History of the Cholera Controversy

Abstract

SIR GEORGE JOHNSON has held for years, as is well known, very strong views as to the treatment of cholera, and the above little volume, with its seventy-eight pages, is devoted to an elaborate exposition of these views, together with an account of their reception by the medical world. The so-called “Cholera Controversy” gathers, we are told, round the support given respectively to the “evacuant” and “astringent” treatment of this disease; or, in other words, the use of castor-oil versus opium in the handling of cholera cases. It is not possible here to enter into the various medical arguments and discussions which occupy these pages; but we cannot help regretting that in the treatment of this subject, the author has allowed the personal element to play so conspicuous a part, as it detracts from the value of its discussion and tends, necessarily, to restrict the area of observation. Thus it would have been of interest to have had some reference to the latest official document published last year in Germany on cholera, from which we should have learnt that calomel is frequently referred to as of great therapeutic value. The “historical” side of the question would thus not only have gained in interest, but the arguments, from a layman's point of view, would have been more convincing.

History of the Cholera Controversy.

By Sir George Johnson Pp. 78. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1896.)