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34
5. That other places not supplied with the
water, but situated within the infected area,
suffered equally with the neighbourhood.
I am far from wishing it to be thought that
choleraic matter diffused through water will not
produce disease. There is abundant evidence to
show that it is often a prolific source of it; but
I am anxious in dealing with a question of so
much public importance as the origin of the late
epidemic, that none of the facts should be perverted,
and that no hasty or ingenious hypothesis
without solid foundation should take possession of
the public mind. In the conduct of inquiries like
this, there should be a calm, a full, and a candid
examination of the facts;—we should endeavour to
study the phenomena in a philosophical spirit, and
apply to them the tests of sound induction; we
should strive also to deduce from them such laws
as will not only expose the nature of the malady,
but will, at the same time, enable us to treat it
successfully. Rash opinions, boldly asserted, and
tenaciously held, though they may force themselves
on public attention, rarely lead to useful
results; and while they have their hold on the
popular mind they seriously hinder the progress of
real knowledge.
Looking back, however, on the experience