Report on the cholera which visited Her Majesty's Black Sea Fleet in the autumn of 1854 / by B.G. Babington.

  • Benjamin Guy Babington
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the cholera which visited Her Majesty's Black Sea Fleet in the autumn of 1854 / by B.G. Babington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    cessation of pain, pills of five grains of acetate of lead and half a grain of opium were given three or four times a day, according to the urgency of symptoms. The Spitfire, with a crew of, all hands, 65, a third class steam surveying vessel, had no cholera, although communica- tion with the shore at Varna and Baltschik was uninterrupted. She had diarrhoea, however, during the months of July, August and September 1854, and the boats’ crews suffered most, from the fruit and other things which they, more than the rest of the ship’s company, had the opportunity of in- dulging in on shore. There were 38 cases of diarrhoea in all placed on the sick list, and the symptoms did not differ from those ordinarily observed. The exciting cause seemed to be some peculiar atmospheric agency. The predisposing causes were exposure to wet and night air, and errors in diet, especially in eating unripe fruit. The escape of the ship from cholera is attributed by Mr. Wilcox to its frequent change of position, so as not to have remained long in the same current of air ; and to the facility in a small vessel of observing the state of men’s health, their mode of living, and the first appearance or indication of the disease. The diarrhoea is stated to have yielded to ordinary remedies; and the only prophylactic suggestions recommended are, besides cleanli- ness and ventilation, a strict observance of the crew that they may obtain medical treatment on the first appearance of symptoms. The Spiteful steam sloop, with 135 of all ranks on board, was free from cholera; yet she used the same water, ob- tained from Eupatoria, as the Leander, and was for a week in October and three weeks in November, 1851, lying close to her, during which periods she was suffering severely from cholera. Why the one ship suffered while the other escaped is not considered explicable by Dr. Clarke : and there are no special suggestions recommended by him for the preven- tion of the disease, beyond cleanliness, a strict surveillance over the shore boats, so that they may not be the means of introducing into the ship unwholesome food or unripe fruits, the use of flannel belts round the abdomen ; and lastly, a sufficient supply of clean bedding—a point often altogether overlooked on board ship. The Beagle steam gun vessel, with 65 souls on board, was never attacked with cholera or choleraic diarrhoea. She used distilled water, but her immunity is attributed to her late arrival in the Black Sea, when the cholera had all but ceased, and to her being continually on the move.
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