Cholera

a Greek term now universally employed in medicine as indicating one of two or three forms of disease, characterized by vomiting and purging, followed by great prostration of strength, amounting in severe cases to fatal collapse. The milder forms of Cholera occur almost every summer and autumn, even in temperate latitudes, while the more devastating and fatal forms of the disease are generally supposed to originate only in tropical countries. The very fatal forms of the disease are commonly called Asiatic, Oriental, or Epidemic Cholera. What is called Cholera morbus is a bilious disease, long known in most countries, and is characterized by copious vomiting and purging, with violent griping, cramps of the muscles of the abdomen and lower extremities, and great depre ion of strength. It is the most prevalent at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. Cholera infantum (infants’ cholera) is the name sometimes given to a severe and dangerous diarrhea to which infants are liable in hot climates or in the hot season.