In consequence of the Board of Health not having been regularly constituted until above a month after the commencement of the disease in the parish, no returns from medical practitioners were received before the 22nd of August; and even after that period, so constantly were those gentlemen occupied, and worn out with fatigue, the returns were very imperfectly supplied. Therefore, a statistical account of cases, dates of seizure and recovery, cannot here be attempted. It must, therefore, suffice to state, that between 200 and 300 in this parish were more or less affected with the disease; and in Underwood alone, about 200. The proportion of deaths, in cases which had advanced into the second or cold stage before medical assistance had been obtained, was about one out of three. In the foregoing Extracts, only a portion of the cases of confirmed cholera are mentioned; omitting those which are termed incipient.
It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the attention of every one, that if the atmosphere surrounding houses is corrupted by the effluvia of stagnant water in pools and ditches, unwholesome sewers, choked drains, or any accumulation of filth—if badly ventilated rooms are crowded with an excess of occupants—if the diet is low and unwholesome, and the habits of the people are dirty, particularly if they are addicted to drunkenness and dissipation,—diseases of various kinds are engendered as a natural consequence; therefore, under such circumstances, what can be expected during a visitation of an extraordinary epidemic like that of cholera, but its baneful effects, and those of a most aggravated and appalling character.
It is essential that due attention be paid to the very first indication of indisposition during the prevalence of the epidemic. Vegetables and fruit should be avoided. Strong affections of the mind, arising from anxiety, alarm, or excess of grief, are extremely injurious; therefore the mind should be kept calm, and if any symptoms, however trivial, should occur, medical advice should be obtained as speedily as possible.
If, through neglect, or any other particular cause, the second stage has come on, with violent sickness, cramp, cold extremities, weakness, and sinking of the pulse, &c. the disease is extremely dangerous. I have not heard of any specific having yet been discovered, which can be recommended with assurance of success. But even from this stage, and under the most disheartening circumstances, several patients have recovered.
It is hoped, that a plain statement of some of the remedies which were resorted to in this parish, may have a place here, without a risk of being objectionable; especially as it is unaccompanied by any attempt to encroach upon the prerogative of those whose professional education and experience entitle them to be the sole arbiters and directors of such subjects.
Many instances occurred, when medical aid could not be immediately obtained; and some, when there was every probability of considerable loss of time. Under such circumstances, to prevent, if possible, the early stage of the disease assuming a more serious character, much benefit was derived from the following recipes, supplied by Mr. Langworthy; due regard being observed to circumstances as they arose at the time, as well as to the proportions usually allowed for difference of age, sex, and constitution:—
| Powdered rhubarb | 8 grains. |
| Powdered ginger | 6 grains. |
| Carbonate of soda | 20 grains. |
| Calomel, occasionally added | 3 or 4 grains. |
It appeared to us, that in most cases which came under our observation, where the use of heating or spirituous liquors had been resorted to, for the purpose of allaying pain in the bowels, it did more harm than good.
In cases which were attended with aggravated symptoms, five, ten, fifteen, or twenty grains of calomel, with nearly an equal quantity of powdered ginger, were given by Mr. L., according to circumstances, and in an hour or two afterwards, from half an ounce to an ounce of castor oil, with one, two, or three drachms of tincture of rhubarb.
When much irritation has been going on, soda water, in a state of effervescence, or a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, and the same quantity of salvolatile, have tended to allay sickness, &c.