a breach of regulations;” but the several pure cases of spasmodic cholera, in many parts of England besides Sunderland, long before--months before--the arrival of _the_ s.h.i.+p (as shewn in a former letter) leave no pretence for any supposition of this kind.

I request that the public may particularly remark, that, frequently as those cases have been cited as proofs of the absurdity of _expecting the arrival_ of the disease by a s.h.i.+p, THEIR IDENt.i.tY HAS NEVER ONCE BEEN DISPUTED BY THOSE MOST ANXIOUS TO PROVE THEIR CASE. No; the point has, in common parlance, been always _s.h.i.+rked_; for whoever should doubt it, would only hold himself up to the ridicule of the profession, and to admit it would be to give up the importation farce.

Others have remarked before me that, though a very common, it is a very erroneous mode of expression, to say of cholera, that _it has travelled_ to such or such a place, _or has arrived_ at such or such places, for it is _the cause_ of the malady which is found to prevail, for a longer or shorter time, at those different points. It cannot be expected that people should explain such matters, for, with regard to them, our knowledge seems to be in its infancy, and ”we want a sense for atoms.”

However, as people's minds are a good deal occupied upon the point, and as many are driven to the idea of contagion in the face even of evidence, from not being able to make any thing of this _ca.s.se-tete_, the _best guess_ will probably be found in the quotation from Dr. Davy, at page 19.

I perceive that the Berlin Gazette is humanely occupied in recommending others to profit by the mistakes regarding contagion which occurred in that country:--”Dr. Sacks, in No. 38 of his Cholera Journal, published here, has again shewn, against Dr. Rush, the fallibility of the doctrine of contagion, as well as the mischievous impracticability of the attempts founded on it to arrest the progress of the disorder by cutting off the communications. It is to be hoped that the alarm so methodically excited by scientific and magisterial authority in the countries to the west of us [!!] will cease, after the ample experience which we have dearly purchased (with some popular tumults), and that the system of incommunication will be at once done away with by all enlightened governments, after what has pa.s.sed among us.”--I am sure, good people, n.o.body can yet say whether those calling themselves scientific, will allow us to profit by your sad experience; but I believe that the people of Sunderland are not to be shut in, but allowed to remove, if they choose, in spite of silly speculations.

It may not be uninteresting to mention here, that there are no quarantines and no choleras in Bohemia or Hanover.

LETTER IX.

The following statement from the Duke de Mortemar will be considered probably, very curious, considering that, as already stated, he seems to believe in something like contagion--and for no earthly reason, one may suppose, than from his inability to satisfy himself of the existence of another cause--as if it were not sufficient to prove that in reality the moon _is not_ made of green cheese, but one must prove _what it is_ made of! But, to the quotation--”The conviction now established, that intercourse with sick produces no increase of danger, should henceforth diminish the dread of this calamity (the cholera). It differs from the plague in this, that it does not, by its sole appearance, take away all hope of help, and destroy all the ties of family and affection.

Henceforth those attacked will not be abandoned without aid and consolation; and separation or removal to hospital, the source of despair, will no longer increase the danger. The sick may in future be attended without fears for one's self, or for those with whom we live.”

How delightful is the simplicity of truth! Why, Sir, a morceau like this, and from an honourable man, let him call himself contagionist or what he may, is more precious at this moment than Persian turkois or Grecian gems. Make me an example, men say, of the culprits ”who let the cholera morbus into Sunderland,” concealed in ”susceptible”

articles!--yes, and that we may be on a level in other matters, destroy me some half dozen witches, too, as we were wont to do of yore. But let us have more tidings from Russia to comfort the country of our affections in the hour of her affliction, when so much craft and subtlety is on foot to scare her. Dr. Lefevre, physician to our emba.s.sy at St. Petersburg, has just given to the public an account of his observations there during the epidemic, from which the following extracts are made:--

”As far as my practice is concerned both in the quarter allotted to me, and also in private houses in different parts of the town, I have no proof whatever that the disease is contagious.

”The first patient I saw was upon the third day of the epidemic, and upon strict inquiry I could not trace the least connexion between the patient, or those who were about her person, with that part of the town where it first appeared--a distance of several versts.

”As regards the attendants of the sick, in no one instance have I found them affected by the disease, though in many cases they paid the most a.s.siduous attention, watched day and night by the beds of the afflicted, and administered to all their wants.

”I knew four sisters watch anxiously over a fifth severely attacked with cholera, and yet receive no injury from their care.

”In one case I attended a carpenter in a large room, where there were at least thirty men, who all slept on the floor among the shavings; and, though it was a severe and fatal case, no other instance occurred among his companions.

”In private practice, among those in easy circ.u.mstances, I have known the wife attend the husband, the husband the wife, parents their children, children their parents, and in fatal cases, where, from long attendance and anxiety of mind, we might conceive the influence of predisposition to operate, in no instance have I found the disease communicated to the attendants.”--p. 32, 33.

”The present disease has borne throughout the character of an epidemic, and when the proofs advanced in proof of its contagion have been minutely examined, they have been generally found incorrect; whereas it is clear and open to every inquirer, that the cholera did not occur in many places which had the greatest intercourse with St. Petersburg at the height of the malady, and that it broke out in many others which have been subjected to the strictest quarantine.”--p. 34.[16]

[Footnote 16: It is remarkable enough that Aretaeus, who lived, according to some authors, in the first century, gives exactly the same reason which Dr. Lefevre does for the suppression of urine in cholera. So true it is, that that symptom, considered as one of the characteristics of the Indian cholera, was observed in ancient times.]

Hear all this, Legislators! Boards of Health throughout the country, hear it! Then you will be able to judge how exceedingly frivolous the idle _opinions_ and _reports_ are which you have obtruded so industriously upon your notice.

But one more short quotation from Dr. Lefevre, a gentleman certainly not among the number of those who stand denounced before the professional world as unworthy of belief. He says:--”As for many reports which have been circulated, and which, _prima facie_, seem to militate against the statement [communication to attendants, &c.]. I have endeavoured to pay the most impartial attention to them; but I have never found, upon thorough investigation, that their correctness could be relied upon: and in many instances I have ascertained them to be designedly false.”--DESIGNEDLY FALSE! Alas! _toute ca on trouve dans l'article_ HOMME; and any body who chooses to investigate, as I have done, the history of epidemics, will find that falsehoods foul have been resorted to--shamelessly resorted to--by persons having a direct interest in maintaining certain views. Enough, then, has been said to put Boards of Health, &c. on their guard against admitting _facts_ for their guidance from any quarter whatever, if the purity of the source be not right well established. There is too much at stake just now to permit of our yielding with ill-timed complaisance to _any authority_ without observing this very necessary preliminary.

One word, and with all due respect, before closing, on the subject of Dr. James Johnson's ”_contingent_ contagion,” which, though occurring in some diseases, and extremely _feasible_ in regard to others, will, if he goes over the evidence again, I am sure, be shown not to apply to cholera, which is strictly a disease of _places_, not persons, and can no more be generated by individuals than ague itself can. I can only say of it, with the philosophic poet, that--

--------------------”A secret venom oft Corrupts the air, the water, and the land.”

Mr. Searle, an English gentleman, well known for his work on cholera, has just returned from Warsaw, where he had the charge of the princ.i.p.al cholera hospital during the epidemic. The statements of this gentleman respecting contagion, being now published, I am induced from their high interest to give them here:--