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during the past year. The coming spring, however,
may again show it at Constantinople, or upon
the northern shores of the Mediterranean, or even
in Paris, and then we may expect to have it sooner
or later among us. But to be forewarned is to
be forearmed; for its habits are well known.
The lesson, indeed, of the recent outbreak is but a
repetition of the lessons of the past; for everywhere
we perceive that the haunts of cholera are
the haunts of wretchedness and filth; and that,
like other epidemic diseases, it strikes hardest
where there is dirt, and poverty, and ignorance,
and fear. It is, therefore, we hope, a controllable
disease, and as such we should be prepared to meet it.
Again; early in the month of September, there
was some cause for public alarm in the circumstance
that there was an outbreak of yellow fever
at Swansea. It was imported in a ship laden with
copper ore from Cuba, and although the disease is
rare in this climate, and perhaps never appears
when the temperature is below 50 degrees, yet in
consequence of the remarkably warm month of
September, it showed itself with some force for a
little while after the arrival of the infected ship;
for 29 persons are said to have been attacked by it
in Swansea, and of these 13 died. All of them had
been in communication with the infected vessel or
the crew, and it appears to be a strong proof of the
contagious character of the disease. It is evidence,
c 2