CITY COITVCIL, July 17, 1832. 
"The following Report was received from the Medical Society, 
on the Letter from the Intendant, on the subject of Cholera. 
Resolved, That the same be accepted, and published in the City 
paper, and that the Intendant be authorized to have 1500 copies 
printed for distribution among the citizens. 
rom the Minutes. 
WM. ROACH, ClerLof Council 
The Committee to whom was referred the letter of the Honora* 
hie the Intendant of the City of Charleston, requesting the Medical 
Society to “ consider and report such measures as they may deem 
most advisable and efficient to preserve the health of the city, or to 
prevent the spread of the Cholera, should it break oiritamongst us,?-1 
respectfully submit the following 
REPORT: 
The preservation of health in a community, is evidently a matter 
of the highest importance. It is the right and duty of Govern- 
ments, to establish such municipal regulations as they may deem 
expedient to prevent the introduction of disease, and to eradicate 
its causes when they exist. Quarantine and Sanitary laws are 
enacted by all civilized nations, Such regulations are good evi- 
dences ot an improved state of society, and of the direct influence 
-of the sciences upon the well-being, and even the existence of 
nations. Your Committee have, therefore, with pleasure, at the ., 
instance of the public authorities, discharged the duties assigned 
them, and prepared, for public consideration qo4 observance, tbf 
inflowing sanitary rules. 1. All municipal regulations ot a sanitary nature, within the ju- 
risdiction of the City Council, and of the proper officers on the Neck, 
should be made fixed laws, and their rigid enforcement enjoined 
Tipon every citizen. 
?' 2. The number of Commissioners of Health should be tempora- 
rily increased; each member should be assigned a special duty; 
the Commissioners should meet often, and every Committee report 
regularly. Epidemics are aggravated by the neglect of hygienic 
rules. The necessity of every man’s doing his duty is too apparent 
to need argument. Neglect must be attended by danger to the 
community, and disgrace to the individual. At least one physician 
should be appointed on each committee. 
15. All offensive and noxious matter, should be removed from 
the city. As decomposing vegetable substances are considered 
peculiarly deleterious to health, it is proper that every yard, garden, 
and out' - be inspected, and such substances removed there- 
from.: The hfcge gardens of the wealthy, and the hovels of the 
indigent-,Alernand particular attention. 
4. Low lots ought to be filled up or drained: moist ground 
exposed to a tropical sun, is a hot bed of disease. 
5. Cellars should be well-aired and cleaned. There is a great 
accumulation of filth in these places, in the alleys and narrow 
streets. Daily ventilation should be enjoined in good weather. 
When the water rests long, and the smell is disagreeable, the cellar 
should be paved or filled up, and the odour removed by frequently 
using Chlorides of Lime and Soda. 
6. If the disease appear in the city, a temporary hospital should 
be provided. It should he properly furnished, and supplied with 
carriages, clothes, food, &c. Admisssion to all liespitals should 
be facilitated; and the number of Dispensary Physicians increased. 
I he cleansing of cloacce, (common sewers) wells, and old recepta- 
cles of filth, should be prohibited during the continuance of the 
disease. 
7. Quarantines upon clean vessels should be entirely abolished. 
vessels, and particularly those coming from places where Cholera 
.prevails, should be carefully inspected. Those requiring it should 
be purified. lour Committee are of opinion, after a diligent and careful pe- 
rusal of tiie numerous documents to which they .have Had access, 
that the Epidemic Cholera is not contagious;—that is to say 
there is no animal poison, contained within the system of one af- 
fected with Cholera, which is communicable by contact, and with- 
out the action of the respiratory apparatus. This opinion, it is 
respectfully submitted, is clearly established, by the following facts 
and arguments. 
