is gentleman, like all who speak of
cholera, mentions circumstances as to the progress of the disease
which he cannot comprehend, and Dr. Macmichael shows us what those
circumstances are; but Dr. Macmichael does not exhibit to us _what does_
come perfectly within Mr. Jukes's comprehension, but which is not quite
so suitable to the doctor's purpose. This omission I shall take the
liberty to supply from an official letter from Mr. Jukes in the Bombay
Reports:--"I have had no reason to think it has been contagious here,
neither myself nor any of my assistants, who have been constantly
amongst the sick, nor any of the hospital attendants, have had the
disease. It has not gone through families when one has become affected.
It is very unlike contagion too, in many particulars." &c.--(_Bombay
Reports_, page 172.)--Ought we not to be a little surprised that so
great an admirer of candour, as Dr. Macmichael seems to be, should,
while so anxious to give every information to his readers, calculated to
throw light upon the subject of cholera, omits the above important
paragraph, which we find, by the way _immediately precedes_ the one upon
opinions and difficulties which he quotes from the same gentleman? But
let us examine what the amount of force is, which can be obtained from
that part of Mr. Jukes's paper, which it does please Dr. Macmichael to
quote:--"If it be something general in the atmosphere, why has it not
hitherto made its appearance in some two distinct parts of the province
at the same time? Nothing of this kind has, I believe, been observed. It
still seems creeping from village to village, rages for a few days, and
then begins to decline." I find myself unable, at this moment, to
ascertain the extent of Mr. Jukes's means of obtaining information as
to what was passing in other parts of his province; but I think the
following quotation, on which I am just now able to lay my hand, will
not only satisfactorily meet what is here stated, but must, in the
public opinion, be treasured, as it serves at once to displace most
erroneous ideas long prevalent, and which, I believe, greatly influenced
men's decisions as to contagion:--"It may, then, first be remarked,
that the rise and progress of the disorder were attended by such
circumstances as showed it to be entirely independent of contagion for
its propagation. Thus we have seen that it arose at nearly one and the
same time in many different places, and that in the same month