Hi, Sharon & Tom:
The recurring cholera epidemics presented a near medaeval terror among people. Look in any old cemetery and examine the dates of death: months and ages. Lots of it 'unknown' in origin. Old 'summer complaint' on the rivers and elsewhere covered a number of things: Typhoid, Cholera, Polio, Dysentery etc. The Flick/Kennedy branches of our family were nearly exterminated in the Cholera of 1849. Records tell of parents and older brothers being 'felled' while working. Only one female child, Elizabeth, wandered away to the family of a doctor in the nearby town in south-central Ohio. People wouldn't approach the family farm and the dead lay for a time where they fell. He burned her clothes and 'fumigated' her totally in some type of a sheep dip. Each generation of our family has had at least one female daughter named 'Elizabeth.'
Tom Schiffer and I have discussed 'acids' on E=Mails. Numerous compounds such as 'strong vinegar, sulfate of iron, chloride of lime, charcoal, opium & brandy etc., etc.,' were employed to kill the contagion. Old steamboat engineers and pilots recalled memories to me of prescribing the eating of 'canned/preserved stewed tomatoes uncooked' to those on boats suffering from acute intestinal complaint. What was the complaint? A good guess.
The World War I 'Spanish Influenza' was vividly remembered by people of the older generation to many of us on this web as kids. The Spanish took a 'rap' on that as the disease really wasn't all that 'Spanish.' Thanks for your posting. I'm the weird one for being fascinated with epidemics.
Cheers on a somber note.
R. Dale Flick
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