1st. In Europe, arbitrary quarantines, sanitary cordons, and 
other preventive measures, have been ineffectually imposed by the 
several governments. When the Emperor of Russia received in- 
formation that the Cholera was fast depopulating Orenburg, he is-, 
sued orders, with a view to stop the inarch of the pestilence. All 
roads adjoining and leading to St. Petersburg, were guarded by 
the mditary; and no person, nor merchandize, was allowed to en- 
ter the city from the infected districts. Other parts of the country 
'veie protected in the same despotic manner: the barriers were 
useless: St. Petersburg lost about 5,000 inhabitants. In Prussia, , 
notwithstanding similar precautions were used, Cholera attacked 
Hantzic, Elbing, Marienburg, Stargard and Derscaw. Poland, 
unhappy and revolutionized Poland, hemmed in by Russian and 
Austrian invaders, suffered severely. Notwithstanding the con- 
joint efforts of contending powers, thousands of her brave sons 
were rescued from the hands of the ruthless tyrant and oppressor, 
only to be delivered over to the scourge of disease and death. The 
duchy of Posen, East Prussia, Gallicia and Silesia, were ravaged 
by Cholera. They were surrouuded by three sanitary lines. Speak- 
ing of the approach of Cholera to Berlin, Briere de Boisment, in 
his “Relation His. et Med. du Cholera, Mor.,” says, “Its pro- 
gress is disputed foot by foot, with all the energy of despair. A 
last cordon is created on the Oder, composed of the elite of the 
Prussian Troops, the Guards. Nevertheless, the Cholera entered 
the Capital early in September. Those who know the Prussian 
Government, will not doubt that its orders were rigorously enforced. 
Like measures were taken to protect Vienna, and with similar 
results.” 
Austria, Prussia and Russia have repealed all cordon and quar- 
antine laws, declaring them ineffectual, and fraught with mischief 
to the public. Great Britain and Genoa impose a Quarantine ol' 
five days. §d. Non-contagion is the-doctrine of a vast majority of the Asi* 
Stic practitioners; of the British East India Physicians; of tlflc 
European Physicians; and of the body of the people generally, 
amongst whom it has been prevalent.- The weight of authority is 
decidedly agfiinst Contagion* 
3d. It is not contagious, or Medical men and their assistant# 
could not have escaped, as they appear to have done. 
M. ZoubkofF, chief adjunct in a quarter of Moscow, Deynert, an 
Assistant Surgeon, Delaunay, a French Physician, M. Fmelianoff 
and M. Istotchnikoff, Students, Jean Stutzer and 32 Assistants,- 
lived in the Hospital, and never contracted Cholera. (Traite de 
Choi. Mor. par F. G. Boissestu, pp. 90, 94.) 
The Medical Stall' were exempt at Orenburg. (Liclitensta‘dt, 
die Assiatische Cholera.) 
In the Hospital of Madras, of 101 Medical attendants, only one 
was attacked. (Madras Report.) 
The Calcutta Report says, That of 253 Medical Practitioners in 
Bengal, three only took the disease. (Rep. on Ep. Clio, drawn 
by J. Jamieson.) 
At Nagpoor, not one of the Medical Staff contracted Cholera ; 
nor was a single Physician or Assistant attacked at Bombay. (See 
Bengal Report, and Ogilvy’s Report, Kennedy, p. 57, confirmed 
by Surgedns Jukes, Kennedy, p. 81.) 
At Berhampoi'e, of 150 patients in the Hospital, only orte was 
affected by Cholera* The Medical Staff were unaffected, (See 
Trans. Med. and Phys. Sdc. at Calcutta, Vol. IV. pp. 277, 278, 
280.) So also at Moscow, (See Dr. Alber’s Report to the Prus- 
>ian Government, and Report of Dr. Walker.) 
Whyte, Assistant Surgeon in the General Hospital in India, 
declares that in no instance vvere Hospital assistants affected. (See 
Med. Chiriir. Trans, xi. p. 143. This is confirmed by Deputy In- 
spector Farrell's Report at Columbo, in Ceylon, Hawkins, p. 263.) 
la Riga, says the report of the British Consul, of 78 persons em- 
ployed in a Hospital, only one was attacked with Cholera. M. 
1 hamberet, one of the French Medical deputation to Warsaw, 
feays, of 100 Medical attendants, but ond died. These statements 
tire confirmed by Scot in his Report on the Fpid. Cholera, Madras, 
1824. At Pklamcottu, Cholera patients were crowded into a Hos,* pita] already occupied by other patients; the infection did not 
spread to a solitary individual. (Kennedy’s notes on Epidemic 
Cholera, p. 113.) 
