Origin of the Cholera at Sunderland. By T. M. Greenhow, Esq. of Newcastle.

The assumed capability of Cholera being conveyed by shipping from one country to another, on which our system of quarantine is founded, very naturally gave rise to the suspicion, when it first appeared in the port of Sunderland, of its having been imported from some place on the Continent, where it was known to prevail; and several stories were in circulation descriptive of the manner in which it had thus been introduced. I shall not here repeat any of these tales, suffice it to say that none of them have been in any degree authenticated. That the ships which were blamed for having committed the mischief, were found to have been from uninfected ports, their bills of health clean, and their crews healthy; in point of fact they were fairly acquitted of the charge; and I believe the conviction is now almost universally entertained by the inhabitants of Sunderland, medical and non-medical, that the disease did not reach that place from any foreign source whatever. It may be further stated that the first case of cholera which took place in this part of the country, was at a considerable distance from Sunderland, having been at a small village called Team, about two miles south-west of Newcastle. This case occurred to Dr. Alexander, of Newcastle, on the 4th of August, 1831. The details are given in the Appendix, No. I.; other cases occurred at Newcastle simultaneously, if not before the regular appearance of the disease at Sunderland; although want of experience of its true characteristics, and unwillingness to believe in the fact, induced medical gentlemen to endeavour to prove that these were not cases of the new disease; yet subsequent observation has sufficiently proved their identity, and, I believe, it is now generally admitted. Such were the cases of Oswald Reay, which occurred in October, of William Armstrong in the beginning, and of Robert Jordan towards the end of November. On the 7th December the next case occurred, that of Maria Mills, with which commenced the official reports of the Board of Health of this place. The strictest inquiries respecting the origin of these cases have failed to obtain the slightest evidence of their having arisen from any infected source, and seem to prove, in the most satisfactory manner, that, however the disease may have since extended itself, its commencement in the country was spontaneous, upon whatever causes it may have depended.