ear an opinion expressed
amongst them, that it had been or could be conveyed from one person to
another.

Native children generally escaped the attack, and I never heard of an
infant being in the slightest degree visited by this malady. It is,
however, expedient, to use such precautionary measures as sound sense and
reason may suggest, since wherever the cholera has appeared, it has proved
a national calamity, and not a partial scourge to a few individuals; all
are alike in danger of its consequences, whether the disorder be
considered infectious or not, and therefore the precautions I have urged
in India, amongst the Native communities, I recommend with all humility
here, that cleanliness and abstemious diet be observed among all classes
of people.

In accordance with the prescribed antidote to infection from scarlet fever
in England, I gave camphor (to be worn about the person) to the poor in my
vicinity, and to all the Natives over whom I had either influence or
control; I caused the rooms to be frequently fumigated with vinegar or
tobacco, and labaun[18] (frankincense) burnt occasionally. I would not,
however, be so presumptuous to insinuate even that these were preventives
to cholera, yet in such cases of universal terror as the one in question,
there can be no impropriety in recommending measures which cannot injure,
and may benefit, if only by giving a purer atmosphere to the room
inhabited by individuals either in sickness or in health. But above all
things, aware that human aid or skill can never effect a remedy unaided by
the mercy and power of Divine Providence, let our trust be properly placed
in His goodness, 'who giveth medicine to heal our sickness', and humbly
intreat that He may be pleased to avert the awful calamity from our shores
which threatens and disturbs Europe generally at this moment.

Were we to consult Nature rather than inordinate gratifications, we should
find in following her dictates the best security to health at all times,
but more particularly in seasons of prevailing sickness. Upon the first
indications of cholera, I have observed the stomach becomes irritable, the
bowels are attacked by griping pains, and unnatural evacuations; then
follow sensations of faintness, weakness, excessive thirst, the pulse
becomes languid, the surface of the body cold and clammy, whilst the
patient feels inward burning heat, with spasms in the legs and arms.

In the practice of Native doctors, I have n