n enumerated, should have occurred in each case; for
neither in India nor any-where else could all the grave symptoms be
possibly united in any one case; for instance, great retching, and a
profuse serous discharge from the bowels, have very commonly occurred
where the disease has terminated fatally: yet it is not less certain,
that even in the epidemics of the same year, death has often taken place
in India more speedily where the stomach and bowels have been but little
affected, or not at all. To those who give the subject of cholera all
the attention which it merits, the consideration of some of those cases
which have, within the last few weeks, appeared in the journals of this
country, cannot fail to prove of high interest, and must inspire the
public with confidence, inasmuch as they show, _beyond all doubt_, that
the disease called cholera, as it has appeared in this country, and
however perfectly its symptoms may resemble the epidemic cholera of
other countries, _is not_ communicable. On some of those cases so
properly placed before the public, I shall perhaps be soon able to offer
a few remarks: meanwhile, I shall here give the abstract of a case, the
details of which have not as yet, I believe, appeared, and which must
greatly strengthen people in their opinion, that these cholera cases,
however formidable the symptoms, and though they sometimes end rapidly
in death, still do not possess the property of communicating the disease
to others. I do not mean to state that I have myself seen the case, the
details of which I am about to give, but aware of the accuracy of the
gentleman who has forwarded them to me, I can say, that although the
communication was not made by the medical gentleman in charge of the
patient, the utmost reliance may be placed on the fidelity of those
details:--

Thursday, August 11th, 1831, Martin M'Neal, aged 42, of the 7th
Fusileers, stationed at Hull, was attacked at a little before four A.M.,
with severe purging and vomiting--when seen by his surgeon at about four
o'clock, was labouring under spasms of the abdominal muscles, and of the
calves of the legs. What he had vomited was considered as being merely
the contents of the stomach, and, as the tongue was not observed to be
stained of a yellow colour, it was inferred that no bile had been thrown
up. He took seventy drops of laudanum, and diluents were ordered.
Half-past six, seen again by the surgeon, who was informed that he had
vomite