Russia is threatened with another terrible calamity,—an outbreak of cholera,
which is officially admitted to be spreading itself from Meshed, through the Khanates, southward into. the Caucasian provinces. Great efforts are made to keep it- out of Southern Russia; but quarantine and preventive cor- dons are always ineffectual, as they only stop the sick too late,. and never stop infected water; and if the pestilence reaches the- Volga, the consequences among the famine-stricken peasantry may be frightful. It is not probable that the disease will reach Western Europe this year, and, as we have argued elsewhere,. there is no occasion for panic, especially as the sanitary con- ditions here have been indefinitely improved. Travellers in, Eastern Europe will, however, do well not to drink unboiled_ water, and to avoid places known to be unhealthy. We must all die, and we hardly know why a rapid disorder like cholera, is sa dreaded ; but even in India, where it is endemic, an "outburst" appals the Europeans—though there is, we believe,. no recorded panic—perhaps through a latent sense that the
if it strikes the house, may leave some one inmate alone, suddenly isolated among mankind. We doubt if cholera. picks its victims, or if any precaution, except a total avoidance of infected water and food which may be rotten, is of any avail whatever. Pluck is the grand prophylactic, and healthy diet the next best.
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