Until the cause of cholera was indentified, many physicians speculated on its cause and means of transmission. In this paper, Henry Hartshorne (1823-1897) speculates that wind-blown decayed animal matter in the soil is the causative agent of cholera. He argues that he wants to "show the paramount comparative importance of animal matter in a state of 'post-organic' change, as the food or fuel of the cholera-cause." Though he knew of John Snow's work on cholera, he dismissed it as secondary in importance to the animal-contagion theory.
Source:
The Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Hartshorne H. On Animal Decomposition as the Chief Promotive Cause of Cholera. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1855.
Creator:
The Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
