Result of an inquiry whether cholera can be conveyed by human intercourse from an infected to a healthy locality; or, from an infected to a healthy person : that is, is cholera a contagious disease? / by David Macloughlin.

  • Macloughlin, David, 1786-1870.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Result of an inquiry whether cholera can be conveyed by human intercourse from an infected to a healthy locality; or, from an infected to a healthy person : that is, is cholera a contagious disease? / by David Macloughlin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which occurred in London in 1848, was on the 22nd September, 1848 (see p. 14 of their Report on Cholera, published in 1850); but they forgot to state that this case occurred in a sailor belonging to the Elbe steamer, Avhich had arrived, two days before, from Hamburgh, where cholera raged; and that two sailors belonging to this steamer had died of cholera on the voyage from Hamburgh to London. / have the authority of the Captain of the Elbe for this statement. And they also forgot to state that a landsman, who slept in the same room as the sailor at Horsleydown, on the night from the 21st to the 22nd September, 1848, was himself attacked by cholera six days after. I have this detail from the landsman. Therefore, if the fact is correct, that the case which occurred in the sailor on the 22nd Septem- ber, 1848, was the first case of cholera, which oc- curred in London, in 1848, it is evident that the disease was imported into London by the steamer Elbe; and therefore the Board have proved that cholera can be conveyed, by human intercourse, from an infected to a healthy locality; therefore they have proved that cholera is a contagious dis- ease. But by referring to the Registrar General's weekly return of births and deaths, we find that one hundred and seventy-nine medical gentlemen certified to the Ilegistrar General that one hundred and seventy- nine cases of cholera had proved fatal in London from 1st January to the 21st September, 1848. Therefore, the disease was raging in London prior to the 22nd September, 1848 ; and, therefore, the I'oard of Health were not justified in stating that