These facts fully establish our position: many more might he 
adduced. 
4th. "When Cholera prevailed among the native East Indians 
during their assemblage on the Banks of the Ganges for religious 
purposes, their dispersion was immediately followed by an arrest and 
complete extinction of the disease. In 1817, the army of the 
Marquis of Hastings, consisting of 80,000 men, lost nearly one- 
tenth of its number by Cholera. The army was stationed on the 
Banks of the Sinde, at Bundlecund, in Allahabad province, a most 
unhealthy region- A removal to the high banks and pure air of 
Bet wall at Erich, eradicated permanently the destructive pestilence. 
It is stated in Alber’s Report to the Prussian Government, that 
when Cholera prevailed at Moscow, 40,000 inhabitants fled froth 
the city, and no case has been recorded elsewhere, as having been 
introduced by these fugitives. “A large detachment of Troops 
marched 560 miles: it was exposed to, and left the disease behind 
three different times, and on none of these occasions, did a single 
case occur beyond the tainted spot.” (See Bell’s treatise on Epid. 
Cholera, p. 91.) During the raging of the Cholera at St. Peters* 
burg, the inhabitants daily visited a small town not 10 wersts dis- 
tant : not one case of Cholera occurred there. Thorn constantly 
traded with M arsaw, Dantzic, and other cities, whilst the pestilence 
raged among them; she did not lose a single inhabitanti Cholera 
never appeared there. (See M. PrunelPs Report to the French 
Chamber of Deputies, Arch. Gem. pp. 13G, 137.) Are not these 
facts conclusive against the contagiousness of Cholera? 
.7th. “ It is made out by innumerable testimonies that the Cholera 
is not communicable by articles of merchandize, or by any inanimate 
object.” (Alber’s Report.) Hawkins, an English writer, states 
on the authority of the Physicians at Moscow, that convalescent* 
continued to wear the same clothes they wore during the disease, 
without being subjected to a second attack, (llist. Epi. Spas. Choi.) 
Copeland, a coutagionist, allows that clothes and merchandize have 
never produced Cholera; and Dr. W alker, a contagionist of Moscow, 
-ay®! case has occurred to prove the possibility of conuniftucuting flic disease by goods or clothes. Drs. Srilirnor and Litehtenstscdt 
state, that the women who washed for the hospital at Orenburg, 
were exempt from the disease. F. G. Boisseau and many others 
distinctly assert, that no instance can be quoted where Cholera 
was conveyed to a place by any inanimate matter. 
If Cholera be contagious, it is communicable by contact: All 
animal poisons, communicable by contact alone, can be conveyed 
by inorganic substances to organic beings—-as vaccine virus, vario- 
la, varioloid, venereal, &c. The general admission by the conta- 
gionists, of the fact that Cholera cannot be, and has never been 
propagated by inorganic substances, is in direct opposition to, and 
destructive of their theory of its contagiousness. 
6th. It is not contagious because it cannot be produced by inoc- 
ulation, by transfusion of blood, or by tasting the ejections—by 
sleeping with one diseased, or wearing his clothes after death. At 
\V arsaw, Foy inoculated himself from a person dying of Cholera, 
infused into his own veins his blood, inhaled his breath, and tasted 
his ejections. He did not contract the disease. fSee his letter to. 
the Royal Academy at Paris, and Gazette Medical, June 25, 1831./ 
Many others have repeated these experiments with impunity. 
7th. It commences by attacking a great many at the same time. 
This is in direct opDosition to the known and acknow ledged rules 
Which control the march of all contagious diseases. 
8th. It attacks many places very distant and remote from each 
other, at the same period of time, and without any possibility of 
previous communication. All persons attacked, ascribe the attack 
to cold, excess in eating or drinking, violent moral emotions, or some 
apparent cause besides contagion. The voice of the sick is opposed 
to the doctrine of contagion. 
9th. The laws by which contagious diseases seem to be governed 
lis to the suddenness of attack, symptoms and duration, are at va- 
riance with every thing we know of Cholera. 
