Persia's Cholera and Sanitary Neglect
THE empire of Persia is a hotbed for the cholera, and there is every reason why it should be so, if there is truth in the report recently made of the British Consul at Resht, a town of 40,000 inhabitants, with regard to the sanitary arrangements of the town. "The cesspools that exist in each house," he says, "are mere wells, more or less deep, which have no exit. Drinking water is obtained from wells sunk within ten or twenty yards of these cesspools. There are no sewers, and, although gutters exist in some streets, they are worse than useless, for they have no means of carrying away the accumulated water, and consequently they are oftener than not full of stagnant green liquid. The rubbish out of the kitchens and stuff that goes into the dust bin at home, here is thrown out in certain corners of streets and open spaces, where it is allowed to accumulate. Ponds have been artificially made where water out of the gutters accumulates, and when in winter it freezes, this filthy, muddy water is turned into ice and collected in ice houses for consumption the following summer."