YANDELL on Spasmodic Cholera.



believed to exist in the midst of such general affluence. If
we subtract from the above number those who were invalids
from other disorders, those who were peculiarly exposed
from the nature of their calling, those who were intemperate,
orgrossly imprudent in diet, as well as the aged,the excessively
indigent, and the subjects of inordinate fear, but a small
number will remain. That any should be left out of all
these classes, is evidence of the malignant character assumed
by the disease in this place.
  Few children died. The list referred to includes but 10
or 11. Of the sexes nearly an equal number suffered. The
small excess of males may be attributed, in part, to the hands
engaged in the various rope and bagging factories. It can-
not be said that the drunkards were principal sufferers, al-
though some of them were among the early victims of the
pestilence. It will not, however, be denied that they suffered
ina much greater proportion than the opposite classofsociety.
They were, perhaps, on a par with those whose systems were
enfeebled by any other cause.
  The symptoms of cholera have been so often described,
that no one can be at a loss in recognizing it. It is not
however, uniform in the manner of its access. In some cases,
perhaps a majority, patients felt indisposed for a day or so
before the disease, was fully developed. The head was of-
ten confused, and a feeling of giddiness was experienced.
In some, there were unpleasant sensations in the lower ex-
tremities, as of a tendency to cramps, c. The stomach and
bowels were flatulent, and many complained of a burn-
ing sensation in them, and of pains darting through the ab
domen. But in most instances these slight symptoms disap-
peared in a few days without being followed by any thing
more serious; and in very many instances persons in the
enjoyment of their usual health were seized with profuse
diarrhoea without the occurrence of any previous disorder.
Whenever diarrhoea came on, there was generally but little
doubt as to the character of the malady. It was not, as in
many other places, a premonitorty symptom, continuing a day



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