Cholera Due to Impure Water. -- among the remarkable outbreaks which goes to prove that this mode of cholera propagation is not at all uncommon, maybe mention the following, condensed from Mr. Simons eighth report as medical officer of the English privy Council, during the prevalence of cholera in England in 1865: A gentleman and his wife in the village of Theydon-Bois, and Essex, have been lodging at the town of Weymouth for two or three weeks, and returned home towards the end of September. On their way home they pass through Dorchester, where the gentleman was seized with diarrhea, vomiting and cramps, which continued more or less during the next day in the day following, when he reached his own home. During the journey to wife also began complaining of pains in the abdomen, which was followed by diarrhea and eventually by cholera, from which she died.

Here’s the first paragraph from Wikipedia on Cholera which I’m providing just as a simple contrast in the information level known now versus 100 years ago…

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.^[1][2] Transmission to humans occurs through ingesting food or water that is contaminated with cholera vibrios. The major reservoir for cholera was long assumed to be humans themselves, but considerable evidence exists that aquatic environments can serve as reservoirs of the bacteria. Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative bacterium that produces cholera toxin, an enterotoxin, whose action on the mucosal epithelium lining of the small intestine is responsible for the characteristic massive diarrhea of the disease.^[1] In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known, and a healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms; infected patients may die within three hours if medical treatment is not provided.^[1] In a common scenario, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4 to 12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days, unless oral rehydration therapy is provided.

That contrast in detail and accuracy is pretty amazing in and of it self.  We live in an age where modern marvels in medical advancement such as the evolution from glasses to contact lenses to lasik corrective surgery demonstrate evolutionary and revolutionary change 3 times over. So it is no wonder that even when they were on the right track with a topic 100 years ago, the level of understanding was still exceptionally rudimentary.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Deadly Affect of Water Impurity
  
  

  Deadly Affect of Water Impurity.  — according to the late Dr. William Budd, it also appears to be highly probable that, the poison of typhoid fever enters the system by drinking water, infection is more certain than when it is disseminated by the hair and is breathed into the lungs.  It’s part of the statement, he instances an outbreak which occurred in Wales, where out of ninety or a hundred persons who attended a ball, fully one third was shortly afterward laid up with fever.  Although the water was not examined, there was satisfactory reason to believe it was polluted with sewage.

   

  Even in public places where you would expect the aristocracy or at least the rich people together, water impurity was such a problem that sewage could be mixed into the drinking water supply at a ball.  Clearly this highlights the fact that discovering this problem was still relatively new compared to attempt to deal with the problem effectively.  This was such a new problem, that they were literally dying from it because they could act fast enough, and maybe they didn’t even know that they were supposed to act fast.  For all we know looking at this account, replacing their Movado watches might have been of higher importance than investing money in improving their drinking water supply.

• THE CLITORIS, URETHRA, VAGINA AND HYMEN.
  
  

  These female organs show further at the perfection which anatomical plate printing has attained.

  Clitoris.—This small organ, it will be seen, is situated at the upper part of the Volvo, or outside parts of the female generative system, it is usually concealed by the lips of the pudenda. It performs a function during sexual intercourse similar to that performed by the penis of the male.

  Urethra.–This highly useful organ, common to both sexes, is, as will be seen by the plate, now, or medium, by means of which the urine is carried from the bladder to be voided. It is a delicately lined organ, furnished with retentive valves, and therefore susceptible to a variety of diseases.

  Vagina.–This word implies a chief, and is applied to the can out which leads from the uterus (womb) to the external organs of generation in the female sex. Commonly, it implies such external organs, or organ, as depicted in the plate.

  Hymen.–The mucous membrane, or virginal membrane, at the entrance of the female sexual organ, or vagina.

  In general the author skips through the section very rapidly in a no-nonsense business or away. There is no alliteration, and no religious references. That is not surprising as this was written just after the turn of the century when discussions of these particular topics are not carried out in public and rarely between men and women in public, let alone in a book designed to teach both men and women. Keep in mind, that this book came out 40 to 50 years before the Kinsey studies and books on sexual practices were done and written about. Medicine and Society at a long way to go from this point in time when this section was written.

• Fleas
  
  

  Fleas.—There are one hundred varieties of this pest which live on dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, rats, mice, etc. It has been proven that fleas carry the germs of Bubonic Plague, which has caused as high as 113 deaths in 119 cases during an epidemic. The disease was found to be spread by means of rats, mice and squirrels of all species and the flea (pulen fasciatus) in the fur of the animals was the medium by which the disease was conveyed to human beings by biting them and injecting the germs of Plague into their blood.

  The forms which pester the American homes are the Rouse Flea (Pulen Irritans), the Cat Flea (Pulen Felinius), and the Dog Flea (Pulen Canis).
  

  While we have made major advances in the treatment and prevention of fleas, the speed of their prevention as not advanced along a path like Moore’s Law where we see advances in computer chips and flash memory doubling on a regular basis.

  Each female flea deposits from eight to twelve whitish ovoid eggs in dust or lint, under carpets and the larger crevices of wood­work. In the summer they develop in about four weeks from the egg to the adult flea, in winter they develop in about six weeks. Four to six broods, as a rule are hatched out during each summer.

  The House Flea occurs in dwellings, breeding in bedding, clothing, carpets, window curtains, etc. They attack their victims at night. The Cat and Dog Flea, though they annoy only their respective victims, are as troublesome to human beings as the human flea.