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201
???fth days : and that they lose all specific properties
after that date.
The application of the above results in explana???ion
of the phenomena connected with the causation
if Cholera is obvious. And it is fair to conclude
from them, and from the other facts which have
been adduced : that the specific poison of Cholera is
urnished by the discharges (vomit and faeces) from
he alimentary canal ; that these are not operative
when completely fresh, but acquires virulent infective
properties in the course of the following two, three,
our or five days, and subsequently lose them ; that
he poison of the disease is taken up by, or acts
upon, the mucous membrane of the bowels, which
???t reaches through the mouth ; and that while,
undoubtedly, it may be conveyed to the mouth under
uncleanly circumstances from saturated bed-clothes,
and direct contamination of culinary utensils, food
or fingers, larger outbreaks of the disease are due
???o the infection of drinking-water (well, pond or
???iver) with Cholera poison derived from cesspools,
sewers or other such sources.
There can be little doubt, from the fact of its
???ctive powers of multiplication, that the Cholera
poison is an organized contagium : that one phase
of its normal active existence is passed externally