Show HOW CHOLERA SPREADS IN INDIA Through Lack of Sanitation and the Peoples Peo-ples Peculiar Habits A plain story of the conditions that prevail in India for the spread of the cholera was related at the New Century club by Dr Pauline Root of the Womans Medical college who has lived for eight years in southern India Dr Root began by describing the conditions under which people live in southern India in order to show exactly what circumstances gene erate the cholera There is absolutely no sanitation there as we have i Drainage Drain-age with the exception of a fever breeder in the way of an open sewer is unknown In the village people Jive in low mud hut where all the family congregate in one room the dimensions of which are likely to be four feet by ten or twelve feet As there are no outbuildings at all there i no way in which persons can protect themselves against the cholera i it once appears in such a household Sometimes i the well runs dry stagnant water must be used A high cast personage person-age will not allow a low caste to use his well Commonly people go to the river for water As the water is frequently not on the surface a tub is dug in the river bed and tho water allowed to collect At this tub or at the well all the functions func-tions of bathing are performed First the jar is filled and the water being dashed over the person soon trickles back to its source In the case of certain religious enthusiasts water is poured over the body fifty times Next the seely the single piece of silk or cloth which is worn as I garment must be washed This is dipped into the pool Finally the jar is refilled and carried home The quality of tho water by the time the jar is refilled is promising indeed when cholera is in the air In these river tubs the clothes are washed The cattle aro taken there to drink Dr Root said that in sending a man to the river to fetch water there was never any certainty that he would not fill his jar with the water standing in one of the pools instead of digging a fresh hole rho very cleanliness of the people and they are extremely cleantends to the spread of cholera because their method of bathing is so unintelligent In southern India there is always more or less cholera It is often prevalent after a certain religious festival of the marriage of two divinitieswhich is celebrated by an encampment in the river bed for four or five days S As for facilities in caring for the sick in India Dr Root graphically showed how forlornly poor these are by describing her experience in tho house of the vicepres ident of the municipality of Madun a wealthy man who arrayed himself resplendently re-splendently when he came to ask her to visit his wife thus showing his solicitude for his wiles condition Undoubtedly he meant to do the best he could for the sick woman for the doctor found her in a room adjacent to her husbandsa position posit-ion of honor The woman was badly crippled and only able to crawl down from her cot Beyond playing with the children and polishing the jewels nothing relieved the monotony of her day She was entirely uncared for A hole in the wall for refuse was cleaned only once a day The woman died of blood poisoning poison-ing And this is the way i sick person fared in one of the better houses I Usually a sick person is placed in a room that is reached from the house by crossing a court and passing through an alley The alley usually has black slimy water in it The room is seven feet square In the court are often found the cow chickens and a number of persons No wonder that under such conditions cholera chol-era spreads like wildfire But cholera is always brought It never starts of itself Philadelphia Ledger itsel |