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England, It was brought by emigrants (en route from
Germany to America) into Liverpool, and by shipping
into Southampton, Llanelly, and other seaport towns.
The details of these and other cases it is not my purpose
now to discuss: but the successive outbreaks of cholera
in various seaport towns, rendered it more and more probable
that London (also a seaport town) would not long
escape.
I think it may be certainly said that, with the exception
of a few cases of persons coming from infected places
abroad with the choleraic poison in their system, few if
any cases of genuine epidemic cholera were met with in
London in the course of the year 1865. Diarrhoea it is
true was unusually fatal during the summer months, but
the excess of mortality from this disease was probably
due alone to the excessive heat of the season. During the
first 6 months too of the year 1866, there was nothing
whatever in the mortuary returns of the metropolis, to
create alarm In June, indeed, diarrhoea was far less
fatal than it had been in the June of 1865, and deaths
ascribed to cholera were also less numerous by nearly
one-half.
In the week ending July 7th, 14 deaths from cholera
and choleraic diarrhoea were registered; but that number
was scarcely ominous. In the corresponding week of the
previous year 12 choleraic deaths had been registered.
From this week however to that ending August 4th,
cholera increased with terrible rapidity; the deaths from
cholera in the 5 weeks embraced within this period