The means to be adopted by individuals to avoid the Cholera, 
and to mitigate its effects, are next to be considered. The disor- 
der is generated by atmospheric causes. The sudden changes from 
n high to a low,temperature, in our irregular and varying climate, 
powerfully affect the system. The transitions from heat to cold, are . 
too rapid to be comfortably endured in ordinary season?. How can* nous then should every one be, when pestilence sits brooding on tlwj 
troubled bosom of the air! As intense heat cannot be avoided. 
I. MS liilst the Thermometer is high, exposure to currents of 
cool air should be guarded against. 
II. Dwelling houses should be well ventilated. But the change 
ocoui ring towards daylight, from perfect atmospheric rest, and bo- 
dily oppression, to a slightly chilling breeze, and subsequent in- 
Vigoration, suggests the prudence of sleeping, with most windows 
in the chambers closed. 
HI. The night air and dews should be sedulously avoided. Hu- 
midity is deleterious to health. 
IV. To keep up an equable temperature, is indispensable. The 
yhest, belly, and loins, should be covered with flannel. If it be ex- 
tremely disagreeable—-a cotton jacket may be substituted. If 
Cholera prevail in Charleston, the whole surface of the body should 
be enveloped in woollen night and day. Common sense dictates 
this preventive. European and Asiatic experience sanctions'^. 
V. The diet should be simple. Moderate eating of digestible 
food invigorates both mind and body. To gormandize, or partake 
freely of every savory dish, may delight and tickle the palate, but 
it is a fruitful source of disease. The best food is the least exci- 
ting. Meat plainly cooked is not injurious, Soup, beef, white 
meat, vegetables easily boiled, ripe fruit, and bread and milk, form 
the best nourishment. High seasoned dishes, pork, salted and 
-smoked meat and fish, shell fish, cabbage, onions, garlic, greasy 
aliments, unripe fruit, cucumbers, melons, pastry, sweet meats 
peppers, mushrooms, and all rich food and viands, are great stim- 
ulants, and should not be indulged in, 
- VI. Of all drinks, water should be preferred. Old Sherry and 
Madeira are very grateful to the stomach,-and in our climate aro 
not injurious, if temperately used by those accustomed to them. 
Alcoholic drinks excite to much ; they should be abandoned and 
superseded by light French wines. Persons, however, who havo 
been long habituated in these drinks, should not abstain tofs 
suddenly. Tea and cofiee are not nutritious : they should be used 
l ery sparingly, and #niy by those in whom the habit i3 confirmed • and inveterate. Bad and sour wines, and all fermenting liquors, 
should be avoided. Drinks should not be colder than fresh spring 
water. Sobriety is necessary to health. Drunkards are most lia- 
ble to Cholera. 
VII. Personal cleanliness should be particularly observed by 
frequent ablutions and bathing. 
VIII. Excessive fatigue of the muscles should be avoided, and 
temperance in all things observed. 
IX. Large popular assemblies should be shunned. 
X. The time of burial, &c. should be regulated by Physicians. 
XI If attacked, medical aid should be immediately sought. 
There is no specifrc for the cure of Cholera. 
XII. Lastly, the minds of all should be tranquil. In consulting 
the statistical details of the ravages made by Cholera in the large 
and densely populated cities of Europe, we are struck with the 
fact, that even amid the squalid haunts of penury and wretched- 
ness, its mortality was by no means so great as is generally ima- 
gined. ’’Ve are satisfied that its mortality would be considerably 
diminished in country. Our towns are built with a due re- 
gal d to public health. Few are so poor that they cannot provide 
for themselves ; employment can always be found, and labour is 
sufficiently paid. Industry is the pure and never failing fountain 
of an ample store. Very many epidemic causes which exist else- 
where, engendering and aggravating pestilence in its most hide- 
ous forms, are unknown to us, Hence the Cholera must assume 
a less malignant form in the United States. Useless fears super- 
induce disease; no personal apprehensions should be lightly in- 
dulged. An undaunted and cheerful spirit, the offspring at once 
of common sense and piety, is the best guardian of health and 
happiness* 
THOMAS HUNT. M, D. Chairman, 
W. SlfcEV, MUSTEIS HU CaURCa-aiEEEI*