One hundred years ago
THE REPORTS of the week on cholera show that the virulence of the epidemic is abating on the Continent: 'Marked decrease, even on the Volga. is the report of Thursday from Russia: while in Hamburg the new cases sunk on Wednesday to 204, and the deaths to 79. In Paris there were 12 deaths on the 14th inst., but the doctors consider the disease arrested; and in England there has been, as yet, no native case. The worst report comes from New York. where, in spite of the extreme precau- tions taken, six deaths have been recorded, under circumstances which suggest that the disease has been self- generated. New York, it must be remembered, contains some of the worst slums in the world, inhabited by the poorest people; while the sanitary condition of the huge tenement houses is often exceptionally bad. It has, how- ever, the great advantage of a situation which permits the doctors to use float- ing hospitals — a cruelty, perhaps, to the patients, but a great defence for the general community. Cholera is reported to be raging in Afghanistan, where It has broken up a camp; but it is probably never absent from Cabulee bazaars.
The Spectator 17 September 1892
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