were no
longer able to administer to their necessities. The whole camp then put
on the appearance of a hospital. The noise and bustle almost inseparable
from the intercourse of large bodies of people had nearly subsided.
Nothing was to be seen but individuals anxiously hurrying from one
division of a camp to another, to inquire after the fate of their dead
or dying companions, and melancholy groups of natives bearing the
biers of their departed relatives to the river. At length even this
consolation was denied to them, for the mortality latterly became so
great that there was neither time nor hands to carry off the bodies,
which were then thrown into the neighbouring ravines, or hastily
committed to the earth on the spots on which they had expired." Let us
now inquire how this appalling mortality was arrested;--the report goes
on to inform us:--"It was clear that such a frightful state of things
could not last long, and that unless some immediate check were given to
the disorder, it must soon depopulate the camp. It was therefore wisely
determined by the Commander-in-chief _to move in search of a healthier
soil and of purer air_," which they found when they "crossed the clear
stream of the Bitwah, and upon its high and dry banks at Erich soon got
rid of the pestilence, and met with returning health." Now just fancy
epidemic cholera a disease transmissible by "susceptible articles," and
what an inexhaustible stock must this large army, with its thousands of
followers, have long carried about with them; but, instead of this, they
were soon in a condition to take the field. Against the above historical
fact men of ingenuity may advance what they please. There is no doubt
that, in the above instance, severe cases of cholera occurred _during
the move_, the poison taken into the system on the inauspicious spot,
not having produced its effects at once; it is needless to point out
what occurs in this respect in remittent and intermittent fevers. The
India reports furnish further evidence of mere removal producing health,
where cholera had previously existed. Mr. Bell, a gentleman who had
served in India, and who has lately written upon the disease,[9] informs
us (p. 84), that "removing a camp a few miles, has frequently put an
entire and immediate stop to the occurrence of new cases; and when the
disease prevailed destructively in a village, the natives often got rid
of it by deserting their houses for a time, though in doing so