Origin of the Cholera at Quebec.

Board of Health, Quebec, June 25th, 1832.

The undersigned, appointed by the Board of Health to investigate and report upon the introduction and treatment of the cholera, now existing in this country, have agreed to the following Report, which they respectfully submit.

The disease, on its first appearance in this city, exhibited all the characters of that commonly called the Asiatic or Spasmodic Cholera. It commenced about the 8th instant, in boarding houses and taverns in the Cul-de-Sac—a low, uncleanly, and ill-ventilated part of the city—crowded with emigrants of the lowest description, with sailors and other persons of irregular habits.

About the fourth day of the disease, (the 12th,) it showed itself in the more elevated parts of the city, among the wealthier classes of society, and persons of sober and regular habits, who could have had but little, if any, direct communication with the people among whom the disease had first appeared.

About the same date, (the 12th,) the disease was observed in various parts of the city, and in several neighbouring parishes, some few miles distant, having a constant intercourse with it.

The cases continued to increase in number until about the 16th or 18th, (being the 8th or 10th day of the disease,) when they began to subside, both in number and in violence—the disease still prevailing more extensively in the ill-ventilated parts of the city above mentioned. About the period of its greatest prevalence, (the 8th or 10th day of the disease,) the number of cases was estimated to be between 250 and 300, in the course of twenty-four hours.

The undersigned have not as yet been able to discover that any case of cholera has been landed from any vessel in the harbour, before nor until several days after its first appearance in the city.

They deem it necessary to add, that some parishes in the neighbourhood of Quebec have continued free from the disease until lately, and that no case appears to have yet occurred at Three Rivers, an intermediate and populous town between Montreal and Quebec, where the steamboats with emigrants from Quebec, generally arrive.

Since the appearance of this malady, only two soldiers have been attacked in Quebec, and those while on duty—the rest being closely confined to their quarters.

The symptoms were the most violent at the commencement, and continued so until about the 16th or 18th, when they began to mitigate in severity, as the cases diminished in number.

In the treatment of this disease, recourse has been had to almost every remedy favourably reported of by European practitioners, and they all have had, for a time, their advocates—some preferring stimulants, others opiates, while others satisfied themselves with an intermediate plan of treatment—the whole of the medical practitioners with one accord agreeing, however, in the application of external stimulants, such as oil of turpentine, mustard, warm applications and frictions; calomel and opium have been much relied on by many. Practitioners speak with confidence of blood-letting at the onset of the disease, and before an approach to collapse has been recognised. Sweating has been much practised, and decidedly with advantage, when it is not allowed to run into that state of collapse indicated by a pulseless wrist, dejected countenance, blue extremities, tongue and breath cold, and a sunken voice, feeling as if it passed through the ears.

Some instances have been noticed, and also observed by our intelligent clergy, as well as by ourselves, where, in some mild forms of the disease, nature effected a cure by copious perspiration, encouraged by warm drinks and extra clothing.

The undersigned, with one accord, have found purgatives injurious, if used before perspiration or blood-letting had been resorted to, to allay the irritable state of the stomach and bowels; and then only the milder purgatives should be employed, such as calomel or blue pills, guarded with minute doses of opium, and carried off, after a few hours, with rhubarb, combined with soda and carbonate of ammonia.

Signed, Jos. Morrin, Health Commissioner; W. A. Hall, Resident Physician; F. X. Tessier, Health Officer; Wm. Lyons, Superintendent of the Emigrant Hospital.