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:

• How We Walk
  
  

  How We Walk.- the foot is in raised from the ground and swung forward into true pendulum fashion.  The leg in so doing becomes flexed at the knee joint, and considerably shorter, and the whole weight of the body is transferred to and supported by the leg and foot, which is planted firmly on the ground.  The leg in the foot which was swinging in the air is now brought down to the ground, the muscles passing through changes just the reverse of those employed in raising it.  Planting this foot firmly on the ground, to prevent the body from failing, we raise the other foot, swing it forward, like describing the same movements as before, repeating the process alternatively with each leg.  These movements constitute the act of walking; the complexity of which is fully illustrated by the consultative machinery employed for its performance, as we’ve seen in the beautiful place join the wonderful unskillful arrangements of the bones and muscles of the leg.

  This description sounds slightly unscientific.  I picture a man standing there and slowly lifting his leg while the author slowly writes in perfect form each word describing the movement, but the entire time failing to recognize the chaotic nature of walking or running which is at best an exercise in repeated controlled falling.  Its much easier today to analyze true movement with the benefit of cameras and slow motion.  The author might not even be suited for practicing medicine today and could possibly be better suited to accounting or banking working with mortgage lenders.

• Bones of the Trunk and Arms. Different Forms of Bones
  
  

  On turning over this flap we are brought face to face with a grim looking but useful object — the framework of the trunk and arms.  The skeleton is of a ghastly appearance and emblematic of death; it’s unsightly look sends a thrill of poor through us, and we instinctively recoil from it.  Yet at some serves a useful purpose in the human body, and the ugly looking bones, when carefully examined, abound in nice contrivances and ingenious workmanship; whilst each individual bonus design for the a special duty it has to perform.  Hence the bones different forms; some are long, as in the arms and legs; some are short and thick, giving strength and compactness, as in the lumbar portion of the spine; some are flat, for covering a cavity, as the school and pelvis, and others used for special purpose or irregular, is in the hands and feet.

  just when I thought the book was getting a slightly bit dull, this little section popped out at me as we start to read into some of the peculiar notions the author had regarding the skeletal system.  Various phrases such as “thrill of poor” and “ghastly appearance and emblematic of death” rapidly depart from the tone you would expect from a medical journal or book.  The author goes halfway through the paragraph before they start to get down to the actual topic at hand and shy away from their romantic notions about how scary a skeleton looks.

  It makes me wonder just how much or how little your average person back in the early 1900s may have been exposed to views that included pictures of the skeleton.  Back then there was no TV nor cartoons even to introduce children to the funny side of skeletons, there was no Halloween where children dressed up like skeletons.  The skull and cross bones probably had a much more sinister visual impact on people and to see a skeleton in real life or even in a picture may have been more dramatic.  It definitely seems peculiar here.

• Health
  
  

  Health.-Disease can be prevented by the individual doing everything in his power to keep in the best physical condition.  Disease is a common enemy of all of us, waiting to destroy, but nature is in league with us if we obey her laws.  With a normal body and pureblood should the invader arrived, the fight is on our side.  But once the body is weakened by heredity as a result of our parent’s or forefather’s neglect of the body, through the abuse of alcohol, tobacco or immoral living, lack of exercise, over eating and loss of sleep, overworked or lack of work or improper food, then will the soil be fertile for the planting of the germs of disease.  When exposed and once planted the flight will be in their favor, as the rundown body will not have sufficient vitality to overcome the invader and sickness and death will result.

  Its an interesting perspective that the author offers up about the abuse of alcohol and its impact on babies.  This is something that is well documented today with fetal alcohol syndrome, but somewhat remarkable that they made the link 100 years ago.

  Its remarkable, but it might also point to the direction of science and how unsubstantiated beliefs of 100 years ago, pushed the logical research in one direction or another.  Hypothesis followed by experiment to result in a proven rule or dismissal or refinement of the hypothesis.  But it requires that first notion and direction to research.  Similar things can be seen in the evolution of other areas of science from airplanes to vacuum cleaners and Ladybug steam cleaners.