Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/777

Rh A more striking example of the deadly effects of impure air during the period of an epidemic, and of the most infallible means to check the evil, can not be imagined. The immunity of the officers was, on this occasion, unquestionably due to the greater space for breathing purposes which the officers enjoyed." That is an explanation which must satisfy the practical physician. I also believe that impure air is harmful, but I do not think impurity of air sufficient to explain such an explosion of cholera as that above referred to. It must not be forgotten that the Britannia went to sea on account of the general poverty of its hygiene. We ought to inquire into the condition of other ships also attacked with cholera, but in which the hatchways of the lower decks were not shut. My witness, who was on board the Britannia, assured me that the air was by no means so impure as Dr. Milroy made out. Another mistaken notion which I had taken up was also set right. I thought hitherto that the closing of the hatchways of the lower decks was occasioned by the stormy weather. On this point my informant writes to me thus: "The matter was not quite as you seemed to have imagined, and it will perhaps be best if I give a brief description of what actually took place. The day following our departure from Cavarna Bay a calm overtook us, and instead of the desired cool breeze a burning sun poured down on our sick ship. Then there came a swell on the waters, but no wind. In consequence the ship was so violently tossed that the hatchways of the lowest deck, where the crew slept, had to be closed, and then followed the worst night, during which fifty-eight men died, a night without wind, and without the slightest movement of the superheated air. Nothing was said of a storm. If we had but had one! That the shutting of the hatchways had any influence I do not believe; for, owing to the heat, the men were allowed to lie about where they pleased, and most of them betook themselves to the uppermost deck in the free air, and slept on the floor. The physicians had consented to this arrangement, and under the canopy of heaven the bulk of the fatal cases occurred. In this connection it must also be observed that the Ville de Paris, which did not go to sea, yet suffered as much as we did, in spite of the fact that the hatchways were not shut." So much for the explanation which regarded the shutting of the hatchways and the impurity of the air as the cause of the epidemic. The view of the contagionists meets with no better fate. That a cholera-patient should arrive on board with his stools or soiled linen explains nothing, since this circumstance was common to many other vessels without being followed by such consequences. If the infective material were brought in the food and drink on to the Britannia, how is it that only the crew and not the officers suffered? On this point my informant says: "Provisions came daily from the shore, even during the time we were fifteen miles away, but the officers ate the same meat, the same vegetables and fruit as the crew. The only difference was that the crew drank rum-and-water, while the