Page:A treatise on Asiatic cholera.djvu/58

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THE ASIATIC EPIDEMIC OP 1817-21. acted primarily upon the stomach and small intestines; and that the depressed state of the circulatory powers and diminished action of the heart were consequent on the severe shock which the system had received in one of its principal organs; these effects being always noticed subsequent to the vomiting and purging. The Board were of opinion that there was no proof of spasm of the extreme vessels; because in the cold fit of ague there was the same retirement of the blood from the surface without the burning heat and general internal tumult of this disorder. On the contrary, it seemed to the Board that there was evidence of atony in the capillary vessels; the clammy skin, suspended secretions, and pale fluid from the bowels pointing to this conclusion. They were of opinion that the hepatic system had nothing to do with cholera.

As to the remote causes of the disease, the Board believed that none of the hypotheses put forward accounted for its phenomena, nor did they consider it profitable to speculate further on the subject.

The notion of cholera depending upon irregularities of the season or upon improper food having been dismissed as untenable, the Board thought the spread of the disease was connected with the east wind; but they hesitated to express an opinion as to whether the wind carried the virus from one place to another, or if its action depended upon the moisture which always accompanies this easterly wind. The disposition of the disease to follow the course of large rivers was explained by these being the natm^al paths of commerce, and therefore in the line of large towns and overcrowded cities. But beyond this they distinctly pointed to the fact that low alluvial soils are the localities in which cholera loves to dwell.